OOC: Sorry it's shit.
He is secure in what he wants and how he wants to get it. In truth, he was so very rarely challenged by anyone that the mere fact that Cain was continuing to do so was baffling in a sense and irritated him far more than he'd like to admit. Even beyond the fact that half of what Cain spoke of was false or overblown did not not rile him as much as the fact that the irritating monochrome stallion would not accept his rightful place as lower. Solomon had shed blood for the crown that he wore, and yet it had proven to be nothing more than an empty title with no more weight or authority than owning land.
Cain's implication that Solomon was the first to cross her boundaries, to touch her without being asked, is laughable considering it was the Desert lead's teeth that had grasped at her shoulders first. Even as he speaks, Cain is apologizing for what he has done, crafting loopholes for Chelle as if he didn't even want her in the first place. As if this was all a farce, a way to try and jab at the Cove King.
Solomon stops listening at some point, tired of his blather. If he wanted to pretend that he was the high and honorable knight and that his past was above any sort of scrutiny, Solomon couldn't stop him. His emerald gaze rests on Chelle as she quivers and dances and fawns beneath the awkward and ill-shaped affection Cain was trying to give her. It became more and more obvious to him that she was going to be more trouble than she was worth right now, given how readily she played the victim when confronted with the very thing that she had asked for. To fight for her now would earn him what? A jewel that was not even sure that she wanted to be with him? Granted, once they were alone there was quite a lot more he could do to sway her, but the fact remained that she didn't want him. Not enough to overcome whatever ill-gotten attraction she had to the irritating desert stallion.
He would be wasting his time, as it was growing far more evident that he already had.
The drone of the Vanner stallion was easier to tune out now that his decision was made, but his words were no less irritating. Perhaps what was most frustrating out of all of this, was that Cain would be allowed to walk away from this altercation thinking that he was the winner, no matter how craftily he spun it. He had shoved his foot in his mouth the instant that he had presented the only two options that he could see, and even now, knew that there was no coming back from his earlier faux pas.
"Let me know when you're tired of his fairytale bullshit, Chelle." He says, not having lifted his gaze from her for the entirety of Cain's speech. He stretches forward then to brush gently against her cheek, although his eyes are still dark and inscrutable in their emotion.
"I'm not going to fight for someone that doesn't want to be with me. If you want to play pretend with him, I will not stop you. But when you change your mind? I'll be there," he says, encouraging her with gentle pressure to look toward the far distant mountain of the Peak and beyond.
"Beyond the Peak, waiting."
He lingers for a moment, still disregarding the Vanner stallion for the time being. If he could have his cake and eat it too, he'd leave a lasting memento for the Desert lead to keep. Perhaps a tattered ear or new scar to keep as a souvenir. But Solomon knew it would gain him nothing. If she came with him by such means now, she would spend the rest of her days wondering what life would have been like if she'd gone with Cain, and he was fucking tired of chasing mares that didn't want to be with him. If Chelle was immune to the pull that he felt, the one that drew him in and made him want to keep her at his side, then he wouldn't be the one to fight for it alone.
He'd done enough of that lately to last a lifetime.
Pulling away, Solomon turns his gaze back to Cain levelly, his ears tipped back.
"I would highly suggest you stop pulling rumors about my herd out of your ass. Your attempt to make your herd sound better by lying about mine is transparent, Cain." Solomon had tried to keep his face neutral while Cain insulted his ability to take care of his herd, but he knew that some of his irritation had shown on his face. Even though Solomon had been taught to ignore the desires and whims of women, he could not deny that his time on the Islands had softened him to the point that he had gone out of his way to make sure that his herd was happy. There were still some that bore the scars of his earlier brutality, of course, but none would carry any of his children that they did not want in the days moving forward.
"My herd is happy. Well cared for. And most importantly, alive," he offers as a last jab at the stallion, relying on the only gossip that made it's way as far north as the Crossing and beyond.
Few things reached his mountain home, but the repeated losses that Cain suffered were topics of enough discussion that even Solomon had taken note.
"Take her to the Desert if that's where she wants to go for now, but you will pay if I find out you have mistreated her in any way. Neglect seems to run rampant on Salem, in my experience." Roheryn. Bahadir. Shaydowfax. Maslakhat. All of them had failed their herds in some way or another. And if rumors were true of Cain's losses, he might as well be lumped in with them.
In truth, Solomon knew the instant that he had made his decision to let her go for now that this was not over. As much as he wanted to sever the connection he felt until Chelle was ready to explore it too, he could not. Come sometime later, perhaps when the cold of the winter grew too frigid or the bustle of the summer too loud, he might yet make another trip to Salem to seek her out. At least to assure himself that Cain would do better by her than Roheryn had by Nadja or Bahadir by Golden Illusion. By not putting a time table on it, he would leave them to wonder when, or if, the stallion would come to see them.
"Until then," he says as he turns his gaze back to Chelle one last time.
"Keep me in your dreams," he finishes, before turning away and beginning the long walk home, his posture still stiffened with the control it took to not act on his desires. Someday, he was certain that Cain would pay for his smug impudence, but that day was not today.
Stallion | Dutch Harness Horse Mutt | Champagne Grullo Tobiano | 17 Hands | The Cove