Alabaster tendrils of white hot fear built inside my chest, blooming like a flower until it burst in violent waves, almost perfectly in tune with my erratic heartbeat. Her words chilled my skin and I trembled with the weight of it, battling off numerous sensations of passion, anxiety, and overall, pain. It was a hurt that nestled in the pit of my stomach and brewed there until my eyes closed with the pressure. I was torn between the primal need to react and the heartfelt desire to ignore. Her scent was overwhelming, as if she were inside of me, tearing my aspirations to shreds. It took every ounce of sheer will to keep from drawing closer, falling into her web of temptation. For a moment I remained silent, relishing the feel of her proximity before again admonishing those thoughts and turning away like a child deprived. My legs seemed to quiver beneath me, surely allowing her to brighten at the effect she holds over me, but I do not give in.

Opening deep brown eyes to those of infallible intent, I restrain the errant need to reach out, brush her skin with my own, caress her hips and lose myself in an unending state of dream. Though, I cannot. “It has… Myriad.” My words, a mere whisper, trembling on my lip causes me to look away, admitting defeat in spite of some solid intuition that she is not the one I want.

The change had been fast, unlike my prior experience with the two and it seemed that all traces of Tamira’s likeness had disappeared as she closed in on herself, losing her body to that of a demon that knew without question how to stoke my immediate desires. It seemed to hover over me like a shadow, threatening to invade when I was least expecting it and I knew that I would cave in, though I was trying desperately to hold out. However, I questioned myself why?

Why should I refrain when they were in fact one body, one soul, with two different dimensions? It was a thought that I had been entertaining for some time now, though in the depth of my consciousness, I knew it was wrong, I constantly pretended that somehow it could be right. Closer, she came, unraveling my composure like a piece of thread, pulling gently at the only resolve I had left until I was sure that I would burst with the weight of it. Inside, I was screaming, lost in a sea of confusion that tainted the sanity I had left after so much conflict in the Edge. With Mirage gone, I was sleeping less and driving myself crazy in the time that I spent in wakeful reverie. Now, it seemed to be showing, as I had dreamt of this day over and over and somehow, I imagined that I would be able to tell her no, tell her that my heart was in the hands of her other half. Yet, I found that no such words graced my lips and instead I found myself losing sight of everything I thought that I had come to terms with.

“I see that your absence has been more than becoming; you’re as… desirable as ever.” Shock seemed to register seconds after this otherwise subtle submission, though, if it had caught me off guard, it was hard to tell. In moments, it seemed that she had worked her way under my skin and I was crawling closer like an animal grooming its prey. My hooves seemed to betray me as I moved closer, shamelessly caressing the thin skin along her neck, velvet against my muzzle. Inhaling deeply, I couldn’t help myself against the overwhelming surge to plant soft nips across her hide, each one intensifying a darkening sensation below the waist. Once again, the cat and the mouse, though the term could hardly describe the predatory fashions in which we approached one another, teasing and tempting like two wild cats in the midst of spring.

This was not how I had wanted things to go, not in the least, but I could feel my emotions churning beneath my breast and I couldn’t help but think that I was wrong. I wanted her more than anything.