Anyone;

[Valdis]

how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage?
too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays

 
 She slips away from the forest’s shadows, wandering from Sylva’s grip to appease her restlessness and curiosity. An occasional glance over her shoulder confirms that she isn’t being followed. Solitude, her closest friend, hugs her and wipes away many of her responsibilities from mind. Nonetheless, Sinner frequents the deep corridors of her thoughts. Her skin yearns for him, already addicted to his body’s warmth even as the climate stretches into spring and summer. Valdis narrows her eyes, seemingly disappointed in herself to have succumbed so easily to him (but it had actually taken a year until allowing him to hold her, to trace his lips down her body).

But it’s only him. No one else has touched her skin, no one except her family.

It would be so easy to crumble in the face of temptation and curl herself into other men, and yet when her King comes to mind – haunting, oppressive – she cannot bring herself to do it. How has she already lost herself to him?


A dismissive snort quivers her nostrils as she steps forward and escapes the treeline. Behind her is a beaten trail cutting around Loess and the Forest and into Sylva. Ahead of her, for miles until merging with the horizon, is an open meadow that has become rather familiar over time. Memories are tucked away in every blade of grass and every shrub. Valdis regards her surroundings thoughtfully, a cough suddenly rattling her body, before she lowers her head to graze beneath spring sunshine.


 

Valdis