The sound of small hooves makes both of the adult horses pause, and Rieva perceives the transition from tense anticipation to relief in Lucifer. The pale mare relaxes as well, feeling the dread of being separated from her young son leaving her in a rush.
For a moment, there is nothing to replace that fear, and Rieva is uncertain how to feel or to act. She stands on the beach with her chest pressed against the shire stallion’s shoulder, having just been pushing back against him to extend her limited time on Tinuvel. The pressure between them eases, but heat still radiates from the spot where their bodies touch, and Rieva is reminded of their last meeting with a not-unpleasant shiver.
Then Lucifer turns to her, and the spark of their fight ignites again as he resumes his mission to take her from the Bay. Rieva’s fear for Ceyx had driven her to anger, but she suddenly fears for herself, and freezes. Not fear of Lucifer, but of the unknown; of the world beyond the borders of the Bay, and of the ocean especially. Her eyes rim with white as she comprehends Lucifer’s words and turns to look at the menacing, endless sea. She’s never left before. She doesn’t remember the last time she’s gone for a swim.
"No," she mews, her ears folding back and her body shrinking away from the water. Lucifer bars her physically from the rest of the Bay, and she flattens herself against him like a cat, certain that the ocean will mean death for her, though she knows it’s the outside world in its entirety that she fears more than the water itself.
She doesn’t really fight him, though. Eva could never admit it to herself, let alone to Lucifer, but she’s hurting. She had been hurting since her father left her on Fell’s doorstep, and no one had really stepped in to take care of her — they had just made sure she didn’t die. Hurting, somehow, all over again since Fell had disappeared even though he had not parented her in the slightest.
Lucifer had remembered her. Had come back for her. Rieva might break if he forgot about her, too.
"Fine," she says, quietly.
Rieva
the sun hesitates