Tiberios
He can tell she’s avoiding something. The tone, the unwillingness to come forward and talk about what was certainly going to break them for good. He could feel it like the shadow of a storm - growing, waiting to free a single thunderbolt. The news of the wolves causes his head to turn to her, the single flicker of a molten gold eye. He could smell a magician’s hand on that trick. But she seems unconcerned about this, it doesn’t even drive pitch into her voice. Just a passing comment that dulls next to what was really festering in her heart.
The painted man finds that he is quivering, such is the effort he's using to steel himself for what was to come. He knows that Talulah would not make such roundabout conversation if she weren’t sure it would devastate him. But could he be so surprised? Hadn’t he known what would be waiting for him? No doubt she was about to admit her devotion to Tiphon, her unending, unfathomable love to the golden king. His jaw clenches. His own mother had fallen prey to the whims of the god-like being. Why not Talulah?
But what falls from her lips stops him in his tracks.
A child. A son, to be exact. He can picture the creature now - fair, achingly beautiful to look at, with golden hair. His heart crumbles, but he finds that a smile lifts his cheeks. How could he ever forget the glory of his own daughters birth? It would be sick to rob Talulah of that happiness, and the child was hardly to blame for the actions of its’ parents. “No doubt he’s as wonderful as you, Talulah. I always imagined you a beautiful mother, so it would seem I was right.”
He couldn’t tell her that he always imagined the son to be his.
TIBERIOS
White Fire manipulating stallion