Asmodeus could not help but chuckle as she makes her observation about what he would do if leashed, and amusement glitters in his warm eyes. She was not wrong. He had spent far too long beneath the heel of Nyimara's designer shoe (and his father before that) to be willing to submit easily again. Even so, he still maintained that some mares were worth submitting to… at least sometimes.

Her reply to his comment about visiting is more cautious than he expected, but likely deserved. Asmodeus had never really planned to take much of an active role in his children's lives. In truth, that was part of why he sought out and admired mares with as much strength of character as Nyimara and Marceline and Daciana: he trusted that they were capable of child-rearing on their own and did not need him to be around. After all, his mother had raised twins practically by herself, given that Solomon had little to do with them until they were much older. It was not until Cahyr returned to him that the chimera finally began to realize what he was missing, and to yearn for the sort of relationship that he had always wanted with his sire.

But his hesitation to visit the Peak was not only due to his own misunderstandings of his desires, but also because he understood the more he interacted with Marceline, the more of a target he would paint on their daughter for Nyimara to aim at. The last time he and the silver witch had spoken, she had made her feelings clear on Marceline's visit, and Asmo knew her to be jealous and vindictive enough to utilize her foe's child as collateral if for no other reason than to get back at hm.

Still, the news he carried was important, if only because he was one step closer to luring Marceline to the Desert to live with him. "Helios has agreed to the monarchy, which means that only the Hills stands in our way." He was careful, judiciously using the word we, because he still very much liked the idea of keeping both queens with him. How he would manage to do so when he assumed they would be plotting to kill each other every time his back was turned was a logistical problem his fantasy simply didn't have time for.

"But what is going on with you?" He asks, attempting to meet her eyes with his own. "Something is wrong." It was a statement not a fact, a supposition woven from the small clues she'd granted him through the conversation. Asmodeus tried to keep up on the news across the islands, but there was much that could happen in ones life that never made the "front page" of the rumor mill. And whatever it was, it was seemingly important to Marceline, which meant that it was important to him.


OOC: I apologize for any continuity errors - realized at this post that I was mixing up timelines <3

Adult Stallion 16.0HClassic Champagne ChimeraSolomon x Xiomara