At her tease of those waiting for him in the Prairie, Zevulun offered a more characteristic, rakish grin with the flash of his ice-blue eyes. But the moment was still soft and still theirs, and while Zevulun had plenty of lovers (and always would), this belonged to no one but Sabriel. He wished he could say that about the next day and the next, but he let his heart lament for her future absence even while she lay as close to him as she physically could be. His smile wanted to turn sad, but he didn’t let it. Couldn’t let her know how much he had to fight to keep from pulling her away and into him forever and always.
He laid his head down and let his pale, pink lids gently close and bring in the darkness behind them. His white lashes gently brushed his cheeks, fluttering as his eyes moved under their closed lids, his mind still active on everything around him. He was tired, truly, but he was taking too much comfort in just lying here with Sabriel, the silence, her warmth… a slow smile curled up his lips and he blinked his eyes open, catching her watching him.
The curved edges of his lips deepened, and he felt like laughing softly even though he didn’t know why. Zevulun stayed quiet, but let his eyes gently fall away from catching hers to instead studying everything about her he could see. She was breathtaking in the white-blue moonlight, but he wondered what she looked like in the sun. He would know soon enough, even if it wouldn’t be for long enough.
The tranquility was settling in quicker than he expected. Zevulun’s eyelids grew a little bit heavy and he let them drop slowly, the vision of her going blurry before he lost it behind them closing. A low, relaxed sigh exhaled out of his mouth and Zevulun felt, for the first time in a long time, truly and completely at peace. It was the kindest way he could ever remember being allowed to slip into sleep… Maybe the last time had been when he and Avalon were tucked away in their little winter cave, sequestered from the herd as her belly grew with their first child.
No… That was almost it…
There was something more with Sabriel. Something different. Something that couldn’t be put into words, but Zevulun would never deny how much he felt it.
At last the pale stallion fell asleep and any last bit of tension that had been left in his body slipped far away.
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