Xina had not expected this meeting to be pleasant from her actions, but she had wanted to make it clear her feelings for this child. He was not yet ready for so many eyes, so many questions. It was obvious in the harsh breath that blew against her skin in his fear. The mare wanted nothing more than to turn to him and send him back to the jungle and away from this confrontation, but that would not make him strong. That would only teach him how to hide.


As words spilled from Şahin’s lips, Xina felt her ears press against her poll once more from the slight raise they had been held at. A liar? The roan woman had been many things in her life but not once had she ever lied. Despite the accusations and harsh tones the stallion used upon the mare, they simply rolled off her back like water on a duck’s feather. They meant absolutely nothing to the mare, just as everything else in her life did. Only the colt that stood behind her and the daughter that roamed these lands kept the mare from completely falling off the edge in the silent battle she had waged with herself since the father of both children had disappeared.


“I’ve only hidden the child a short while, but not because of you.” She snapped, acting as if he was foolish to think her actions could have been for him. “He was more dead than alive when he was given to me and as you should have noticed from his very actions that it was too much having so many around him.” Maybe the mare had given him too much credit on being with her own child that he would be able to read the actions of the colt such as the ones that had been so loudly presented from Conquistador in her own eyes. Though the mare knew that Şahin would not hurt him physically, the pressure of his presence alone was more than he probably realized.


“You’ve taken great care of Mera, but this child is not yet ready for you.” she said, her tone not as harsh as before. Xina thought more highly of Şahin than she would ever show for the fatherly role he had played since Mera’s arrival. The girl had needed a father figure in her life and the stallion had done so without so much as batting an eye, taking on the responsibility on his own accord. She would need his help once more in raising Conquistador, to allow him the strength of a male to guide him further in life than she could. But that time had not yet come and the roan woman had made that very clear and would not bow away from him just because he thought she had other motives for keeping the colt tucked away.