A Queen does not kneel. And there is no shred of me that even desired to give in to him anymore. In the past it had always been an inner battle, to keep my royal standing or give in to what my heart so desired. Always my head had trumped my heart, and it was fast becoming apparent that I had been more correct in that then I ever could have imagined. The words he throws back at me when I confess my love to him – a love we have perhaps always known about but never fully acknowledged – contradict themselves. The claims he makes go against those he spoke only moments before, and now my head in spinning. One second he was doing this for him and him alone, and the next it was all for me. It was more than I could stand to put up with any longer.

Finally I cracked, lunging at him and pushing him away from me through the muck and mire. I am barely free of him for a moment before he invades my space once more, and fiery mahogany eyes glare at him in contempt. Nevertheless I spat my words at him, telling him to go, but there is little surprise when he remains rooted to the spot. Despite him being the one who said he had to go, that he hadn’t even meant to see me in the first place, he stays. His body presses into mine and the heat between us radiates to my very core. My heart quickens and there are flashes of us on the rock at the peak, beside the river as we dueled, curled within one another’s embrace in my den. But I push back, for we have always been equally matched in this. Though he stands a mere inch taller than me, I outweigh him. As I push back I force myself to remember all the times he had simply disappeared without a trace. How he’d threatened Meryl. That he’d not been there when I needed him most – when my parents had died.

The words that flit from his lips are a challenge blatant as Spirane’s silhouette upon the horizon. One last memory rears its ugly head – Leonidas’ own voice telling me that I had a right to his blood for the wrongs he had committed against me. I’d not taken it then, too much love for him and relief at his return having consumed me at the time. But now there is no relief. There is only chaos. I give him no vocal reaction to the taunts that he speaks. It is when he reaches forward and presumes the right to touch me that I finally give way to all that mayhem that roiled within me.

As his fangs connect with my hide my own jaws snap to the side, making to grasp his face, biting into the skin to drive him back, tearing away as I release and lunge at him once more. As I rear up onto my hind legs to embrace him in the throes of battle I say, “’I will always be your shadow.” One of the first promises he had made to me. Broken. If he rears up to engage me I will make to bite his foreleg, just below the shoulder, sinking my teeth in and thrashing my head before releasing once more and pushing away from him. “I will never leave your side again,” what he had told me when he had returned after my parents’ deaths. Lies. I lunge again, this time thrusting my shoulder into his and reaching around with my jaws to grasp at his spine, clamping down and making to sink my teeth in wherever I made purchase. It did not matter. I released again, kicking up mud as I made to circle him, not caring if he moved with me. None of it mattered. I did not care what he did to me. Hopefully from his side I rear up again, throwing my forelegs over him, one on each side of his body. “I would be honored to stay by you this day and forever more, to be your shadow, and your guardian.” That night in the den, when he had vowed himself to me for the last time. Deception. My teeth dive for his ruff, and I would never bite as lightly as I had in our duels again. These were the actions of a broken hearted woman.

For the final time I release him and if I had landed upon his back as I had intended then as I made to return to all fours I would push into him with my forepaws as I descended. Mud covered my legs and underbelly, but the rain kept my face and bodice free of the debris. Without retreating I step forward, pressing upon his space as he had mine. “Get out of my sight,” I snarled, teeth snapping at the air between us.