I'd be lying if there wasn't a part of me that was jealous.

I didn't know the ruby red mare ahead of me by anything deeper than sight, but I suspected whose child sat low in her belly, and the thought made my insides twist a little. It wasn't like I didn't know what a herd stallion did or that I assumed I was the only mare Zion liked.

But it still stung.

Even so, I wasn't following the little mare out of malice. In truth, she looked painfully close to the end of her pregnancy and I remembered all too well what it had felt like to shelter Caine in my belly; the way he'd sapped my strength and energy and the ability to protect myself, the way every time he stretched it felt like he was going to tear his way out of my side. Meadows that I had once raced across for the sheer pleasure of feeling my muscles burn became places I dreaded for how long they took to cross at a waddle.

I wasn't sure where Zion or Drakon had gone, but I didn't want this mare to be alone. Especially as she headed for the border and - to my surprise - kept going. I wasn't sure the Bay was considered an ally or an enemy, but it made the thick curly fur on the back of my shoulders prickle uneasily as I tracked along, my gaze flicking anxiously through the slender trees for signs of movement.

The fact that dusk was falling didn't help assuage my fears either, and when the mare's soft voice rang out in a plea to her unborn, my desire to stay this far back vanished. With a soft whicker to announce my presence, I jogged up closer to the mare, though I kept a respectable distance between us since I didn't know if she would recognize me from the Arch or not.

"Are you okay?" I ask, my gaze briefly switching to the roundness of her belly before returning to her face with a worried crease in my brow.