She had seen the greatness in him before he'd even known it existed. When he'd been nothing more than a meek, bumbling fool who'd made her heart flutter with his beautiful accent and clumsy touch. She'd wanted, more than anything, to rise at his side until he achieved his true greatness - whatever that was. Switch didn't care if he took his pleasure from ruling the Lagoon or the Peak or a land or nothing, as long as he served whatever purpose was in his heart and allowed her to love him.

Or she had until he'd left her. She'd been willing to forgive him the first time, when he'd abandoned her in the mainland from whence she'd come. She had known he was underdeveloped them, not quite ready to make the world bend to him, and so she had forgiven him. The lithe little mare followed him all the way here and after browbeating him for good measure, had allowed herself to fall madly and deeply in love with him.

They'd conceived Fuego, and then he'd abandoned her again. And not just abandoned her to fend for herself, but placed her smack in the middle of a snake den and just hoped that she could survive whatever came. To hear him be cavalier about it - When have you ever needed my protection love? - only stokes her ire and a wordless squeal of rage makes it past her lips, even as she trembles in fury. "I did not need your protection. I deserved it. He deserved it."

The dark mare stares angrily at her beloved as he attempts to explain his side of things, that his reticence in regard to her well-being and care were all a part of a ruse to keep her safe from the golden stallion that had ruled before. For a moment, she almost wants to believe him. To forgive him. Because this, at least, was a reason. It was better than the years of not knowing that had shaped the day-to-day life of her exile. She had never understood why he had not come for her, why he had left her alone, but as he dances away from the spit that she flings, Switch realizes that it doesn't really matter.

"Sorry is not enough, Fiero. You put us here. In the middle of it. To pretend like you didn't spend years cozying up to the Peak mares while I hid and dodged every eligible bachelor for years while I waited for you es cacais shit." Her words are snarled barbs designed to hurt and sting. She wants him to be angry, to be furious. She wants him to be furious with her for the sake of him believing enough in his purpose to have left her like he had. For him to be apathetically sorry told her that he hadn't cared about her from the beginning. That she was no more than an eligible womb that could carry his child and to cozy up to when he finally felt like.

His apathy made her ache.

She lapses into sudden silence, the echoing pain of his betrayal dealing psychic blows to her heart. Sorry didn't change anything. Failing her meant nothing if it did not come with his fire. If she did not matter enough to him that he would fight for her, then she wanted nothing of it.

And so, it seemed, neither did he. His offer to rehome her staggers her and she shuffles back a step, the emotion erasing from her face in an instant. All she can hear in her heart and her mind was that he did not want her anymore. That all of this - the waiting, the flirting, this goddamned pregnancy, all of it had been in vain. The little dancer takes in a strained breath, blinking fast to quell the tears that had gathered in her eyes from falling.

"No." The word was final, but it wavered in her mouth. She hated how weak it made her sound and so she tried again, drawing her shoulders and neck up coldly. "Take your manwhoreprostituto and go. I will stay with my son. He is old enough to protect me now." Again she hears his casual, 'me and Khajiit' in her mind, and her resolve hardens. "I am sure the two of you have plenty to catch up on." Stepping backwards, Switch offers one last barb. "Perhaps you can find a new amour while you are there."

She offers nothing further, nor does she wait to hear more excuses from him. He had broken her heart and she was not a mare given to second chances, let alone third ones. If he would not fight for her, then there was nothing left to salvage.

mare // paso fino // black // 14.3hh // lagoon // loveinspired