The crashing of underbrush and the worried crooning of a dragon announced the appearance of the queen, and as she came thundering into the small glen he lifted his head from the embrace to follow her with the gaze. The expression of relief on her face, the minimal greeting of the gilded dragon before she returned her attention to the recovering White, the exclamation of apology... Why was it that none of this seemed to touch him, like it normally would have done? Pain bolted through the raw skin as the side of the black mirage of a mare pressed against him, but Lace neither grimaced nor made a sound to make the Dragonheart aware of his injured state. Instead he just stared at the amulet in the talons of Akaith as she flew over with it, mind numbed even as he slowly, semi-consciously reached out and plucked it from the paw of the dragon.
The weight of it between his lips felt nauseating. The look he gave the lady of the Edge was dull, dark; without a word the grullo broke free from the touch of both mares and linked off a few strides.
"I hope you are satisfied now" he heard himself say and flinched, surprised by the cold bitterness of his own voice. "Congratulations Mirage. It was a game well played, no doubt about that." As he spoke the silver-maned equine felt his thoughts come back to him, and finally he was able to acknowledge the dull ache in his chest for what it was. Anger. It welled up from within like a black tidal wave, an emotion so strong that it lifted him up and washed him along, a rush growing stronger for every word he said. The amber eyes were hard as he turned to meet her gaze, burning with the cold rage he felt towards her.
"Did it ever occur to you that the rest of us should have known what you were up to? Or did you think it unnecessary, that a bit of a heads up was too much to ask before you decided to start provoking the Basin?" A surge of power rose up within, and without even thinking about it the Glazier began to wield the gift he had been given upon setting foot on the Moon's territory for the first time. From the air itself he plucked the glittering starlit mist and mixed it with the dark shadows that swirled around their feet, molding and shaping it even as he spoke.
"Why did you have to involve the children, Mirage? I thought you wanted this world to become one of equality and peace, not pushed further into the clutches of war. Well sorry, I think you just took a long step away from that goal - congratulations to ruining yet another generation of young by using them as pawns in your intrigues."
The voice was cold as the night that surrounded them, each word cracking like a sheet of ice breaking beneath merciless hooves. And all the while the darkness thickened around him, slowly shaping itself in a massive effort fueled by anger, disappointment, guilt and jealousy. It had taken the form of a circle now, one that slowly, steadily tightened and closed in on itself - black, glittering, sharp and heavy as lead. Dragons appeared from the swirling shadows, black wraiths that flew and crawled, biting and clawing and breathing glittering pale flames amidst barren trees, round and round in the circle, and all above them shone the full moon; cold and distant, merciless. Between a breath and the next it solidified, and with the last measure of control he had over the process Lace chucked it towards the one mare he had come to love, with all the grim determination he possessed. Towards her head it soared, a crown of glass as black as the night with the weight of the responsibility she held over their lives - which she in his eyes had forgotten about in her schemes. Towards the poll it lowered, a perfect fit between and around her chiseled ears, and unless she retracted the head it would land quietly and come to rest on her head, a mark of the status she held and the power she had over them all.
"Thank you, my Queen, for concerning yourself with the lowly lives of ours" he snapped with icy voice, the neck lowering in a mocking bow. "Now if you excuse..." He turned the back on her and padded over the moss-covered ground towards the place where his other half lay, nose reaching out to brush over her lithe frame before he scooped her up, ignoring the weak protest against being separated from Zaffre and Akaith.
"I hereby renounce my position as Glazier of the World's Edge" he said, and felt how something lifted from the shoulders, like a mantle slipping off leaving him lighter than before. "I will be gone from the Edge for a while... Don't come looking for me. I don't want to see you for a while."
And with that the stallion turned and walked away, back stiff and ears back - still too angry to even start to regret the harsh words he'd said.
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