 Warmth, both physical and emotional, spread through Evren’s abdomen at the physical contact with Nova. She craned her head to listen to the mare’s words, but almost immediately threw her head up in surprise. “Shamwari? But he was my father’s ally!”
Dad won’t be happy about that, she thought to herself, imagining the awful repercussions that would come of this. The entire scenario was growing more and more messy by the day, and Evren did not have the patience for it. She could feel her cheeks growing hot with passionate anger the longer she listened to Nova.
“You were brave to do that,” she told her friend, and felt a flux of anticipation at the news that Nova had run into Orhan. It was comforting to know that her sire was well, but the relief Evren felt was short-lived as Nova’s tale took another turn entirely. Evren’s blue eyes stared wide and unblinking at the other mare. “Oh my goodness,” she said, but she could not comprehend how she felt about Nova being pregnant with another stallion’s foal. If Koray found out...
Her head spinning with all this information, Evren’s gaze dropped to the snow and she fell silent for a few moments. When she lifted her head again, there was hard determination in her young face.
“I’m going to fight Orkaan,” she announced. “I’ve been planning everything. I was going to challenge him for my freedom, but… Nova, I’ll challenge for yours too. You don’t need to come live with us again, if you don’t want to, but I can’t just leave you here in this awful place. Or would… would that mess up everything for your brother and his mare? Gods, this is so complicated!”
She let out a grunt of frustration and pressed her forehead against the warmth of Nova’s shoulder.
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