"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
09-28-2015, 09:51 PM (This post was last modified: 09-29-2015, 09:29 PM by Minette.)
la jeune fille marquée
She knows Gryffen well enough to understand that he will want to reclaim her body. Every cell of her being, remade and refined through fire, reeks of Carnage and the white wolf will not stand for that. The dark god fulfilled his purposes but she does not belong to him. Minette thinks with grim satisfaction that it will not sit well with her captor that she is marked by another. For the first time she relishes the pain of the still healing brand.
The walk to the mountains is a short and quiet one. Gryffen is almost courteous, no doubt waiting for the right moment to remind her of who he is.
As if she could forget. As if the depths of her soul have not been ravaged by him. She prays that he did not see her contemptuous look to Straia, and that he has grown mellow in the ages, to her, since she has seen him. But she knows better.
Minette thinks of the others. Are the lives they are returning to as dismal as hers? Perhaps they are all captives, no matter where they roam. Forever the voice of the dark god will haunt her own dreams. She cannot hope that any of the others have escaped unscathed.
And then she thinks of her daughter, a trail in her mind she tries her best not to follow often. The girl will be a yearling in the spring. She was smoky black with brown eyes when the pale gray mare last saw her. Has she changed? Has she grown into the legginess common to all foals? Minette misses Anguisette with an ache that is deeper than any Gryffen or Carnage can inflict on her, but it also a balm on her heart that the Amazons have taken her in. It is the safest place for a girl from a broken family.
I am her broken family. And she deserves better.
She remembers the feel of flames enveloping her body, and Minette trembles, stumbling over the borders into Gryffen's land. Stark terror and dread are evident in her body and she whirls around to face the white stallion. Her mind freezes and she has nothing to say, her chest heaving as she struggles to calm herself.
Why? she thinks bitterly. Why have I survived hell only to return to its fallen angel?
He’s unusually quite on the way back to the Mountains. Perhaps he is preoccupied for it is even more unusual that he walks by Minette’s side instead of leading her like a pack animal as was his protocol. Once they have crossed the border, he stops to look at her. His crimson gaze is unreadable as he steps closer to her. His lips brush against her flank, against the knitting flesh that’s trying to heal. ”He shouldn’t have done that…” He murmurs quietly, emotionless. His muzzle moves along her haunch, trails listlessly up her spine. It travels leisurely along the broadness of her neck till he is facing her. It then presses against her muzzle, his breath mingling with hers and his glowing red eyes surprisingly not filled with malice. ”I must keep my promise to you.” He whispers and his wings tickle her side as he moves behind her. He takes her as he told her he would and yet he is not rough. He acts like a lover should, caressing her backside with his muzzle and only pulling lightly at her mane.
When he has finished, he moves to her side again. The wings fold neatly against him, a soft rustling as the feathers come to rest. He sighs softly, velvet muzzle resting against her cheek. ”You came back as you should and for that I will reward you.” A pause as he pulls away, looking for all the world like a concerned and loving boyfriend. ”What did he do to you.” It wasn’t lost on him, her heat. It was uncomfortable, the way her skin warmed his cool one. He didn’t like it at all. However he says nothing, still caressing her shoulder softly. ”Things will change my little minnow. All I ever wanted was to trust you.”
09-29-2015, 09:56 PM (This post was last modified: 09-29-2015, 09:59 PM by Minette.)
la jeune fille marquée
Minette looks at the stallion in disbelief, startled at the pleasant cadence of his words. They hold a touch of something she would swear was concern if she didn't know him better. She eyes him, her muscles taut with caution, but her brown eyes betray the longing for gentleness she always holds within her.
Minette stiffens as he caresses her but she does not fight him. She knew he would fulfill the promise he made when he left her at the opening to hell and she knows that to defy him would be useless. Unlike the first time, though, he is gentle, almost loving in his touches. She is not a willing participant but she doesn't feel ravaged and broken by the encounter. Compared to the devastation of her last few days, his body against hers is almost heavenly.
She is stunned.
He finishes, his pure white angels wings ruffling her side. Min wonders what he did to earn them.
"I-I'm sorry I went to the Chamber first. It was on the way…"
She hates herself for the apologetic tone in her voice, the need to apologize to her rapist and captor. She cannot help herself. Minette has wanted a good man to please. The desire is ingrained in her; she just never knew it would not be a good stallion she ended up with. Her mind is a battlefield of warring desires.
At her core, Minette is hopeful, and she feels a tendril of wary expectancy. Perhaps, perhaps, there is more to Gryffen than the wolf he appears. She is not sure if she truly believes in him, but her time below ground has torn her apart and she grasps at the smallest shreds of optimism. Still, the pale gray mare thinks of her wounds and of the one who handed her over to be the plaything of a dark god. She pauses for a long time, looking away from the stallion to gather her courage.
"He… he hurt me." An overwhelming understatement. The vastness of her ordeal makes her weary and steals the words from her throat. Her joints still ache with every move she makes.
The monster grizzly bears down on her. Sobs rip from her throat as the sounds of his footsteps grow ever nearer.
She starts again, blinking to clear her head, unconsciously leaning into Gryffen. "I-there was a fire. And his touch..."
Her skin crackled, burning away like bark pulls from a tree.
She shakes her head vehemently, traumatized by the images that will never leave her. Her skin burns hotter and the warmth of him against her side is is suddenly absorbed by her body. Slowly, so slowly that she doesn't even notice, the brand on her left haunch begins to knit together, looking like a scar of several weeks instead of one that is recently seared.
"Gryffen." she says warily. "What do you mean, reward?"
She flicks her tail uncomfortably, her voice soft. Without conscious thought, her body has relaxed.
"But how can I trust you?"
Minette wants to believe. Her heart aches with the desire to be soothed.
She exposes herself for him as he knows she will. The moment he shows her affection and the possibility of kindness, the hope gleams in her eyes. There are so many ways to break someone and he knows that even at Carnage’s hands, she still has hope left. There was only one way to extinguish it once and for all. He will make her fall in love with him. It’s a concept he can’t grasp or comprehend. The feeling of love and it’s warmth and all the emotion entangled in it. However he understands passion and he has seen enough lovers in his lifetime, both of true love and love that should have never been, and he knows enough to pretend. Nobody could ever say that Gryffen wasn’t an excellent pretender.
”Do not apologize.” He cuts off her stammering words, a wing coming to her mouth to silence her. ”I suppose you would have to come to the Chamber eventually.” He sighs softly again, a shoulder rolling in a shrug as he looks out into the ragged peaks of his mountains. His raven lounges in a nearby tree, eyes closed and feigning sleep. ”I suppose you wonder why we do what we do, why I am the way I am.” His crimson gaze hesitates on her and this hesitation is real. It’s something he has never told anyone. ”I was born in the Chamber. My mother was the Queen at the time and my father was her General.” He removes his gaze, true anger flitting across his features and in this he is not pretending. Merely thinking of her made his blood boil, Kennedy… The white bitch. He speaks through gritted teeth, wings ruffling in his agitation. ”There’s was a passionate relationship but a toxic one. My mother left me in the adoption den simply because she didn’t want to be reminded of my father anymore. In fact she left me there and took home a different child to raise instead.” Now this wasn’t exactly true… He had actually run away looking for a new home because he couldn’t stand her and had failed to find one. Deep down Kennedy probably did love him but the emotion wasn’t one he could feel and so he became unruly and dangerous. ”And then she had another child with my father, one she kept.” Truly nothing had been more insulting than that. He leaves out the part where he got his revenge, raping her when she was pregnant with another’s child after his father had died. No need to get into that old memory.
His expression is clear when he looks back at her. A faint smile ghosting across his lips. ”This is who I am Minette. And the Chamber is a part of me. There are things that I will do that will make your skin crawl. But I can try to be better to you.” He moves closer to her as she speaks of what Carnage has done. ”I am sorry that he hurt you. Perhaps I wanted you to know that there are worse things out there than me.” And that is another bit of truth for things could always get worse. Even he knows that there are others that can cause more havoc and wreck more destruction than he. She leans into him and his wings fold gently around her body, keeping her in an embrace. It’s as she murmurs into his chest that he sees her brand change shape. His red iris’s narrow as suddenly the fresh wound starts to heal before his very eyes. The cogs churn inside his mind but he says nothing, gives no inkling that he is aware of what has happened.
Instead he pulls back from her, his wings readjusting back to their resting position. ”You’re Alpha Mare here of course. Any others will have to respect and listen to you. You’ll be in charge while I’m away.” Of course the ravens are really the ones in charge when he is gone, as if he can trust any of these silly women to anything. But telling her that wouldn’t really help his progress so far. ”As for trusting me…” Another tug at the corner of his lips as his muzzle presses against her cheek and lingers there for a heartbeat. ”I’ll prove it to you.”
Minette startles at the touch of his wings, flinching unconsciously for though her heart aches to believe, her body knows better. She shies, but she does not move away, forcing her strained muscles to hold still. Despite all she knows and all she has been through, the pale gray mare will hear him out.
She desperately wants what he says to be true. She longs to be able to trust someone.
Minette is lonely.
Concern etches her features as Gryffen spins his tale. She cannot help it. She feels badly for the little boy he must have been, abandoned and unloved. Perhaps his life would have taken a different turn if he'd only had someone who cared for him. The anger on his face when he speaks of his mother frightens Min, but still she stays and listens.
If no one had loved Minette, if she had not loved Anguisette, perhaps either of them could also have become the broken stallion she sees before her now.
True compassion shows in her brown eyes as he finishes speaking. "I am sorry, Gryffen." She pauses, hesitant. "There are worse than you."
Not-Minette is a broken, half eaten body sprawled on the ground, torn to pieces by hell hounds. She cries as if she will never stop.
Minette breathes deeply, watching Gryffen carefully for his response. "But I can forgive you if-if you want to start over."
She knows that the Gryffen she has known over the past torturous year would beat her within an inch of her life for those words. Forgiveness or compassion or pity would never occur to him as options with his mare. Minette says a silent prayer that he will prove himself, that he is capable of change.
Why wouldn't she believe? He is offering all she wants; forgiveness, love, acceptance, trust.
"Thank you." She replies softly when he announces she will be alpha mare. It is not a position she cares for, but Min can tell he is trying, and she doesn't want to discourage him. The gray mare is still wary but her defenses are crumbling. She wonders what he can do to prove himself, but does not ask. Instead she broaches another question.
"I-does this mean I can go to the Chamber with you at times?"
She hates the Chamber, but it is his home, and she thinks of Fiasko and her daughter.
Her muscles have relaxed noticeably. Still, she does not see that her brand has almost entirely healed.
