Nephilim was sure this was it. Nova was going to pull away and tell him she didn’t wish to stay in the Bay. Distrust was going to cloud those eyes which had, just seconds ago, been shining for him. Nephilim did not know what it was like to have a loving father but, now, he knew what it was like to be a loving father and the misunderstanding that had occurred in the Prairie did not put him in a favorable light. Did Nova’s father think he had come to the Prairie to harm the filly? Or, was it worse than that, did he know the truth of how his dam had treated him and chose, instead, to side with her and physically banish him from the territory?

In Nephilim’s mind she tricked them all, like a snake, slipping in to the unsuspecting herd and keeping his identity a secret while she went on, day by day, loving the children she had and living a life she didn’t deserve.

He tried not to think too much about it because, when he did, it made him sick.

Nova’s question brought him away from the spiral of thoughts he didn’t want to fall down. His ears pointed at her and he blinked, surprised she wasn’t giving him her goodbye’s, turning about and heading for the shore. “Yes…” He said, and felt selfish. “I do want you to stay, Nova.” They’d just met but already he was enamored by her sweetness and her beauty, he didn’t want to lose it so fast.

If she went to the Prairie and he fought her father to get her back, would she grow to resent him?

“It was a misunderstanding,” he explained, “your father doesn’t know who I am, I don’t think, but there’s someone there in the Prairie that hates me…”