castillon of the prairie.

He wanted to verbally express his gratitude for her loyalty to him, but Castillon found that words failed him. He chose to lay a soft kiss against whichever part of her was closest, where he only needed to turn his cheek in and his whiskered lips brushed her warmth. His eyelids closed slowly and he kept his muzzle pressed against her, allowing himself a few breaths of her sweet scent to take over the rich, earthy mineral wetness of the swamp around them. As much as Castillon wanted to pretend as if the doubts of Eira and Hirka hadn’t hurt him, they had.

He was too young and too stubborn to see it from their perspective, which left him soured and hurt, tucking in to the one soul who trusted him so deeply, he couldn’t believe himself so lucky.

“Thank you,” he managed to say eventually, when he trusted himself to get the words out without them shaking.

“I…” his eyelids opened and he gently pulled himself away from where he’d been pressing into her. His dark brown eyes were briefly troubled as they skipped across her lovely features. “I wonder sometimes why out of all my brothers, I’m the one my dad chose to take the Prairie after him… I just…” He swallowed thickly and shook his head, breathing a small frustrated breath at himself - these were things he did not show others; he was afraid to be so vulnerable, to show doubt. Castillon did not like to admit that there were often times he doubted his capabilities over the large number of his siblings Zevulun could have chosen to take over the Prairie.

“I appreciate your support.”

There was a small beat of silence and he made a small sound that sounded somewhat like a laugh, glancing briefly off at their curtain of leaves blocking the sight of the Lagoon beyond them. “Sorry that this is where it’s gotten you,” he remarked dryly, but he was clearly joking, as soon as she met his gaze he’d managed to grin.

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