Miriella wanted to remain steadfast, but there was something unnamed inside her that affected her against her will whenever she and Vadim shared close space. Too, it was foolish of her to come near him during Fall. She was already struggling with the reality of having one suckling babe at her hip, the last thing she needed was to be persuaded by his energy and find her slender sides growing yet again in the seasons to come. As the large stallion shifted, moving toward her, Miriella boldly lifted her pale chin up, ears slanting backwards and eyes narrowing suspiciously on him. Anything she could do to pretend she was more annoyed by his presence than she was, she did. As the large stallion made his slow walk around her, she ignored the tingles that brushed her flesh; all he had done was look over her and she was so affected it felt as though he’d touched every inch he’d studied. Miriella made a point to snap her tail out a few times when he was close enough that the strands would smack his coat and gave a small stomp of her hoof.
His gruff voice was low in her ears as it crawled out, and despite wanting to appear unmoved, Miriella had to briefly close her eyes and steady herself before opening them again. She peered at him beneath her cream bangs and tried her hardest to keep her blue eyes hard and unyielding.
He circled her again and, this time, Miriella did not snap her tail at him. She stayed still until he reached to kiss her white-flecked skin, a sudden noise bubbling somewhere up in her throat. As rude as she behaved to pretend she preferred isolation, Miriella was lonely. She did not understand how to express these feelings without looking stupid for doing so. Vadim, she assumed, cared just as much for her as other mares he dragged back into the Lagoon. Miriella was no one special to him and remembering such helped her stay steadfast against the weakness that wanted to buckle her knees and leave her leaning into his weight. He had grown significantly over the past year and was even more handsome than he’d been the day he’d driven her from the Commons.
If she broke the resolve against her face and cried into him, Miriella imagined he’d be annoyed with her and leave her to her overwhelming loneliness. So, doing so was not an option.
It’s about time. I’ve missed you.
She made a noise in her throat, a trapped laugh, and rolled her eyes before fixing him with her pointed stare. “It certainly hasn’t seemed like you have. It looks like you’ve been keeping yourself plenty busy with other mares.” Jealousy tasted acidic in her throat. Miriella knew she could not be the only one for a stallion to obsess himself over, particularly not a stallion like she assumed Vadim to be but knowing it did not help her be any less envious of other mares he chose to pay attention to over her. Why spend his time putting himself in danger and disrupting herd stallions to steal away their precious little gems when he had her right here?
Well, maybe if she didn’t always act like she was annoyed by his presence, he might want to stick around her longer than he did.
Miriella’s gaze ran across his coat, noticing the myriad of new marks that decorated it. It mostly excited her to see, to know he was such a formidable thing and a force to be reckoned with, but what she didn’t count on was the concern that suddenly welled up inside her. “You’ve been fighting a lot lately.” Her voice lacked the bite it normally had. There was a look of concern in her eyes as they went from his freshest scars and back to his face…
Then the look disappeared. She had to remember to fortify herself against any kind, soft feelings toward him.
Best, then, to just rip the band-aid off as to why she’d come to find him. “I am going to send our daughter away. I’m not fit to be a mother and The Lagoon isn’t a good place to raise a child.” She paused briefly before adding, “There’s somewhere safe I can take her.” She wondered if he would question where that was. She hoped he didn’t. Miriella wasn’t sure why she was so afraid of him finding out more about her; about learning of her life and family away from this place. It wasn’t that she was afraid he would harm them in some way.
Maybe she was just afraid of him learning more about her in general; maybe she was just afraid of this pull she felt in her soul toward him, and that if it grew any deeper, she wouldn’t be able to keep hiding from it.
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