and you, you knew the hand of the devil.
and you, you kept us awake with wolf’s teeth.

I pulled away for what seemed like an eternity. The heat radiating off of his ebony coat, his behemoth self shielding me away from the outside world. It was like time was slowing and coming to a gentle stop with the two of us starting over. Memories of the first time we had met flushed into my mind but as he said that he missed me all the time my heart shuddered slightly. Tembovu began to flush from my mind ever so swiftly. If he were to have a child with another, then so be it. Yes, I was upset at it happening, but there was nothing more that I could do other than move on. It appeared as though Caleb was willing to move on as well and perhaps we could step off on a new step into the world together. What if I didn’t have to be alone through this? He had opened up so much in the darkness of the cave, in the few moments he had even been there. I shivered gently, not a racking one this time. One from what could be considered to be the start of happiness. The start of a new life, one where I could stop hurting Tembovu and he could stop hurting me, in turn.

“I am Caleb, it is nice to meet you.”

Swiftly, like an eagle stealing a fish from the river, my memories of our first encounter were gone. This is the part I needed to remember, and I would. I dipped my crowned head to him, my chains sliding gently and effortlessly over my bruised face in the motion, lifeless blue eyes hiding behind my eyelashes slowly glinting with a light. A new light. One ignited by the hybrid that stood before me. I smiled to him, genuinely. Raising my head back to place, pieces of my white and ashen mane drifting over my shoulder effortlessly. “Hello Caleb. I am Rexanna. It’s a pleasure.” I said gently, reaching out to brush my nose to his in a gentle greeting. My golden coat speckled with cream was a stark contrast to the beast of the night that had come to my rescue.

“I don’t suppose I could ask what brings you out here in such a freezing night?” I questioned gently. Knowing full well that I was the reason he had come. I always was the reason. But for this time I wasn’t complaining. He was no longer the brooding character of my past that haunted my shadows before I had confessed my love for Tembovu to him. I began to wonder if he could be the one for me. The one that perhaps wouldn’t end up having a child with someone else while I believed our relationship had grown strong. It was going to be an adventure. He was younger than I, naïve in ways that I was now more mature. But we each had our childish ways. He could throw his childish tantrums and I could still believe in a life full of happiness and love. If this was a fairytale, he was the prince that came for the damsel in distress. He, the prince shrouded in black – and I, the damsel shrouded in gold and trapped in a tower of my own mind.

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