Zjeena. It would be a story for the ages, one whispered far beyond their years. The story of how the wolf had fallen for his captive, a queen of distant lands bound for another. Time and again he cannot help but feel that it is his fault that she must endure such pain and sorrow. Had he simply turned the other cheek to Liland's snobbing words she would never have found herself here. Night and against he would not have had her at his side as they walked in slow progression upon the shores, sharing stories of childhood and laughing at the amusing antics of the foals. Nattergal and Havelle. Though they were not his own, still he had seen them grow, watched with pleasure at the sync that the two seemed to exhibit as though they shared one mind. He never saw them as Liland's foals only as Zjeena's children and so he had treated them as such. Guarded them with the same fierce protectiveness. Were he to know now, how divided they had become it would only infuriate him more. Liland did not deserve them. Nor did he deserve the foal promised to him now.

The thought leaves a bitter tang upon his tongue, bile rising along his throat at the thought of Liland touching his beloved queen. Like Monster she was apart of him, his blood... his heart. He savors the beat of her veins now, the very breath drawing taunt in his throat as he begs that his mind and ears remember the patter of her heart for the long nights when she is gone. Though their relationship had not become physical until that night, Rougaru knew in his own heart that she had become so much more long before then. Like Monster she had worked her way into his very essence. She was his sanity. The thought of willingly let her go to his enemy... to a stallion who merely cared about spreading his own genes... it was despicable. The wolf threatened to rear is slathering head now, rage glittering in the fierce depths of those yellow eyes that gleamed hungerily beneath his core.

The warm summer winds billow across them, lifting the ends of his cream colored mane. Twin sonars swivel backwards amid the tangled mass, listening to the chatter of gulls and the joyous laughter of foals frolicing through the herd. It was a peaceful scene, a moment that he wished he could capture and keep safe to his soul. In this moment there is no thought of war, no promise for Liland and no worries on the foreseen horizon. All is at peace. The calm before the rising storm.

He feels the weight of Liland's demand as though it were vines lashing his hooves and body, preventing his freedom and keeping him in one place. What he would not give to free her of the weight that was lain upon her shoulders... a weight that was solely her own to bare. Pain grips him as she pulls away, pleading with him to never apologize for he had not done anything wrong. Yet he cannot help it. He had fallen in love with her stoic beauty, with the calm wisdom that lay beneath her deep auburn eyes. He fell in love with the softness of her skin and the tender power of her voice. She deserved far more than what the fates had lain before her and were it possible he would willingly crucify himself if it would save her.

Her words are soft, brittle against the rustle of the leaves and the winds that whip across the islands. Green eyes glitter with unsung tears as he forces back the sorrow that threatens to break his words. Touch me. ... So small a request and yet he fears he will never be able to stop. Tenderly his whiskered lips reach for her again, nostrils quivering as he inhales the sweet perfume of her skin. Gone is the odor of the bay stallion, gone is the sharp scents of fir and cedar and spruce that had once woven its way into her very essence. Now she is of Atlantis. Her scent is sweet as the blossoming hibiscus and succulent mangrove trees. Fragrant lilacs, jasmine and passion flower color the flavors of her skin, melding perfectly with the musk of his own scent. "No matter where you go... no matter what he does... what the fates throw before your feet..." he breathes, the warmth of his words hot against her skin as he draws her against him once more. Thick muscular neck drapes lovingly across her own, tucking her against the warmth of his skin, finding strength in the meld of their bodies. "You will always be mine... as I will be yours. Never will a day come that I will not be at your side for my love for you will never cease."