---

The Minister told herself she was not searching for his scent when she tasted the breeze as each zephyr wrapped around her sleek, dappled coat… but that would have been a lie. Clarity knew it, the other sisters suspected it… even Ryvar made a point of keeping her words to Khar’pern short and precise for that very reason. Despite her proclamation of devotion to the Peak and those who sought shelter here, the rose-colored mare could not deny the fluttering in her heart the moment his musky scent washed over her.

The myriad of emotions that swells within her after her most recent conversation with the General haunts her mind, but those voices are not nearly loud enough to stop her hooves from immediately abandoning her current path of patrol. Even if it is just a glimpse, even if he has only come to bring her word of how Solas has settled into the Lagoon, she told herself she would be content. Beneath the bite of their words or his snarky remarks, Khar’pern tells herself the affectionate caress is there just as much for him as it is for her.

What she does not expect, is the sight that unfolds before her as she crests the shale covered peak.

Crystalline eyes find him easily. The white splotches on his body is a stark contrast to the vivid greens and yellowing grasses that still made up most of the hillocks and meadows the mares spent their times grazing upon. It does not take the skilled mare long to recognize his attempt at theft. What does take her a moment to register, more in her heart than mind, is that the object of his attention is not the pair of mares that surround the mahogany form.

Ryvar.

Somewhere deep within her, the clawed beast awakens from its lull of contentment with a roar of fury. Raven-tipped ears disappear beneath the wind-swept mantle of her dark threads as the mother gives life to the betrayal that burns down her throat. The moon-washed dapples along her spine tingle, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she closes the gap of space between them with an authoritative prance. Ash-dusted lips peel back, no longer meeting his presence with a smirking grin. Hurt, betrayal and anger battle for control in her glacial eyes. .

”Leave.” she manages to growl above the tense barrier that hangs heavily around them. She does not move to close the distance as she might have wanted to do until that moment. Instead, her hooves remain firmly rooted to the earth at Vogue's side, challenge glittering in her gaze. He would pay for this.

---