ome nameless emotion twisted in her gut as a shape emerged from the darkness. It was akin to fear and thrill alike, and it thrummed throughout her body as his familiar nicker met her ears. The moonlight made his white markings glow as he wound his way closer. While his eyes roamed over her body, Vervain's honey eyes did not leave his face. She had been right all along; he had come for them. He was safe from whatever he'd bade them run from. The weight she'd been carrying lifted as if she could finally breathe again.

Vervain could feel the gravity between them snap back into place as his body neared hers, and the world outside of the orchard dissipated. The guilt and shame she'd been harboring melted into the corners of her mind as her attention focused on him, as she'd learned to do. The moment he had left her in the swamp with no explanation had been one of the scarier moments of her life. She couldn't explain why the thought of him disappearing again upset her so and did not want to. It was only them beneath the moon again, and everything was right. It was almost euphoric.

The dark mare lifted her head as her own name drifted from his lips. It was then that the brindle closed the space between them wordlessly. It was a tender, fluid movement: the side of her face meeting a side of his neck only to lower and press into his shoulder and barrel, her body pressing against his in an embrace. It was one of the first times Vervain had been the one to initiate contact. I knew you'd come, she murmured against his gray shoulder.

vervain

mare ∙ mutt ∙ black brindle ∙ 16.3 hands
daire's daughter ∙ peyote's prize