Gale
this is going to break me clean in two --
this is going to bring me close to you
Gale had healed a few of Mazikeen’s old scars even before he’d let her kill him, so he cannot blame the entirety of the benignant emotions that he now feels on his recent death at the teeth of the fire-eyed mare beside him. He’d healed the wounds from the armored monster as well, and wonders briefly where the little thing had gotten to. But his attention is soon back on the queen exhaling huff of laughter as she describes the southern Fae.
From this distance it is easier to pretend he is not distubred by the Prince, by the abilities he has that Gale doesn’t entirely understand. Perhaps he’ll take a little princeling from the brilliant pampas; he remembers the hills of the southern land well from his own childhood. That would mean leaving Hyaline though, and so for now Gale dismisses the thought in favor of other things.
Images of fire are shaken away by the shiver that travels down Mazikeen’s spine. He lowers his mouth to follow the trail it had taken. The bitterness she feels slips down his throat, and the desire for revenge, and the anger, and Gale isn’t sure if it’s his desire or hers that he feels first, but it doesn’t matter.
Though he’d fallen asleep as soon as they’d reached dry land that first night, Gale has not been shy in his affections since. He is all but certain that they will have another child come spring, so even if Sickle is lost to them forever they will have a chance with another - probably better - child.
He kisses his way across her scars, humming a content agreement with her admission. He can recall their creation with satisfaction, and though his movements begin as languorous, that does not last for long.
Later, when they are both satisfied, Gale brushes a lock of black-tipped hair from Mazikeen’s face. There had been no blood shed, yet he feels entirely satiated. His magic is gone entirely, yet there is only contentment where there would otherwise be emptiness.
His mind returns to where it had been before he’d been distracted by the nearness of his bewitching companion. The advantages to keeping captives are too numerous to count, but the glaring problem is keeping them captive. Malik and Bolder had been simple - child can be lied to - but Gale’s patience is short and he has seen the skittish way that Anath moves about after her interaction with Mazikeen.
Perhaps he could change them like he had the monster, Gale thinks, transform them into something that cannot run away. He’ll have to find someone to practice on, and wonders how permanently it might damage Malik. Maybe it’s best to wait until Sickle arrives instead.
“Do you have any particular grudges?” He asks, “Or shall we continue to work our way through my family?” They’d taken Nashua’s son, but the Curse has memories now of all of them, taken from the mind of the briefly-returned Gale and assembled with what he’d already known.
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