’I will always be here for you… you won’t ever be alone.’ the resolve in his words was meant to comfort her, it was meant to reassure her and wrap her heart in a tight nest created by the pale stallion’s golden love. Despite how desperately she wants to believe him, to do nothing more than spend her days nestled tightly against his side and feel the security of the steady rhythm of his heart, Larka is not foolish enough to believe it. The fates always had plans for them… plans that she rarely saw coming.

Silver blue eyes close as for a moment, Larka allows herself to not think beyond the strength in Zevulun’s embrace. Her heart ached with a wound that, as tender as those words were meant to be, had been reopened and bled anew. She exhales a heavy breath as her eyes flutter open. ”You cannot promise me that, Zevulun.” she breathes, her words a soft spoken whisper barely audible above the rustling of the trees. ’I’ll never leave you Larka.’ those were the very words that Darshan had spoken to her all those years ago when together they wavered on the edge of uncertainty that Shamwari’s departure brought them. ’I’ll never leave you Larka.’ the nearly forgotten memory of Shamwari’s certain voice lingers like a ghost on the periphery of her mind. At least Balor had never made her such a promise but the sting of his death had been no less. I’ll never leave you. Those words were a death sentence for her. A promise that her heart would be broken in the end.

A sad smile ghosts across her whiskered lips as Larka extends her ashen muzzle to tenderly press into the concave of his throat. ”Promise me instead that you will love me while you are here.” she whispers, her words hot and heavy against his skin. At least that, she could trust, that she could believe. Those words held no promise of ending.