He listens intently to her confession. Despite the reservations and indifference that life’s harshness has trained into her bones, she cannot help but feel a sense of remorse for the glimmer of disappointment that dances in his dark eyes. For a few moments, he says nothing, his gaze, like her own, drifting to the grasses before their hooves as they walked together in silence. It is the worst silence she has felt in longer than she can remember. Her heart ached to break the barrier between them but no matter how desperately she tried, no words came to her lips that would remedy the situation. What could she say? Was she Raegar’s mare? Well, sort of. He had been but a yearling when she allowed him to lead her to his home. The brindle stallion Rafe had been less than pleased at her appearance and even less welcoming when Raegar made it clear he intended to keep her as “his”. She had spoken to the youth’s defense then, her savior; she had summoned the courage to discharge Rafe’s dismissal with her own determination if only to show the older stallion that his son was not quite the nuisance he seemed to think him to be. Of course, had she met Zurok before then, she might have happily turned heel and fled. Then again, there was little chance she would have survived long enough to meet the black stallion where she was left alone in the desert as she had been.

She sighs heavily, her golden ears tilting sideways in defeat. She was not necessarily ready to return to Raegar and the Badlands. If anything, her impromptu trip to the Prairie had reawoken the long dormant ache for easier living. Though she had suffered very little since the painted colt brought her home and taught her how to find water and decent grazing amongst the eroded rocks and sun-bleached sands of Salem, Luthien was a far easier place to live with green grass and fresh water in steady supply. The horses who grazed loosely across the rolling hills of yellowing grass were plump with health and rich nutrition. At least in comparison to her own lean frame.

Suddenly the dark stallion pauses. ’Ayiana…’ Again her name falls from his lips, generating the same heat to her skin as she lifts her own azure pools to meet his. Gently he stretches his velvet muzzle towards hers, the warmth of his breath swathing her in security. ’...love is never a simple equation…’ he begins. Love? Was this love? The strangeness in her breast that caused her heart to flutter? Infatuation yes, one no doubt shared by the gleam of affection in his dark eyes but love? They were but still strangers were they not? Gavriel… his name resurfaces unbidden. She had told herself it was love that drove her to Tinuvel and beyond in search of him. It was love that she told herself that brought her to endure Tyr’s touch and Artem’s abandonment. It was love that she told herself she would never again valiantly defend and strive to retain. ’..your devotion to your daughter and the stallion who saved you…’ Yes, she was devoted to them. She had not abandoned Amaris as she had occasionally imagined when her pregnancy had been at its latest moments. She had not left Raegar alone as any other might have done (yes she never missed the looks the other mares of Rafe’s herd gave her).

And yet she cannot hide the swell of her heart at the tenderness in the black stallion’s eyes or the way her soul lept as the smile crinkled the pale snip above his lips. ’...I would never ask you to forsake that.’ Her lashes flutter as her own golden brows furrow in confusion. He wouldn't? It was not the response she expected to fall from his lips and yet, somehow, it seems only fitting. His gaze is tender as he continues on as if recognizing her confusion. ’..my heart yearns for you….’ her heart swells and joy resonates within her like a moth to a flame. ’...I cannot say what the future will hold…. When you are ready… I will be here waiting…’ He reaches for her ashen muzzle and Ayiana responds, extending her own dished muzzle to touch the velvet of his own. In all her years, never has she felt such emotion, such earnest truth as what Zurok laid at her hooves willingly. Unshed tears gather behind her azul pools as alabaster lashes blink them away rapidly to avoid comment. A warm smile tugs at the corners of her lips as she inhales the thick testosterone-soaked scent of buffalo grass and sage that clung to his skin. ”Zurok….” she begins, fighting through the heavy choke of emotions that gather like a lump at the back of her throat.

’Let us make the most of these moments…’ His words cause her lithe frame to lean closer to his own, enveloping herself in the press of his warm body against her cool skin. Timidly she revels in the closeness of the intimacy he offers, allowing her ashen lips to trail the curves and contours of his cheek and throat. Tenderly she rubs her crest against the concave of his throat, trailing her own lips down to the broad swell of his muscular chest. ”Yes.. Zurok. Please…” she murmurs against the coolness of his obsidian skin. ” Stay with me for just a little while longer.” she whispers, as much a question as a prayer. Her mind might wish her to think of Amaris and Raegar and the loyalties that bound her with chains far from Luthien. But at this moment, her heart screams louder… she deserved this. Even if it was only meant to be fleeting.