Solomon

Annoyance flickers in her eyes as he speaks, but she allows him to say what he needs to without interruption and by the time that he has finished, it seems to be gone. He wonders at the cause, but lacks the ability to read what crosses her mind. If he had, he would have gladly assured her that it was not a lack of trust in Çiçek, but in the mare that protected her from the ills of the world. Faolain was new to being a leader, and while Solomon found her interesting and intelligent, he did not consider her a formidable foe in any arena of leadership. Even if she did manage to gain herself new allies and work hard on the battlefield to carve a name for herself, she was still as vulnerable as every other mare on this planet.

All it would take is one stallion determined to have his way to place a baby in her belly that would reduce her already limited capacity for defending to almost nil for nearly a year. It was the same thing that had befallen Valka, although Solomon's had not deliberately undermined the small mare. Knowing that the same thing could happen to Faolain, or even Rivaini, made him wary to trust them with Çiçek. It was one thing for him to leave Çiçek temporarily in their care, knowing as he had that he had the intention of coming back for her. It was something else entirely to accept that things would stay this way for the better part of a year, if not forever.

But he does not know what troubles her, only that his words cause her face to fall and her gaze to drop to the sand below. He is heartened by the way she leans into his caresses and hopes that what he has said would not send her skittering away from him.

For a moment all is still, and then she shifts away from him despite his touch and his stomach drops at the thought that she may be preparing to leave him stranded here on the breach, bereft of her companionship. She doesn't though. The pale skin of her muzzle curls into a grin and his own face lightens in response. Her reassurance that her heart was big enough for all three of them does not soothe him as she hopes it will, if only because he is struck by the unfairness of such a statement. Even if she had room for all three of them, it was not his home that she was reclining in. Not his touch that was privileged enough to linger on her beautiful skin daily. He would not wake to the sound of her laughter as she found some mischief to trouble herself with.

He was reduced to small bits of the golden mare, those moments that he carved out for himself on the rare occasion that he could. This behavior, this lingering, was not a behavior he was familiar with in himself. He had sought out other mares with ferocity before - Marzanna, Coda, you could even argue for Feray - but none had he been willing to sacrifice for the relationship itself. His softness in regard to the other mares was born of a need in that particular circumstance. Coda had been protected by the Peak's presence. Marzanna by the laws of the Meadow. In either case, he would have gladly driven them back to the Cove where he would be free to soothe away the ruffled feathers his force might have caused.

But this lingering... the way his thoughts circled back to her when she was not around, the way he stood here in defiance of the burning want within him so that he could deal with her honorably instead of promising what he did not intend to give, the way he already knew that he would carve out more time to see her between now and summer. This lingering was different somehow.

Solomon knew he could take Çiçek. Even if he lost a first challenge to Faolain, he doubted he would lose a second. A mere season or two and the spotted mare he so desired would be his to cherish and protect, but she would hate him for it and It was not a tradeoff he was comfortable with accepting.

Çiçek trails a meandering path down the length of his taut neck and he leans into her caress, his skin shuddering where their bodies connect. She murmurs her agreement, whispering to him of artic flowers and an autumn that was yet to come but he hardly pays attention to the rest. Her agreement spurs him to reach out for her body, trailing gentle kisses down the ridge of her back with a pleased hum. It is better, he thinks absently, that she will come in the summer when the Cove was at it's mildest. When the turning of summer to fall might help sway her into staying his forever.

He smiles against her skin as she finishes, but pulls away so that he might look her in the eye and meet her halfway as she reaches for his muzzle. Her words are a tribute to the burning desire that has reawoken in him full force at her touch and he stretches forward even further so that they may meet forehead to forehead for a moment. "Deal," he promises in a husky whisper. Deal, he says despite knowing that he will hate every moment he spends wondering if she is okay. Deal, he says, knowing that their child will think of him as a stranger for it's first few days or weeks. Deal, he says, knowing that he will uphold it even though he wishes she had asked for something less of him.

Solomon stays that way for a moment before stepping to her again, unwilling to let so little of their skin be connected. His lips trail down the line of her neck to press a gentle caress where it gave way to chest, where behind the golden coat and lean muscle lurks her heart. Again he steps forward so that he can taste of her shoulder again, deeply appreciative of the way their previous touches have allowed some of him to linger on her skin. It is not just the jungle and it's flowers, nor the twin guardians of the Ridge that she wears upon her spotted coat but him, too.

The dusky charcoal of his lips contrasts against the gold over her ribcage as he traces the bottom edge of it, exhaling warm breath against her soft skin. Solomon draws his touch along her skin like a master painter laying the outline of all the places he planned to fill in later. When he reaches the sensitive skin of her flank he nibbles playfully, the touch feather-light. Slowly he plots a course up her body so that he may rest his head over her hip, the motion pulling her closer to him.

"Is there anything else you want to discuss?" He asks playfully, having already taken her return of his touches as evidence that the deal was now done. He draws small circles over her skin with a twitch of his lip before continuing wickedly. "Or is it time to get back to those games you mentioned?"

Dutch Harness Horse Mutt | Champagne Grullo Tobiano Stallion | 17 Hands | The Cove