ORHAN
A long silence followed. Orhan could feel the words forming in his mouth, threatening to burst out. He needed only to say them. But would it truly change anything? Koray was too foolish for his own good; Orhan could imagine him rejecting the truth and turning his blind eyes back in the direction Vita Nova had gone, just as he would likely do if Orhan didn’t say anything at all. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.
The stallion let his eyes roam over his son’s physique in the fading light. Koray was still tall and strong, but thinner and evidently exhausted. He had clearly been mentally beating himself up over the fight he had lost, struggling with the crumbling facade of pride that he had spent years building for himself. For a moment Orhan saw him as a tiny colt again, spilling from Carisa’s womb onto the golden sands, so new and pure. He had been so happy that day. Koray was his first and only son, and Orhan had been so hopeful for him.
He knew then he had to say it. “Koray… Vita Nova’s child is not yours.”
He saw his son stiffen. The tension in that moment was as tangible as the sands beneath their feet. Orhan could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he continued. “If you feel the need to go after her simply because you think her child is yours, you’re sadly mistaken. You would gain nothing from bringing her back, and she would resist you every step of the way.”
“You’re lying,” Koray retorted through clenched teeth, spinning in place to look his father in the eye. Orhan saw that he was shaking. “You just don’t want me to have her. You never wanted me to have anything, not even the desert. You never wanted me as your heir; you sent me away--”
“Koray,” Orhan interjected, struggling to keep his voice calm. His son’s face was so close to his that he could feel the warmth of his stale breath, and Koray’s wild bloodshot eyes were difficult to meet, but meet them he did. “Please, I’m telling you the truth. Just listen--”
Koray growled and looked away. Orhan was alarmed to see tears shining in his eyes. “Cut the shit. You always favored Arcana and her spawn. Don’t lie, I know it. You never went looking for Mother and Feray when they disappeared this last time. We are all just lesser to you, aren’t we? We always have been. And now you want to take the only things I’ve ever had away from me. You want me to have nothing, again.”
Orhan’s mouth hung open. When he finally found the strength to reply, he could feel a tightness in his throat. “Koray, no! How could you say such a thing?”
His son had squared up to him again, and now towered over him with grim determination on his haggard, tear-streaked face. “Do yourself a favor and just shut the fuck up. The desert is mine, Vita Nova is mine, and her child is mine. I am not a child, and you cannot control me anymore.”
His son turned away from him then, making to leave. Orhan stepped after him. “Koray, stop! You’re making a mistake--”
Koray moved more quickly than he anticipated. He turned on Orhan, lunging forward with teeth bared. Orhan had no time to react; he was aware only of a sudden grip on the crest of his neck, uncomfortable pressure, and the ground rushing up to meet him. There was an odd crack, and then he was down. On his side in the sand, he looked up at his son and saw him raging, but he could not hear his words. Orhan’s ears were ringing. He tasted something metallic. He tried to move his legs and then began to panic when he could not.
“I kin… Ikinmv,” he said, and his own voice was muffled and garbled. He could feel his lips struggling to form the right shapes. “Kowa, ikin...”
He watched the rage slowly leave his son’s face as comprehension dawned. For a moment, Koray looked shocked. Then it was as though a switch flipped, and Koray’s expression became a cold mask of apathy as he looked down at his father. He said something. Orhan still could not hear, but in the lilac twilight he could just about read the words:
You deserve it.
Orhan died with his eyes wide open.
ARABIAN/AKHAL-TEKE/MUSTANG; 15’1HH; BUCKSKIN; 13 |