The earth began to stop its trembling, slowly and surely, and the Dauntless lowered his head. It hung limp, his eyes pressed closed to veil molten golden optics from the daylight. Loretta pressed into his knee, her forehead resting against the massive, hard joint. I know. She attempted to soothe, but tears stung her amber eyes and spilled over her lids, drenching Archibald's white knee with her sadness. He moved his head to rest it on his companion's back, sighing into her thick, red fur. The girl is the salvation for our sins. Archibald choked with those words spoken from his bonded, a sob stuck from surfacing to the world. The pain was too deep, deeper than anything he had ever felt. Years ago, when the titan held his stillborn daughter in his embrace and lamented over their loss he thought he had felt the true depths of sorrow. But he had lost Circe. The Shadowmere held par of his heart. She was bedded deeper within him than a sickness, and she soothed him and read him and understood him when the world crashed against him like a hurricane.

The sound of his name pulled him from his thoughts, and Archibald lifted his head roughly, ears pressed forward as his muscles hardened ,ready to strike should it come blow to blow. However, when his eyes cleared after he blinked several times--pushing away the clouds from tears he had not been aware he was crying--he noticed it was the soft, pale mare from his herd. the king cleared his throat and relaxed his body. His ears dipped down to the sides, golden eyes finding her own. Loretta turned to face Resplendence, eyes narrowing some. Does she not understand privacy?

Hush, beast. It was us who made the call.

I still don't want her here.

I know.

Archibald merely watched the fearful mare for some time, his lips pulled tightly together in his silence. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I am sorry to upset you." He apologized, voice raw and deep and honest. He did not know what else to do. He had wronged this mare in the past, from invading her home to taking her safety item during the wraith attack. He wanted her to look at him now with his sins of the past aside, though, to him, they were not sins. The actions that had affected Resplendence were actions written by the hand of his overarching sense of duty.