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the red on my lips isn't wine
of an entire kingdom he kneels only to me, calls me queen and calls me mercy
the two of you have been walking for what feels like years.
your father did more traveling than you; singing, laughing, gathering stories along the way. the only thing you've done is found lothario, this lonely stag - with a withered face full of gray hairs and a smile that outshines the sun. you glance at him for a moment, the thought on your tongue as you begin to tell him.
"do you remember helen, mi amore?" he grunts in response. "they say she was so beautiful that she made men go to war and die for her love." his antlers shake. "non sei helen." you feign a fake gasp, the intake of breath rattling your lungs as you laugh. "for shame, lothario! you break my tender heart."
the forest looms above you, just ahead, just out of reach. lothario nudges you forward, his antlers pressing against your flesh gently. like a caress, a woeful reminder, before your soft voice reaches out to soothe him. "i'm going, caro." he is met with a laugh, a soft giggle on your parched lips. "paroline dolci, mi promettono." the deer rumbles with a festering glare, and it only makes you laugh harder.
"i would want to be loved like helen," you hum absently, stepping forward through the threshold and venturing into the forests depths. trees loom above you, high and mighty, like sentinels to their great land. you thinks of heimdall, gatekeeper and warrior; sworn to protect his world from disaster and foes. "have you ever loved, tesoro?" you are met with an ushering silence.
you turn to look behind you, calling out "lothario?" as you do, only to find there is no one to call to. there aren't even footprints in his wake. and you cry out suddenly, the name dripping on your lips like blood. murder. blasphemy. "lothario!" he would never leave you, that much you are sure of, but he is nowhere to be found. panic ruptures in the rasp of your throat as you meekly murmur, "mi amore?"
you are frozen still, hoping that this is all some great prank that he would play on you. for some reason, you know that today was the last you've seen of him.
