While she started out calmly, coldly, the fire was catching and Alysanne was losing control again. She was a hypocrite, damning Tembovu for his lack of self control while she had lost all grip on her own. Though while the pegasus mare might spit poisonous words at him in private she could never do the damage he was capable of. Her words could hurt but they could not kill.
She didn’t want to slip off of this edge but it was too late, she could feel it happening this time and hated herself for not turning and fleeing from him before she had the chance to speak. Now the venom was back in her words, a quick burning in her eyes as she stared back at him. “Are you ordering me, my king, to smile and bat my eyelashes at you when there are others around? To fawn over you like all the others?” Like his little fan club at the herd meeting - Alune boldly walking up and standing with the King and Queen, opening casual discussion while they all stood around and waited. She wondered if they knew what he was capable of or if they still saw the kind stallion she once knew. As much as she hoped they were ignorant, perhaps they all needed to know...
“Are you ordering me to pretend that you don’t disgust me, that I’m not afraid every single time I close my eyes that I will wake up to find the Edge on fire because you had a bad day.” Even though she spat those last few words her voice started to tremble - from rage and from fear - and she looked away, taking a step back as if that extra little bit of room would help her breath and calm down.
But of course it didn’t, not really. There was a disruption to the fire in her but Alysanne had a terrible feeling that it was just the calm before the storm. “You did not handle my criticism so well the last time we spoke, why would it be any different in the future?” Conveniently, she ignored the fact that she may have shouted those criticisms at him. “My personal dislike for you is tied to my distrust in you as a herd mate. We all live in the same herd - everything that we do to each other doesn’t just go away when it’s time to play politics. It bleeds together. We can’t yell at each other in the woods and then pretend everything is fine the next time we meet. It’s not fine, Tembovu.” ‘I’m not fine’ her thoughts echoed. These nasty words he inspired her mixed dangerously with her grief over failing her quest and Alysanne had just enough mind to wonder how far she would fall this time. She was losing her grip on who she was - burning the old Alysanne up with each fiery flash of anger and hatred.
in a completely surprising turn of events, the goading worked :|
made by the lovely tamme |