| but it’s not burning for you
Everglow could feel something deflating within her. Every sharp word directed at the stallion seemed to deflect off him like light; if anything, he seemed to enjoy the abuse. When he threatened to drown her if she tried to swim away, Everglow sensed it as a false threat - after all, why would he bother drowning her if he wanted her so badly? - but she could not stop the cold, sickly fist of dread from closing around her heart. Vihaan’s offer was quickly becoming the only way out of this. And that infuriated Everglow.
She was angry, too, that the other stallion had ignored her demand to attack. What were they doing? Here were two able-bodied horses: why did they not just gang up on him? He wasn’t that big, was he? In the back of her mind, however, Everglow knew this was a selfish thought. These two strangers had already done more than enough just by answering her cry for help. Yet her blood was hot with desperation, and the ridiculous unfairness of the situation had left her brain in shambles.
To her horror, the stallion accepted Vihaan’s offer. Everglow ground her teeth to stop herself from hurling another retort his way. She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, but if it at least got him off her back for a while… It would give her time, time to speak to her father and gather help. But then Vihaan was speaking again, and Everglow thoughts unraveled while she hung on every word the mare said. The sound of defeat was in Vihaan’s voice, and for a moment Everglow felt so sad and angry on her behalf that a lump rose in her throat and hot tears stung her eyes. This was so wrong.
In one last attempt to salvage the situation, Everglow turned to Vihaan and lowered her voice to a whisper, though in her emotional state it was still loud enough to be perfectly audible to the stallions. “You don’t have to do this,” she hissed, and felt the first tears rolling down her cheeks. She paused to inhale a shaky breath, then turned her head to stare in the stallion’s direction as accurately as she could manage, her sightless, tear-filled brown eyes locked on him with cold rage. “Well, what’ll it be, asshole? This is the best offer you’re going to get.”
Deep within her, the seed of an idea began to germinate.
4; mutt; palomino; 15.1hh; blind
shamwari x brienne |