like a moth to the flame Posted on March 19, 2024 at 11:12:52 PM by Kipling
Mottled ears curved toward the sound of whickering. Panic rose in the mare's chest, eyes darting to see some way of escape or further concealment. Her breathing had neared hyperventilation before the sight of the horse who had found her poor hiding place halted her breath altogether. Her eyes were wide with shock and confusion. Her mouth agape. Kipling was trembling by the time he had neared her. Relief, joy, confusion, and anger melded into a roiling boil within the mare. She wanted to rise instantly and embrace the stallion. She wanted to cry. "What am I doing here," she asked, disbelieving the sight of him alive and well. "What are you doing here?"
The loneliness of the last three years made her chest ache. And to see him now, so clearly composed even with her arrival? How could he just stand there with everything that had happened and all the time that had passed? Had he really thought nothing of leaving her, freshly pregnant, and their six month-old son? Kipling's heart was breaking all over again as her mind raced, trying to fill in the gaps and explain this betrayal. Her eyes hadn't followed his along the beach when Quinn peered down the beach. They had remained on his face. Her brain questioned whether or not drinking too much saltwater would make you hallucinate. Maybe that's what this was. Some kind of fever dream. Maybe that would explain why it sucked so bad.
His eyes were on her again; he was saying something about safety. She couldn't hear it. A sardonic tut dropped from her maw, eyes still fixed on him. "Like you give a damn about my safety." Tears brimmed unbidden in her eyes. She had believed he was dead. Chosen to believe that he had died rather than abandon her and the boys. Nothing else had seemed possible, but here he was. And she had been completely wrong about him, about everything. The devastation of that fact shook in her voice as she rushed on, giving him no time to interrupt her. "Where the hell have you been, Quinn?"