"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
07-10-2019, 08:37 AM (This post was last modified: 07-10-2019, 08:40 AM by 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
Her sentence is near completion.
Pangea hasn’t at all been terrible. Swept away in the shadows, Valdis obediently followed her captor until she was engulfed by a barren landscape. It became the birthplace of her son. The delivery was nearly immediate when she crossed into unfamiliar territory. It may become his home, she muses as she briefly glances back across her shoulder. Erio is there, stalking the shadows in a body that conceals his obvious insecurities. It’s as she instructed. ”Stay hidden far behind me,” she whispered before they left Pangea’s security. This decision is likely foolish. It will bite her in the end, but she has played with the idea for weeks.
Only when the landscape is dotted with trees does Valdis finally stop. The forest is familiar and it reminds her heavily of the years in Sylva. Nothing is stopping her from returning, nothing but uncertainty.
Everything is changing and she doesn’t yet know where to turn.
She hasn’t seen her daughter in months, adding to the stressors that keep piling as a wall around her.
Sinner. She wants to say his name, to speak it into the darkness and call him forward, but she hesitates. His name chokes her. It swells on her tongue until all she can do is take another breath. Their son is far behind, downwind, and her stomach now begins to swell with something entirely new and different.
It will only be a matter of time, she decides, until he finds her.
And she is unafraid.
Lifting her head arrogantly, Valdis feels the wind kiss her skin and blow her scent away.
07-13-2019, 01:53 PM (This post was last modified: 07-13-2019, 04:30 PM by Sinner.)
there is but one rule hunt or be hunted
Sylva was no longer his.
It was a downfall for sure. At least others would call it that. Sinner would not.
Sylva was simply a steppingstone in the end. It was a step towards greater things. Things that have yet to come. Time was all he needed, and he had all the time in the world. Patience was simply a virtue and over the years he honed at learning it well.
There was nothing holding him back now. He had no rules to follow. No invisible principles he needed to abide to that bounded the kingdoms and their territories together. It was the wild he followed, the hunt that controlled him now.
Leaving Sylva behind had lifted a weight from his shoulders. A crown he could careless about now. The hellhound was never meant to bend the knee to another. He was always meant to be above it all. All of them that tried to make him obedient could never truly.
All he has is the hunt now. The taste of flesh and blood consume him. The intoxication that fills him as he holds the life of another in his hands. Death fills him with life. He is simply a predator. Always will be.
The forest has become his home again. It is where he finds his taste for blood. His taste for simple and easy things. He craves it more and more each time.
His lips are dripping with blood as he feasts upon a kill not long ago. The deer lays lifeless on the ground, exposed wide. A carcass simply, but a feast for a hunter. With every bite he enjoys. The breaking of bones, the mauling of muscles and tendons tearing. There was no better enjoyment than this.
The winter wind rustles the canopy of naked branches and what leaves remain attached above him. Something within the wind pulls him away from his feast. A familiar scent the wind carries, pushing it into his nostrils. He inhales it deeply. The scent feels so far away. A distant memory. A lifetime ago.
He lifts his nose up into the air. Inhaling the cold winter wind once again. The source of the scent is near. Something within him hungers for it more than his banquet of deer. Sinner is pulled away from it. Taking steps towards the direction it comes involuntarily. He has no control, but he doesn’t try to pull away from it either.
Carrying him forward, he follows the scent still. The forest begins to fade a bit as the treeline becomes dotted with a few of them. Within the distance, where the treeline breaks at the edge of the forest, does he finally find the source of it.
Valdis.
The dark wolf instantly bites his lips, still stained with the deer's blood, and considers returning to his lifeless deer, but the thought is quickly lost within the darkness of his mind. Instead, he continues forward. Closing the distance between them. He walks with pride while she stands there with her own personal pride. A piece of her he still admires to this day.
“Valdis,” he greets her with a sweet tone, like milk and honey, as he comes to a halt.
Shrouded in darkness, he steps from around a large oak tree with eyes that glow beneath his brows. A hellhound. Of course, he arrives in his most comfortable form. Glancing up at him, a coy smile spreads across her lips. When she sees him like this, she sees Erio. Born equine and yet prefers the cloak of a predator.
It seems like a lifetime time since Valdis last heard her name spoken from his tongue. Husky, clawing. It draws her attention immediately as she turns to face him, observing him underneath the canopy of their surroundings. ”Sinner,” she mutters, her voice barely above a whisper as he closes the distance between them slowly, confidently. Habit wants her to fold into him, but she hesitates. By doing so, her feet root themselves in place, reconsidering how easily they could fall into each other.
Litotes voice slithers across her thoughts, reminding her how Sinner never visited, never seemed to care for her abduction.
(“We are nothing,” she lied not to him, but to herself)
The most pungent deterrent smacks her across the face, solidifying her stands in front of Sinner. He, of course, remains cloaked in Mary’s scent. Another breeding, she assumes, but she suppresses her anger and instead reminds herself of the child growing in her own womb. It was strange to be underneath another man, but spite and envy are such ugly things. They clouded her judgment and made what would typically be awful into something desirable and passionate. Imagining how it would affect Sinner made it exciting.
”Long time no see,” she comments airily as her eyes dance briefly away from him onto the trees to her left when a branch snaps. What has always been an easy conversation now becomes a struggle. They are not in Sylva. The forest is no longer the hellhound’s domain. She is pregnant with another man’s child. He has naturally coupled with Mary again and again.
Valdis doesn’t want to express her contempt. It would be weakness.
And so she stretches for the only thing she can – their son. While she doesn’t call him over – she is still embarrassed, still angry – at least she says his name for the first time to the father, wondering if he at all cares. ”His name is Erio,” there’s no context under the assumption that Sinner will simply know; he always knows. Valdis’ voice is steady, strong even, when she states the boys name, but then she hushes and lowers her head slightly. ”He is like you,” a hellhound, she doesn’t add, ”but is weak. He will not be an heir.” Ashamed, she looks away as her thoughts try to blame and point fingers for their son’s shortcomings.
@[Sinner]
It won't let me reply with Valdis, sooo yeah
07-19-2019, 05:58 PM (This post was last modified: 07-20-2019, 11:10 AM by Sinner.)
there is but one rule hunt or be hunted
The hellhound’s glowing gaze remains plastered to her blue eyes that look back at him. A smile spreads across her lips—a sign of hope and forgiveness perhaps. He cannot help himself to look at her further as she stands there before him. It has been months. A lifetime ago since he has seen her.
@[Valdis]' unique beauty catches him again just as it did the first day they met. He is caught in the gleam of her blue eyes, the soft curve that her lips make whenever she smiles, and the way the golden strands of her hair falls over her face at times. The memory felt a lifetime ago, but in this moment, he feels like he is reliving it.
The memory did not go like this though. Their hearts craved the world, their eyes gleamed with adventure, and underneath the flesh and bone their souls connected. A connection for the first time together that created something beautiful and disastrous. Now they stand here, a distance from each other, where once they had been glued together for hours, lost in each other.
Her voice, only a whisper, draws him in. The first word on her lips is his name. It still sounded sweet coming from her. Every time it did. Not even Mary could say his name and make him feel something more when Valdis did.
It’s now, when he finally becomes alert, that his nose detects the different smells that cling to her. They are assorted and mixed into the mess that her sweet scent cloaks. He recognizes one of the scents instantly, the wasteland that Pangea is heavily imprinted with. It makes him think of home and his parents—a time where things had been simpler. Then there are two others, two males. One smells of something new (it reminds him of Dracarys, the sweet smell of a newborn foal) and then the other is harsher and prudent. His nostrils flare in distaste at the latter.
Her voice comes again. A simple comment, and he chuckles softly at it. “It has been long,” he simply says. Words were hard to find right now. Once it had been so easy to unfold into her. Talking to her had never been this hard until now. But she breaks the silence, thankfully.
The black wolf’s ear flicker at the name she says. Erio. Our son. He thinks with silent excitement at the way Valdis tone said their son’s name, but her head falls and her voice becomes quiet again. A flash of concern touches his harden features. Quickly, he conceals them, pulling the mask that he is familiar wearing. “He is like you,” she says what feels like a punch in the gut almost. Sinner doesn’t hold onto it though. He does not hold onto things that will make him weak.
“He is only a boy,” he says, managing somehow to find his voice among the silent tension that stands between them. “He will find a way to make his weaknesses into strengths.” But these words were not ones that he ever truly speaks about his children. Most of his children will simply find their own way, but with Valdis it was different. With Dracarys he showed more attention to, and with Erio—Well, it would have been the same if things had happened differently.
He sighs softly at the mention of heir. “There is nothing left for him to be an heir of.” There is no emotion in his words. As if the entire piece of Sylva in his life had been many decades ago. “Sylva is no more,” the same tone is spoken again.
There was only the hunt now—it was all he needed. But then there was her. Valdis.
07-22-2019, 10:46 AM (This post was last modified: 07-22-2019, 10:46 AM by 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
Why Sinner, Litotes had asked. It was a fair question, she supposes, but it still smacked her across the face. Why not, she questioned herself. Years have melted together since first meeting the hellhound. Perhaps they are terrible together. It will never be a happily ever after, but Valdis finds herself always wanting him. She is a moth to his flame.
It’s tempting to shrink away from him when she draws in Mary’s familiar scent, knowing well that they remain close. Yet Valdis doesn’t want to appear weak or emotional. She hesitates to crumble at the will of her lustful desires.
So, she remains aloof even has her heart hammers against its cage. Even as her entire being wants to fold into him, as is habit, Valdis refrains. They are back to their beginnings when she always slipped away from the warmth of his lips and the comfort of his body. Again, she is an elusive temptress.
Sinner tries to reassure her, telling her that Erio is just a boy. She agrees quietly, saying nothing for a few heartbeats. ”Perhaps,” she lies to herself again, already convinced their son would be better discarded and lost, maybe even destroyed. He was meant to be formidable as the first son of hellfire, the combined legacy of dragon and hellhound. Every expectation and hope Valdis had for him was crushed the second her eyes rested on his petite body. No, he is nothing like her treasured Dracarys. He is a stain, a mistake. She wants to say this to Sinner, but words suddenly fail her.
As much as she wants to stay aloof, to act unfazed, the inner battle weakens her and chisels away at the wall she has built. ”I’m sure you and Mary will find somewhere else to rebuild,” she didn’t want to say the woman’s name. Every time she does, it gives Mary more power and more recognition than she deserves, but Valdis’ emotions are coming in waves. The words drown in distaste, no longer able to conceal it. ”You two are great together,” she doesn’t elaborate how – lovers, parents, rulers – but her voice is nonetheless hinted with a bitter taste before she swallows it back down with her remaining energy before glancing back over her shoulder.
”Erio can come out to meet you, if you want.” Truthfully, Valdis debated having the hellhound play a role in their son’s life – she is so vengeful, so cruel, sometimes – but her better judgment took handle of the situation in the end.
He has learned for years now to be patient. Patient enough to wait to take the leadership of Sylva. Patient enough to wait to take the crown. But with this, he could not be patient enough.
She was his temptation. With every fiber in his being, he holds himself back from her. He wants to pull @[Valdis] close. He wants to hold her like he did all those moments that feel like a lifetime ago. He wants to breath her scent in. He wants to drown himself into her again, and again.
But he doesn’t.
He cannot.
Because if he did, he knows this moment will be over. Then when would he ever see her again? Maybe this was their final moment together. Their chapter ending. Sinner doesn’t want to think about that. He doesn’t want it to end, so his only choice is to hold onto it as long as he can.
“Perhaps,” she says after a few quiet moments. That one single word feels different though. The hellhound knows as much as he tries to keep himself away, she is doing the same. They are connected in ways that should not happen, but they had come together, and their souls interlocked. He can feel the turmoil in her—the same turmoil he feels right now—no matter how much she tries to shield it. To hold it all back was destroying them both.
The walls they built to keep each other at bay could never happen. They were not strong enough when they were meant to build walls together. But Sinner is selfish. He has sworn to never let himself fall so far away. To never be like his father—how could he ever give up so much for something like love? It wasn’t until now that he understood why. With his mother, for his father, it had been everything.
With Valdis, was it everything?
With her, would he have everything he ever wanted?
He shakes his head, glancing his glowing gaze away from her for a few moments. It isn’t until she speaks again that his eyes meet hers once more. She speaks about Mary. It had always been a problem of theirs. He liked Mary in many ways. Their relationship together had been strong from the beginning, but it was never anything like theirs. Mary was never anything like Valdis.
“We are not together anymore,” he simply says. What else could he say? The hellhound might have shared the throne with the queen, but their connection was no longer anything important now that Sylva was loss. Perhaps they could have built something more together. Perhaps another time in his life he will. But when Sylva was no longer his, it was simple to put it all behind him.
Except for her.
Valdis.
He thought of her every day since then.
“He is here?” He asks suddenly surprised. Sinner would have thought she would have kept their son away from him. “Where is he?” He asks glancing behind her, looking at possible places she might hide the young hellhound. A small amount of eagerness filled him. He would actually get to meet his son!
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
They aren’t together anymore, he assures, but Valdis cannot help to look away in disbelief. ”Just give it time,” she drawls while forfeiting her inner fight against her emotions, ”she always finds you.” Her eyes flash back to him, ignited by a fierce inner flame. She gropes for her pride and dignity, but it’s slipping through her fingers. Her muscles quiver in restraint as their eyes meet. Valdis holds his gaze for a long moment until it is unbearable and she forces herself to look down instead. ”Sinner,” her voice reduces to a low whisper as everything inside her crumbles away, ”I can share. I don’t know where we stand or what the future holds, but I can share you with anyone… anyone except her.” Valdis immediately hates herself for confessing this, for buckling at the whims of her childish emotions, for even having emotions like this.
A fleeting glance sees the mountain in the far distance, and she wonders if it would be feasible to have her heart ripped from her chest so that she may never experience this.
But isn’t that what makes life enjoyable? The relationships? The adoration for her daughter? The lust for Sinner?
Valdis straightens herself, but avoids looking at him right away. Her mind reels feverishly as though there is a way to recover from this or to retract the turbulent confession. They are no longer together, she echoes in her mind to settle the nerves spiking throughout her body, but it does little to contain her tongue. ”If you want—“ she begins hesitantly as her thoughts dive immediately into harming Mary, but then she stops herself. She must stop. ”Yes, Erio is here,” Valdis quickly diverts, swerving away from pounding herself further into the ground. She feels suddenly so feeble and meek in front of him even as her body radiates confidence. Her thoughts are destructive, dangerous.
With a sigh, Valdis glances back over her shoulder toward a patch of bushes. A quiet call to the boy sends him rushing forward. His eyes are his father’s as he bounds over fallen branches in his hellhound body, but they are bright with excitement. They will never mirror the hard stoicism or fire of his parents. ”Hi!” Erio tries to sit but wiggles excitedly, forcing him to stand again with a wagging tail. Valdis regards their son calmly, but never reaches down to touch him. Her gaze is that of embarrassment but is behind Erio’s view as he focuses on his father. Eventually, she levels her eyes on Sinner as though expecting to be met with disapproval and disappointment. ”He is… small…” it’s in that moment that the boy’s tail stops wagging and his triangular ears flick back sheepishly. His eyes are intelligent, even as they cast down underneath the weight of mother’s scorn. In an attempt to surpass poor judgment, he quickly adds, ”Small but mighty!” Valdis merely frowns and looks away in response.
”I miss my darling Dracarys,” she mutters distantly.
Sinner cannot deny the truth in her words either. Perhaps he was lying to himself in saying that Mary and he are no more. Their relationship blossomed quickly from the very beginning. A connection he perhaps will rarely find again in his life. Ruling with someone like Mary would perhaps be the greatest thing anyone could ask for. She was born to rise and find glory in her life.
But he perhaps was not.
Perhaps it was his greed, his selfishness that made him simply not capable of leading.
Maybe the very creation of himself was not fit for ruling ever. He was a predator, not a prey. The world of politics was simply a different nature than his very own.
“I don’t know,” he whispers in reply. The black hellhound could not tell what the future would hold. Sinner simply let the ties from Sylva fall away, not even thinking of meeting his own daughter that he knew he had coming recently. Mary would do just fine without him, and their daughter would likely flourish.
He watches her crumble. The walls she had tried so hard to hold up, protecting herself. The waves of emotions that crash and burn against the barriers that their heart is bursting with. Every time their gaze interlocks, the walls crumble down. Their souls connect and pulls them together just a little bit more despite the invisible walls they put between them now. He yearns for her just as much as she yearns for him.
The hellhounds eyes do not fall away from her when she looks away. He takes a step forward, ears flickering forward as her voices lowers into a whisper. The beating of his heart pumps faster and his lips become dry. A look of corner slowly begins to soften the edges of his harden features.
Sinner is silent as she confessions something he never expected to hear. It is almost total surrender—giving herself completely to him despite everything he may ever do. But perhaps to her it was worth it all to save whatever they had left. Did they have anything left at all?
He doesn’t answer her. How could he reply to something so selfless? It felt undeserving to take the sacrifice she was so willing to give to save whatever they might have left. Every part of him believes she deserved more. Deserved whatever the father of her growing child could give her than what he could ever do.
Instead, he focuses on meeting his son, taking his mind off the thousand of thoughts are crashing about wildly. The black hound watches as a hellhound pup comes rushing forward from where he was hiding. There is excitement in the matching eyes of his son, not like the hard-stoic look that often shield his thoughts and emotions. A small smile of contentment gently touches the edges of his lips. The excitement in his son fills him instantly with a joy that is often distant and forgotten.
“Hello there,” he says with a touch of happiness noticeable in his tone. It is another rare occasion to see the hound freely show his satisfaction, but with @[Valdis] and their children it had always been free and open. Nothing he had ever felt hiding from the view of her or their small family. Sinner takes a step forward; nostrils flaring to get a better smell and look at the boy.
He turns his gaze to look at Valdis when she speaks. There is clear disappointment in her words, but he doesn’t see that at all when he looks at their son. He sees strength and power. Erio is quick to pass the negative words of his mother, which causes him to look back to the boy with a bigger smile. “And that is what you are, indeed,” he says with approval. “No matter what the world thinks, you will always be strong.” He adds, as he closes the distance between him and Erio. Sinner nudges his son playfully. His smile grows even more.
At the mention of Dracarys, he looks towards Valdis. “Dracarys is well,” he says to reassure Valdis, “I sent her off to Loess. I am sure her grandfather will keep her safe.” The decisions to send Dracarys to Loess had been both out of spite and care. Spite for Castile to remember something of him but also for someone to look after his daughter when he cannot. Castile was now more capable of giving Dracarys the future and guiding she would need—he knew his independent daughter would go far in her life and needed all the resources. “You can find her there. I am sure she misses her mother dearly,” he adds before looking back to Erio with proud smile that is much larger this time.
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
It was easier when she teased him in their first months together, when nothing truly bound them together. It was fun, it was without strings attached. After watching her parents live separate lives, their hearts straying to other ends of the world, Valdis wondered the necessity for those vulnerable emotions. Love played such a destructive role. While it initially brought mother and father together – from what she has heard, and there was never a true confession of the “L” word – it also ripped them apart as their fleeting hearts sought other company.
That makes sense of her hesitance to fall back into Sinner’s arms and return to their habit, because she realizes how much she wants him now. This – whatever they are – can become catastrophic years down the road that leaves them both battered and bruised.
But then, their eyes greet each other again, and everything in Valdis wants to melt into him despite the repercussions. She knows the dangers, but that’s what their relationship built a foundation on, isn’t it? A perilous hunter with his prey?
That’s why she says and does nothing when he said he doesn’t know because he, too, is uncertain what lies ahead. Sylva has been taken from him and his Queen is lost somewhere. His newest child is standing in front of him with a hesitant mother closely watching. No one could have expected any of this to happen, so it’s only right that he answers her hesitation with his own. Shrugging, she lowers her eyes to Erio as he faces his father for the very first time. Amid the shame of his petite size, a shadow of a smile threatens to break the stoicism of her pretty face. It reminds her of the family they’ve built together, even if it is facing its trials and tribulations now. Sinner’s reaction – warmth, pride, adoration – surprises Valdis and there’s no feasible way to mask it. Her ears swivel forward and her brows lift underneath her metallic forelock. Truthfully, she expected the hellhound to shun a weak offspring.
But Erio plays against her accusations that sparks a small grin from his sire followed by a playful nudge. The boy’s plumed tail wags exuberantly as he bounds in a circle. ”I like this body more,” being a hellhound seemingly lessens his insecurities. ”But…” he trails off and pauses to inch backward and shift his body into that of a horse. His skin ripples as the shaggy, black coat sheds away to reveal the sapphire tobiano markings instead. His watchful eyes lift to father, then mother, to read their reactions. He waits for them to see what he is – what he truly is – before shifting his body back into an obsidian hellhound.
There’s a small sense of unity in this meeting, and there’s only such much energy Valdis can spend on resisting. Almost shyly at first, she slowly closes the space between herself and Sinner. Her forehead presses to his neck and her eyes shut. ”I missed you,” she murmurs under her breath even as she thinks of Dracarys and the void she has left her daughter, ”but you never visited me.” Litotes, the father of her unborn child, reminded her of how barren Pangea’s borders were and how her past lover didn’t seem to care.
With a rattled breath, Valdis resigns to Sinner and what they can and cannot be.
It was such a simple word, but the nature of love was destructive.
Love pulled two together, connecting their inner souls to unite. It was united in ways that they could only understand. A foreign language that only their two hearts could recognize.
It was dangerous though. Love tore down the walls you built to protect yourself. Allowing yourself to love risked everything of who you were. Your weaknesses were exposed to the very world that you hid away. And giving that vulnerable, that risk to trust another, could ruin everything that made you strong.
He had seen it happen before. The love that is so rare—the love he swore to never have. His own parents had it. It was the love story everyone dreamed about finding. But recognizing that possibility was death itself for him. He could only avoid it, pushing it away, and out of mind. It was only the hunt that could distract him to fill the void that his heart ached every so much for.
There are simply no words to answer the circumstances they are in now. What could be said to mend the broken pieces of their relationship when the future was so unpredictable that could happen? The only predictable thing that could be said was the future of their children. Perhaps that is why he so fondly looks at his son with approval and happiness. It was the only certain thing he had in the world right now—a piece of hope, such a frail thing (he never holds onto, but does now).
His gaze continues to gleam with warmth as he watches his hellhound son. Every part of him suddenly wanted to give his son the best life he could ever have. It was the same feeling with Dracarys, but even more in this moment as he watched Erio with contentment. Erio, such a small thing now, was the future—the very thing that kept the connection of Sinner and @[Valdis] together—of it all.
Erio, already facing his own challenges and trails, shifts into something he had not expected. It made sense now why Valdis spoke so lowly of their son (but maybe that was even his own fault too). His expression does not change when Erio turns a sparkly sapphire blue tobiano. Erio might be small but he inherited the strength and appeal from both of his parents. “I always preferred my hellhound form too,” he says as he steps back and shifts into his dark bay form. It is a rare sight for him to be within his equine shape. Even he cannot remember the last time he was within it.
Sinner continues to focus onto his son. He knows he cannot look at Valdis or he will resist everything he is avoiding. There is a disaster waiting to happen when they connect, an explosion that will only burn them both. But even she cannot keep away from him as much as he can with her.
His nutmeg eyes turn to look at her when she slowly comes closer. Sinner doesn’t say anything, but it is clearly written all over his dark bay features that he wants her more than ever. He wants to embrace her and hold her near like he did all of those times that felt so long ago. Valdis falls into him and he welcomes her touch naturally like they have never been apart before. He knows it is wrong to do this—it was a death wish for them both—but he cannot say no.
He never could.
“I missed you too,” he whispers softly. The hellhound breaths deeply the mention of him not visiting her in Pangea. “I know,” A part of him knows he should have visited her all those months ago, but even then, he had chosen not to. There was no excuse for him to give her. It was in his nature to go after what he wanted and when the opportunity came, Sinner was blinded by the prospect. Looking back now, it might have been different. He might have chosen a different path but looking back to the past is something he should not do. The days did not stop, and he cannot stop either.
He pulls her closer, feeling the warmth of her neck against his dark tipped muzzle. “There is no more though. No more Sylva. No more Mary. No more crown.” He says softly. It seemed simple to say, but perhaps it did become simpler as the days went by and became a memory. “It is only you and our family.” It is a confession, words that pour from his heart that rarely are ever said. He cannot stop himself from saying them despite how much he holds back from ever pouring out his soul to another. With Valdis, it was always impossible to do so.
