You may be bigger than me, but that won’t last. You can shut the hell up, and... The colt was determined, Jaskier would grant him that much. But the inability to back down wasn’t going to do him any favors if he wanted to make it as far as being the biggest bully on the playground. Lacing his own ears back, the brindle buckskin gave the kid a look that said plenty even its silence; a glower that was dark and dangerous and absolutely done with this crap. He’d spent the course of their conversation bouncing between fatigue and fury— and, well, enough was enough. Tensing, the tiger-striped stallion leaned forward, the coiled viper within him uncurling. One bite, one blow. Enough to send a message, to teach a lesson the boy would not forget.

But on the cusp of that moment, their dark world suddenly brightened.

Jerking back instinctively at the gentle touch, Jaskier blinked, the furious thrumming of his heart taking on a new quality. “Enya?” He breathed, not entirely able to believe the evidence of his senses. But by the time her pale eyes flitted over to glare at his young companion, he knew. He knew. Turning his glower to the flame-eyed colt himself, Jaskier lifted his lips in one final snarl, letting his words of warning hiss out between clenched teeth. “You didn’t see anything, kid. Because if someone chases after us, then I guess we know who to come for, don’t we?” Twisting away, he lunged forward to join the retreating figure of his fierce woman, one ear still tipped backwards to listen. He wouldn’t put it past the boy to charge at him, to try to hurt him for daring to walk away.

But Jaskier found that— since Enya had come into his life— he dared a hell of a lot more than he ever had before.

And if anyone tried to come between them again, they’d better hope they had the strength to outweigh that bold burst of life, of courage, that she’d woken within him.