Everything had turned upside down. As hard as she tried to pretend things were perfectly normal, they weren’t. Every reason she had held on to for keeping him at a distance with such stubborn tenacity had shifted and altered in a single night. She couldn’t go back to how things had been before, and for the first time in her life, she isn’t entirely certain how to move forward either.
And so she had done neither.
She is moving slowly along the rocky cliff face when she first sees him. Normally she would not hesitate in her approach, but their dynamic had shifted. A shift she is ill-equipped to deal with. And when she spies the child, she halts. She has never been especially good with children. She loves her own and had cared for them to the best of her ability, but it has since been made clear she is not truly made for motherhood, given her son’s death and her daughter’s staunch avoidance of her.
For a moment, she isn’t entirely certain what to make of the scene before her, and a large part of her simply wishes to turn and leave it behind. To let Dovev deal with it however he would, without her input. But the moment passes when Dovev notices her.
Memory shivers over her skin when he brushes a gentle, possessive caress over the blue of her neck. She doesn’t withdraw and chide him as she once might have, instead yielding to the touch, a soft breath catching in her throat, briefly distracted from the scene before her. When he withdraws however, her gaze turns wary. There is mischief in his dark eyes, and she is uncertain if she cares for it.
When he continues, referring to the small filly splashing in the shallows (This is mine, he says), she stiffens. Her gaze sharpens as it jumps to the child. His. Had he actually brought her one of his children? Another lover’s child?
“You didn’t…” she begins sharply before she is interrupted by the vision. It is not often she is taken by surprise, especially with a thing she so often considers her domain. And it immediately draws suspicion. Dovev, however, appears greatly affected by it, his entire demeanor swiftly changing from mischievous and almost relaxed to hard and deadly in the blink of an eye. With one last look at her, takes off. Her darkly shouted, “Don’t you dare!” is lost in the wind of his absence.
A furious anger settling into her breast, her gaze jumps to the child. She would follow, but she could not leave the child here unattended. As he well knew. But that did not mean she had to do as he so foolishly bade. She could just as easily find the child’s mother and return her. And tell Dovev exactly how fast he could go to hell if he dared show his face again.
A quick search however, draws every bit of wind from her sails. Not his child it seems, but rather a lost and wayward orphan. Or near enough.
What kind of idiotic, foolish notion had gotten into his brain that he’d decided to bring home an orphan child? Her anger gives way to irritation, blue eyes glittering as she wonders what she is supposed to do with this situation. He must know she is not the mothering type.
But then the young girl, distracted from the pool, seems to realize she is there. As the chestnut filly approaches, a starfish clinging to her face in wayward fashion, Heartfire softens. She could not be angry at a child for events out of her control. As the tiny child peers at her with fawn-like innocence, the blue and white mare sighs, her gaze becoming a bit quizzical.
“Hello Briella,” she finally offers by way of greeting, her tone oddly hesitant. Very much out of the norm for the typically bold mare. “I’m Heartfire,” she introduces herself before continuing, “and it seems you and I will be spending a little time together.”
i see your sins
and i want to set them free
