A golden mare with dragon's wings rushed forward out of nowhere and he snarled at her, taking a step forward. One of her wings brushed lightly against him, deliberately, and she commanded him to breathe as if he was some fool that had accidentally forgot how to.
He nearly snapped at her, that she could take her continued promises and shove them down her own damn throat for all he cared, he was not going to calm down just because some gold stranger told him to or promised her help to them. But his eyes caught movement, and his face blanked suddenly, straightening with a pain in his eyes. Fuck. Out of all the people.
She wouldn't even fucking look at him, and he didn't blame her.
He wouldn't have looked at him either. He would've hated him too.
He dropped his eyes from her, unable to bear the agony at seeing her here, of her seeing him here. He let them fall to Heartfire's belly again and the heat and frustrated rage from before was completely snuffed out. Solemn and unworthy, he remained silent as they worked, blood slowly trailing from his nostril.
"He is good at many things," a voice from a dream broke through and startled him. Heartfire was attracting quite the gathering. His spine stiffened and he glanced to her, this blue mare that looked so similar to Heartfire but softer, sweeter. He knew her, though. He definitely knew her. The print of his teeth still scarred her beautiful neck where he'd tore into her so violently the night he'd first seen her. "He just needs to be reminded that she's way too stubborn to die."
He backed away as she folded herself next to her sister, his neck hot with a confused blush. She was being nice to him. She had before after he'd attacked her, but somehow it still surprised him. Then he danced backward more as little orbs of light drifted towards him and tangled into his hair, clung to his skin over his neck. He snorted nervously, blood spraying the ground in front of him.
"Take... care of... him," Heartfire's voice barely whispered, stealing his full attention as his face tightened in anxiety. No, she couldn't die. He wasn't gonna fuckin raise this kid alone. He couldn't drag a kid around with his line of work, she knew that. He never should've had any kids to begin with. He hadn't meant for this, for any of it.
It was fine. She had healers working on her. Everything would be fine.
Heartfire dragged herself to her feet like a goddamn miracle. Was she fucking crazy?? Just fucking relax a second, you know? Get some damn heals. But she was too damn stubborn or something and up she went. She was looking between them all, then finally settled on him again. He frowned, getting the feeling like she was about to do something completely stupid.
"The babies are yours," she said, gesturing at Luster's equally swollen belly that he'd carefully avoided noticing too closely. Obviously, she was out of her mind. So he only clenched his teeth and scowled at her, would apologize to Luster for her sick-induced ramblings after things were settled more. "It was never me you wanted anyway." He scowled harder. Since when did he allow anyone to tell him what the fuck he did or didn't want?
Then she turned away and began stumbling off, and oh hell no she didn't. "Heartfire!" he barked, would have whipped her stupid ass with a magic had he had any real power. All he had was this armor guarding a frail-looking body. He had nothing that could actually keep her here with him if she chose to walk away. He felt suddenly helpless. And pissed.
What the fuck! She wasn't taking his kid away from him even if she did leave.
Her magic began dusting the leaves in her wake, her hormones and emotions taking over. Then she dropped again, crumpling to the ground and again he rushed over. "You're so fucking stupid, Heartfire," he cursed her, moving in close to check on her. She'd better not hurt the baby or he'd--
He lunged forward in reflex as another body manifested out of fucking nowhere too close to his babymama for comfort. The way she seemed to drain in front of them, her eyes gradually falling dark, was ignored in the tunnel-vision that enveloped him. He reacted first, had been trained to act as swiftly and deadly as he could and forget all else.
They were all gone but him and this pink mare standing so near Heartfire and his unborn child as his bared teeth reached out for the side of her neck in just the same place he'd left scarred on Luster, the mirror of it on the opposite side of her neck. This time, he hadn't gone straight for the kill. He might be craving a little destruction first, his own. He wanted to hurt first.
we're slaves to any semblance of touch
Lord, we should quit but we love it too much
