If there was one thing that the tragic play or Iris’s life had taught her, it was how to let go.

Not that it had been easy to release the black mare who’d been her only companion for a full year. Once, the seal brown woman had coveted nothing more than freedom from the shackles of Adelheid’s brusque brand of compassion. But now that it was absent, Iris found that she missed the reticent Vulcan’s company. The fleeting, reluctant glances and touches that they’d traded. The sullen silences that followed their verbal spars. She’d once found those wordless moments uncomfortable, but the quiet that echoed across the Peak now was unbearable. Without the laughter of the Codebreaker’s children or the veiled affection of her sharp words, there was only an emptiness that begged to be filled.

And Iris’s darker thoughts were all too happy to rise to the challenge.

Today, the mahogany creature was standing amidst the bare stone of the beach where she’d once met Ryder, her chocolate eyes searching the white-capped waves. She still wasn’t certain whether the painted roan would honor her request to keep her presence in the Peak a secret, and half expected to see the slender figure of her dam fighting her way ashore. Lilika. In truth, the raw edges of her heart would have welcomed the old mare’s company. Lily wasn’t physically strong, but she’d endured trials that few could even dream of— and she always seemed to know what to say. Or what to do. Lips curving vaguely upward as a breath of air combed through the tangles of her dark mane, Iris imagined that it was her mother’s touch.

She imagined, too, what her mother would say to her if presented with the tumultuous contents of her daughter’s thoughts. How Lilika would likely shake her head at the younger woman’s distress, unraveling her internal conflict with only a handful of words. Go to her, then. Iris was certain that the blue roan would say. Tell her what you want. As if things could truly be so simple. As if the Vulcan— more powerful and purposeful than any creature Gnome’s daughter had ever known— had any desire to be tied to the mewling child that she was in a more permanent way than her pity had already led her to be.

It had already occurred to Iris that the Codebreaker’s departure might’ve had a lot to do with hoping that her unwelcome burden might disappear in her absence.

Buried deep in contemplation, it took precious seconds for her to recognize the familiar voice that suddenly rang out across the Peak. But when it did reach her, the spotted woman’s response was immediate. Whirling inland, she raced across the stony beach and back into the forest. Up the shallow incline at the mountain’s base, hooves scrabbling for purchase where they met the loose scree of stone. Through the alpine trees that thrived at this lower elevation, and then out into the small clearing she’d often haunted in the throes of her grief and guilt. And there— there, at its center, Adelheid waited for her.

Laughing and sobbing simultaneously from the heady relief that flowed through her, Iris raced to meet her, the chords of her heart thrumming with a warmth and affection that had taken seasons to grow.