if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
In a way, he feels as if he knows her already. As if their history runs backwards into eternity (back before Beqanna, before the Dunes, before his own existence - as if she could have been the keeper of his deepest secrets in another life) instead of severing just a few moments before this one. Amet grapples with this overwhelming notion as his suddenly shaky exhales mingle with hers, fueled by the improbability of their meeting. At the improbability of this primal instinct that curls hot in his belly whenever their eyes meet. He thinks to tell her that perhaps they had been born of the same star but his mind berates him (Ciri) and he is tongue-tied again, lost in the depths of Eione's bottomless scarlet eyes as he searches for the catalyst behind his magnetic attraction to her.
Amet had been no more than a timid boy when he'd met Tangerine. His shoulders (then without scales, glistening only thanks to his own metallic coat) had been heavy with the new weight of Hyaline resting upon them, with memories of his sister's disdain and his brother's bleating cries when he'd fled from the Dunes. Amet had had much on his young mind -- so much that what could have been with Tangerine had never been given the opportunity to reach fruition. She had deserved the world and he had been unable to give it to her (even though she'd asked for nothing of the sort), what with the distractions that constantly clouded his mind. The former king is pleased now, though, with the way events had unraveled. Had they been any different, he would be less one friend in Warrick and less one successor in Solace.
And Ciri… he hadn't been ready for her, either, had he? She was all fiery gas, blinding and heated, and would have been the perfect match if only he had been born with the personality of his sister. He had not sought out perfection, though, only a companion to share his heart and dreams with - but in the end, he had been distracted with Hyaline and she with Castile, and so the gilded king had watched her go, an odd echo (angrier and full of acid) to the moment he'd watched Tangerine leave for the last time, too.
Your successor, she whispers and he is suddenly back in the present, breathing in her new scent and succumbing to the hidden powers within. He lets go of his bitterness, squashes the indifference that threatens to wash over him and simply exists in this moment with this beautiful girl, no longer questioning how he could so instantaneously feel such a strong pull and just accepts it as it is. A king, she purrs now, this time more coy than before and he responds with a throaty chuckle, his gold-flecked eyes pouring into hers. "Until very recently, yes," he tries to say offhandedly, though the young stallion cannot keep all of the pride from his gruff voice.
"Offspring!" he nearly blurts as he takes a step back from Eione, the name laced with warmth and surprise as it falls from Amet's lips. "I should have known," he says quietly as he continues to gaze into those crimson eyes (those eyes that he had seen for the first time here, in Hyaline, following the Lost Boys' attack), every muscle beneath his dragon hide taut with the electric tension between them. "Offspring was my first true ally. Your father…" he falters, looking for the words as her enchanting eyes work to distract him again, "… saw a lot in me when I could not see it myself."
Amet offers no more than that, instead falling into silence as his heart beats frantically. He aches to move closer to her again, to touch the softness of her painted coat, but he forces himself to stay put and instead allows his lips to turn into the smallest of grins at her comment. The explanation answers his question but also spawns more and after a few tentative inhales (ones accented with thoughts of explaining this situation to Offspring), Amet decidedly comes to the conclusion that if anyone would give him the chance to defend his decision, it would be the red-eyed former Overseer of Tephra.
And so he dives in. "What else can you see in your mind?" he asks with a gruff whisper, his heart nearly skipping a beat as he waits for Eione to answer, the rest of Hyaline nothing more than a hazy backdrop.
Amet