11/2/2025, 8:52 PM
It is frivolous to go on. But this new element—a passing impatience with convention, puts her lapse beyond mitigation. Scents reach beyond the lake, low to the wintry sedges. She hears the pursuit of the chieftain behind, then sees the phantom’s veil as Meleys rouses in a serape of snow.
Lips part, but only for her throat to constrict. No words come. She has to pause.
For weeks she’d been confused by Cen. Angry with herself. She thought that if he’d released her, she’d make peace with never seeing him in this way. She thought she’d run the herds and be happy, she was so frightened. It had been a way of not thinking about it— a convenient turn.
Until now, the obsidian gaze had been lowered. When Cen steps through the light, her eyes go to him.
Lips part, but only for her throat to constrict. No words come. She has to pause.
For weeks she’d been confused by Cen. Angry with herself. She thought that if he’d released her, she’d make peace with never seeing him in this way. She thought she’d run the herds and be happy, she was so frightened. It had been a way of not thinking about it— a convenient turn.
Until now, the obsidian gaze had been lowered. When Cen steps through the light, her eyes go to him.
