You always seem to know how to make me smile.

The carefree joy they’d once shared felt distant and unreachable, but at those words Hades could not help but to smile, too. It was a subtle transformation— the slightest curve of his lips, a gentle warmth in his bright eyes— but one that somehow softened the harsh lines of his face. Even the furrows that Cullen’s teeth had carved seemed less menacing, particularly when the silent boy cocked his head to one side. Finch had seemed pleased by his gift, but she wasn’t accepting it. Instead, the silver bay let her neck curl forward, bridging a measure of the distance between them and bringing the tips of her ears down to the level of his chin. And then she simply stood there, her posture relaxed but expectant. Waiting. For what?

Hades hesitated for a beat, his brow furrowed and his blunt teeth clicking together uncertainty. But after a moment, he seemed to remember, and crept forward again until his chocolate skin brushed Finch’s tawny-red. Huffing softly, the young stallion lowered his head until his muzzle pressed against the silken roots of his companion’s mane, and the bright flower stood out as a colorful beacon against it. Of course, the blossom couldn’t be expected to stay; the moment she lifted her head, it would fall. With a little maneuvering, though— his teeth combing through strands of pale hair and his lips working to wrap them around the dark stem— it was as secure as it would ever be. Pulling away, the dark chestnut brushed his mouth gently over the curve of the sabino girl’s cheek. Then he took a step back, his flame-colored gaze still watching Finch.

How could they not? She was his and he was hers, and that truth had never felt more real than it did when they were all each other had.

To think it’d been two years since they were first brought together. Two years that had transformed them both beyond recognition. But if he looked closely enough, Rivaini’s son could still see the girl beneath the red woman’s beauty, and could still remember— affectionately, now— how sullen he’d been when she first imposed on his solitary existence. How much it had chafed him to share his dam’s attention with the orphaned filly, and how he’d attempted to bully and oust her. The Guardian had kept herself firmly between them, at first, but in the end it was Finch who won her own peace. A single beseeching look from those soft, sea-blue eyes turned out to be far more effective than any pinch of his mother’s teeth.

And now? Now, Hades would throw himself at anything that threatened the silver bay without hesitation. Now, he would give anything to see her smile— not only for this fleeting moment, but forever. With that thought in mind, the umber male edged forward again, lifting his chin until it came to rest over the mare’s withers and then trying— with a gentle pressure— to tug her closer to his body, where they could watch the sea roll up the shore together.