castillon of the prairie.

Castillon glared at her without hiding any bit of his returned anger.

“Do what you think is best for you,” he bit out, “but whether you want to sit here and throw a tantrum like you’re the age of our daughter, I am going to explain myself to you. If you still want to leave after that,” his heart burned and ached and pounded, but Castillon stubbornly said the words anyways, “then you are more than welcome to.”

Honestly a part of him expected Hirka to lunge at him. He wouldn’t dare strike her back, but he wouldn’t relent to any abuse she wanted to inflict, no matter how sore he still was from his recent fight.

“A herd leader can only be kept for a short period,” he pointed out, “they have no right to me beyond that.” he wouldn’t need to fight for his freedom. But Aura’s? Yes.

“Would you rather I sit here like a sitting duck season after season, year after year, as the Lagoon boss and all his lackeys keep coming and pecking at us? Would you rather it be Eriana that’s taken as soon as she’s old enough?” His voice raised angrily as he said it, and Castillon wished he could have talked patiently like he imagined his father could, but he couldn’t. He was so angry with everyone for not understanding what he was doing here. How little they trusted him…

Why did he want a family that had no trust in his choices?

“When my father came back to the islands it was during a horrible winter and a lagoon bachelor kindly greeted them, took them to safe shelter, and offered them refuge if they wanted to stay. When my great-aunt led the Peak, my father told me she and the Lagoon boss at the time were working toward peace.” His voice had calmed as he explained, and he didn’t care if Hirka was actually listening to him or not, he kept talking. “So why in just a few years is the Prairie being picked apart by this Lagoon? Why was my sister” his voice lowered to a hiss, eyes burning as he thought of the first time he saw Vervain’s face when she returned, “entrapped there for an entire year and forced to have a child?”

A silence fell and then quietly he added, “I won’t let that happen to our daughter. I don’t want that to happen to you, and I won’t let that happen to Aura because I failed her. She may not want me to go either, but you all need to understand, I’m not just doing this for her.” Another brief pause then, even quieter, “so if that’s not what you think your leader, your stallion, the father of your children should do for the good of the family… then… then I guess this is a bit longer of a goodbye than I thought it would be.”

whoever makes my baby cry is gonna lose some teeth tonight
stallion ∙ mutt ∙ zevulun x riesling ∙ buckskin snowcap ∙ 15.3 hands