You were never supposed to leave.

The Thief had managed to sneak away from her son and herd, thankful that Eldala – one of Johnny’s crafters – had been kind enough to watch over the colt while she spent some time alone. She needed to get out, explore, do something to keep from going crazy. There was only so much snow on the Sentinels that she could see every day. She was beginning to die a little inside at the thought of watching the snow gather on the metal beasts had been her entertainment over the last couple of weeks. She didn’t know what was going on with her, with Ashamin, with the herd. All she could remember was the snarl from her leader’s companion as she painted on the Haruspex. A sound enough to make her cringe once again.

Rexanna couldn’t understand what her feelings were. She never truly felt for Ashamin like she wanted to. She wanted her son to have a story of his parents being in love and the happiness between them, but all she could feel was pain. She felt guilty – especially after seeing Tembovu’s face during her pregnancy. Tembovu was the complication. She fell for him. Hard. And all the Elephant could think was that she was using him for her positioning within the Basin. She wasn’t sure if he actually knew how much she loved him. Or if he even cared anymore. The sharp glances from his sapphire eyes during the meeting at the Threshold began to sting like daggers. Even more so when she remembered his friend telling him that the Thief looked just like Tembovu’s past lover. What did that even mean? She began to wonder just how much she looked like Mara. And if that had been the only reason Tembovu had loved her in the first place.

Was he just trying to see if she would become his long lost mate?

Or did he actually love her?

Rexanna often stayed up late at night, unsure of what the answer could even be to that. She wanted to see him again, but knew that she shouldn’t. They had agreed to not harm each other more than what they had already done. She couldn’t hold that promise though. She knew that. She broke rules. She broke his trust. But hadn’t he broken hers the worst way? She had been faithful to the Elephant ever since the mishap with Caleb. She had lived for him. Tried to be there for him. They had even showered each other with gifts. And during this time he was unsure of whether or not Nyx’s children were even his? And then to tell her that he didn’t know and expected her to stay by his side?

She couldn’t. Even if she tried.

She hadn’t expected to get pregnant. She hadn’t even slept with anyone other than Tembovu when Ashamin was there. When she had just been bested in battle and bled all over the Basin’s earth. When she had nearly collapsed within her own blood. She acted the same as she did when she ran from Calstron’s wrath. When they threatened her with her life, she slept with them to sneak away.

And it had worked.

But this time was different. Ashamin didn’t want her life. It was a simple spar that had damaged her so much. Where the Thief had thought she had grown from her slave upbringing, she had really been acting the part all along. Faced in trauma and disaster, she acted the same. And she always would.

Her thoughts kept the golden Thief at bay during her time in the Labyrinth. Yet everything she looked at reminded her of him. A weight so sharply hung on her back that she didn’t think she could even move anymore. But she needed to. She was strong. She was a mother. But she was unsure if she could even act as such.

Rexanna pawed at the ground in the place where she had found the lion’s claw that she had gifted to the Elephant King. Tears burning at her eyes while her heavy crowned head dropped to hover above the ground, almost as if she could get those days back – but knowing that they were long gone.

"Talk?"