Nyimara expected that her presence in the Dunes would not be noticed for a short time. In her experience, it was pretty common for the newly proclaimed leaders to strut themselves around like brightly colored peacocks in full plumage. In the past, she had never bothered to remain in the same place long enough to reclaim her kingdom. In most instances, she usually simply packed up her children and sought refuge in a new abandoned kingdom. It was easier to rebuild than it was to fight after all.

However, this time, things are different. She is different. Her daughters are wrapped tightly in Evrain’s embrace and maybe it was spit but she would be damned if she let that Rafe son take the Salem throne with her daughters leashed tightly at his side. No. She had made her mind up long before this new rouge appeared, she would do all within her power to keep Salem in her clutches.

The shuffling of sand and musk of testosterone alert her to the stallion’s approach. Slowly, she lifts her finely dished head from the warm water’s murky surface to glance back at him. And that is when the mask of indifference begins to slip.

Lagoon? The Lagoon was extending its reach these days.
Dark brows furrow beneath the veil of silver-white threads as Nyimara fights to shove the less-than-pleasant memories back into the recesses of her mind. She had not known his name, never bothered to ask it and yet the hate and venom that hung on the syllables of his tone back then had been deeply ingrained. She promised herself that she would return the bruises and scrapes one day but never expected that day to come… especially not on the Dunes.

’You decided to come out.’ His voice is even, devoid of emotion as he slides near to join her at the water’s edge. Like a watchful puntar, her dark eyes remain locked on the sharp contrast of his crimson frame against the golden sands and green foliage around them. She watches silently, studying the blink of his long, dark lashes and the movement of his throat as he quenches his thirst. Muscles beneath her own mahogany skin shiver, tensing and releasing as the hidden thoughts roll like the rising tides through her mind. The beast demanded she take her pound of flesh, reminding him of just how he had blocked her attempt to steal Shenzi’s son and repay that action with injuries of her own. Part of her wanted to release the pent-up rage and anger that rising hormones and confusion emotions dredged up from the pit of her core. The list of reasons was not a short one.

However, the words that fall from her own lips when his gaze once more rises to meet her own i far from what one might expect. Especially from the witch queen.

A coy smile tugs at the ashen corners of her lips as the lithe mare lifts her dished head, arching her long neck. ” Perhaps it is only that you have finally found me instead.” she remarks mildly, pausing to let her cloying quip hang in the air. Long tail whisks lightly against her supple hip as the woman tilts her head towards him, a single brow arching. ” You do realize I have no plans of leaving, don’t you? Lagoon stallion?”