Amusement fills the sterling stallion’s multi-faceted gaze as the beast watches the mare huff off with an angry shout. In another time and place, the wolf might even have tried to needle her further by chasing her down if only to continue to poke and prod at the vulnerable wound of her stallion’s failure.
However, Hymn has changed him, changed him in a manner that he did not expect. Instead of taunting the pretty girl further, the beast merely remains standing, statueque against the alabaster sands of Paradise’s beach. Paper-thin nostrils flare as the stallion inhales a deep breath of the ocean air, finding comfort and a sense of peace, despite the growing anxiety and void Hymn’s absence has created. He had not been granted the time to reassure the painted mare that her daughter was safe but that parting gaze in her eyes told him she knew. Even now, the image haunts him, lingering in the forefront of his mind at all times. If it weren’t for Promise, he would have immediately rushed the shores of Tinuvel once more to retrieve her and bring the gentle mare back to the home she so cleared loved. Even now the weight of his body shifts with the urge.
But Promise needed him. She needed him here. He was left to trust the fact that Hymn could handle herself, if only for a time.
To the gods he swore to himself that the weight of their parting gaze would not be the last. To the gods he swore that the tears in Promise’s eyes and the sadness in her trembling lips would be the last time.
His distant thoughts are interrupted as Raini reappears in his peripheral. Fluted lobes twitch as the stallion tilts his crown to face the grim-faced woman. ’I need some answers from you…’ the iciness in her tone enough to cause the stallion to give her his full attention. A handful of snide remarks linger on the tip of his tongue but thankfully, the mare silences them before they manage to leave his lips and worsen an already tense situation. ’I need to know that you won’t harm a foal that isn’t sired by you…’
For a moment, the sterling stallion remains silent, his dark lashes blinking slowly over gilded eyes. His brows furrow in confusion. Did he have an “I eat children for breakfast” sign stamped to his forehead or something? Hymn had not directly asked the same question at their first interaction in the commons but the conversation had lingered along the same train of thought. Even Emerson had glared at him with a mixture of wary apprehension and hatred when they first met. That was the only explanation right?
A cocky smirk slides easily into place upon his ashen lips as the stallion exhales a forced breath. ”Yes Raini… I am the big bad wolf who eats children for breakfast. You must be wary.” he replies, his voice devoid of emotion. Golden eyes roll dramatically as the muscular beast gives his proud head a shake, riding the riminants of salt water and sand from his obsidian mane. What was these islands coming to? With mares having to worry for the safety of this children in such a manner. Sure he could see a stallion like Lucifer unaliving a foal, but that black bastard would probably kill anything with a heartbeat if it didn’t fit into whatever twisted plan he had in mind. Annubis on the other hand?
”No I wont hurt your child. You will be home long before it is born anyway. Stop with the worrying. It’s giving you wrinkles.” he replies in a deadpan voice. Whatever he need do to get Hymn home, even if it meant attempting to piece together an alliance in exchange.