Though he is not particularly interested in the responses and reactions of those he leaves behind after the meeting, Ilaria's hazel eyes glimpse an exchange - a familiar face - that she believes Cera would be interested in. From Bellanaris' withers she reaches out along the bond, overtaking Cera's vision with images of Hector's possessive embrace of Amani. The slight swell of her sides. Over the dunes, Cera's gait skips a beat and he falters, not sure what to make of the fact that not only had Amani returned, but she was apparently pregnant. By Hector? The bitter feeling in his throat only intensified recalling Hector's continued pleas for a reunion and an apology. Cera had not entertained the request yet, and wasn't sure when he would. Undoubtedly he would, but he was not ready to forgive just yet. Not when he had so many other emotions to sift through outside of Hector's silent return to the Throat. 

And here was another soul he'd once cared for, returned to the sands without seeking him out. Clearly she'd been in the Throat long enough to conceive and attend a herd meeting, and Cera bitterly wondered why she had not come to see him first after all they'd been through. After their friendship, and Cera gently stealing her away from the Falls when she felt that Elsa had abandoned her. Had they not been friends? And yet he and Hector had been friends as well. With a violent snort Cera cast the thoughts away, not wanting to think any further on petty betrayal and loneliness. He had enough to deal with. 

The time past the meeting is a blur of senseless toiling and wandering. He doesn't want to return to the Falls to tell Ranjiri the news she'd once told him when Midas had fallen. He didn't want to leave his daughter either, and he used her presence as an excuse to keep him tethered to the sands. 

His name draws his attention, pace pausing and neck arching to turn and recognize who it is calling him. With a soft, unheard sigh he turned and walked towards the cocoa woman to speak with her. "Amani. How are you?" It was gentle but a little stilted, not as warm as he once had been with her. Like everyone else she had disappeared and when at last she returned, he had apparently not been deemed worthy of the announcement. 

Emeralds flicker to swollen flanks. "Congratulations. Hector, right?" There was no point in saying he'd seen them at the meeting, it didn't hold much weight to him. One hip cocked back, trying to appear nonchalant even as the tension of his frame did not ease. 

OOC HERE

Her lie is as apparent to him as the sun creasing the horizon line, but he can do nothing more than nod absently and take what she says. He doesn't truly want to speak to her right now, not with the hurricane of his emotions tearing him apart beneath the calm void of numbness. At least he cannot feel it, even if he knows that should he place his palm against the glass keeping him from that tempestuous storm, he would feel it shudder and quiver. The blackness he has fallen into will soon erupt into a fire storm, and he does not know who all will be hurt by his self-destruction. 

He lets her lie to him, even if his hollow eyes flicker with awareness, letting her know that he is only allowing her to do so because he does not have the energy to fight her on it now. Except his own tongue continues, a dry roll of emotionlessness that sparks a reaction in her, a flinch that rolls across her body like a rippling wave. Cera momentarily wants to apologize, to take it back, wondering if perhaps he is wrong. Perhaps Hector had simply been comforting her, as friends?

That theory is disproven as Amani mutters a singular word, and Cera's emotions swell and bulge against the glass, screaming for release. He wants to hate Hector, to aim all of his anger and vengeance like an arrow, his fingers clutching bone white at the string until he bleeds. Let it fly, to pierce the heart of someone else for a change. His own pelt is too marred with battle wounds, he has no room left to spare. No hurt left to muster. 

But then she elaborates, and Cera's jaw tightens, muscle bulging in his cheek as his ears begin to slowly slice back against his neck. Hector had taken advantage of her in her emotional state? Cera thought the man to be better than that, but clearly he had been wrong. Dead wrong. But Hector had taken advantage of the wrong mare, because Cera had been looking out for Amani since he'd first met the young filly. He had vowed to keep her safe, to be her unofficial guardian, and Hector had crossed a line that Cera could not handle being crossed. 

However before he can spit the vitriol from his lips, black tar staining the insides of his mouth like bitter fruit, she begins the trailing circle of confession. And Cera is stunned to silence, staring wide-eyed and lips parted as she fumes that it could have been his child instead of Hector's. And for a moment he is hurt, a pang of despair through the heart. "I would never take advantage of you like that," he rumbled instead, anger spiking beneath the weight of his shock. 

Verdant eyes soften sadly at the edges, and he paces forward in tandem to Amani's retreat. "I...Amani..." Even Ilaria didn't know what to say, and she had been a bit more aware of Amani's feelings towards Cera. But she hadn't expected this kind of outcome, where everything would come out at once. Where Cera's once good friend was involved. 

"I wish you had told me earlier," he murmured, ears drifting down with a sorrowful, regretful expression. "I don't know how I would have responded. I know I loved you, but I'm not sure if it was romantic...I only ever wanted to keep you safe and happy, Amani." She had been like a sister to him, for she had been so much younger when he'd first found her in the wilds. He was still twice her age, even now. When he'd first brought her to the Throat, he'd even offered to take on a more parental role for her, but she had pleaded for him to be more of a brother or friend to her. 

"I...I cannot say how I feel for you. For anyone, anymore. I always saw you as a little sister or a child to protect all these years...it would have been inappropriate to think of you in that way." And after Sikeax, he wasn't sure he even liked to be the dominant partner in any relationship. Cera took on the burdens and wounds of so many. He wanted to relinquish that burden with his lover, his mate. He wanted to be taken care of, cherished. Even if others may look down on him for not being the epitome of a manly stallion. And whether that meant he found love in a dominant mare or another stallion...one way or another, he had and still did consider Amani his ward. A daughter, a sister, the one he had vowed to always protect and shelter. He would not have fostered romantic love or lust for her, not while she was still so young too. 

And that only deepened his anger towards Hector. 

OOC HERE