Frustration boils beneath Mazikeen's skin as she stalks through the barren forest, the brittle crunch of dry leaves echoing with each step she takes. Twice now she has abandoned the shores of the Cove seeking a worthy prize to present to Warwick, and twice she has returned empty-handed, her only trophy the bruises that littered her body.
Never before has she felt the need to prove herself to someone, but there is something different about her situation with Warwick. Being forced to share the throne with Freki has instilled in her an inescapable drive to prove her loyalty, her usefulness, her worth. She wants Warwick to know that she is, and always would be, the better of the two queens. That it is her who holds the motivation to help expand the Cove into something great. That it is her who is putting forth the effort. That she will never be content to sit around and look pretty, popping out princes and princesses in quick succession.
Teeth gnashing and ears pinned, Mazikeen pauses to release her pent-up rage on a rotten log that has fallen across the path, watching as it splinters satisfyingly beneath the strike of her hooves. In the distance the dull roar of the falls can be heard, and above it - voices? No, a voice, deep and thunderous and full of malice.
Never above eavesdropping, Mazikeen listens to the exchange from afar, intrigued by the booming voice that bounces off the trees. She catches only snippets of the one-sided conversation: 'disgust me - son - forever.' Not enough to paint an entire picture, but enough to create a rough sketch. A stallion with a troublesome child, perhaps? It was certainly enough to pique her interest.
The forest falls silent, only the trilling of the birds and the creaking of branches filling the air. Mazikeen stays stock still, listening for any further signs of confrontation, but there is only an empty quietness.
Her previous frustrations forgotten and unable to resist her growing curiosity, Mazikeen ventures forth, making little effort to remain silent as she stalks towards the source of the voice. He is unmistakable when she finally lays eyes on him through the thinning underbrush: tall as a tree and twice as thick, ropes of corded muscle bound around sturdy bone and wrapped in a pelt as black as oil. He is a far cry from the svelt figure she has grown accustomed to with Warwick, nor the type that normally catches her eye, but there is a darkness about him, seeping from within like shadow from a forest, that draws her attention.
"Indeed, let us see," Mazikeen says as she steps from the shadows, the words rolling from her tongue in a silky purr, a fiery gleam liquefying her citrine eyes into pools of molten gold. Despite her intrigue she keeps her distance as she makes a slow circle about him, her gaze lingering on the oblique line of his hip and the sharp slope of his shoulder, before catching upon his peculiar eyes as she comes to stand perpendicular to him. "I couldn't help but overhear your exchange earlier. Children really can be so troublesome, can't they?"
mare. fifteen-one. seal bay roan leopard
akhal-teke mutt. marceline x ışıksız
queen of the cove. played by pippa.