The depth of his understanding spoke to her heart, whispering in a language only he and it could decipher. Leaving Sláine on the outside, reeling in emotion and yet feeling somehow seen. She nodded, speechless. Ronin understood her better than she had ever really known herself. She would fight him if he came for them. Her home, her cubs or her husband. Alaric was not a villain, he didn't deserve the betrayal she was evidently so capable of. And worst of all, she loved him, still. It wasn't his fault that she had made a promise that she could not keep.
Ronin knew it. Just as she knew that he loved Nephthys. Their hearts complicated by connection and loyalty to others. It would be so much simpler if they only cared for eachother and nothing else. But even so, her heart without Ronin beats not at all. She is a selfish, selfish creature. And she cannot help herself.

Her words cause untold harm and she was forced to bear witness to the pain inflicted across his expression and speared into his heart. Her trembling lips cannot quite believe she has even spoken them, her insides so exposed, nothing left to reveal from her dark heart.
Fear gripped and she remained rooted. If she moved an inch forward, would he strike her? No. But his rejection would finish her for good. Though it was certainly the least she deserved.

"I ache for you too, Sláine…more than you know" The intensity of her sapphire stare slipped behind the great sweeping closure of her lids, relief and renewed hope washing through her. She does not witness the steps forward, but opens her gaze surprised to find him closer. Tears brimming in his eyes. Her heart quickened and ached at the sight. When he moved again, her body lurched forward to meet him halfway, unchained by any further pretense.
The space in-between disappears and they are as one, electricity and heat, chest to chest. Her lips reach upward in instinctive reading of his body language, eager for his kiss to bruise and stain her.

Ronin knows that she cannot truly live out her spoken wish, just as she knows that he cannot escape with her. It was a whim born from desperation only. There was nowhere to run to. Her daughters... Alaric... she did not want them to disappear from her life. But she could no longer deny Ronin's vice grip upon her heart.
Sláine melted into his embrace, listening to the emotion in his speech, her chin nodding in acceptance before finding a place beneath his jaw. Would she die here? Unable to peel herself from his touch? "I ken (know). I understand." She sighed softly, tearful. He was right, of course, in all that he said. This was the consequence of her own actions, her own selfish choices. He could not leave Nephthys and she could not leave Alaric.

"You will always have my heart, love." Her heart soared once again. "An' ye hae my heart, Ronin." The lioness replied, emotion and tears accompanying every syllable. "Can we find a way to belong tae eachother still?" A forepaw lifted, intending to run her toes along his torn cheek as she set her loving gaze to his. "I dae nae wish tae keep us a secret." She wanted him, here, now, beneath their tree and amongst the flowers. Caring nothing for the world that might see. The power of him was impossible to resist and she felt her body shiver in anticipation, rising and falling with each breath. "Will ye be mine, Ronin?"

@Ronin

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

5years, no bonus.

Oh how he both understood and didn’t understand, all in the same moment. He knew her, knew that she would fight to protect her home, her children. He was a threat to her kingdom all because he loved her too much. He would huff softly in the moment, because of the absurdity of it all. They loved each other, Naphthys loved Alaric. The irony of it all. It both amused and angered the warmonger. It was the one thing that he could not control, that he could not fight and he loathed it with every beat of his torn heart.

They could not escape their own promises to others, even as his chest fluttered and his body burned with yearning as their lips touched, he knew it was bittersweet. It was forbidden. A bitter taste on his lips as their kiss broke, though she remained in his embrace, pressed close to him. For the moment, he could not part from her, soaking in every last second of it. It was a tormented sense of peace that enveloped him, his gaze shifting fro the blue of his ex-wife to the scenery around them, letting that tear finally fall. He would tenderly brush his skull along the crown of her head as she spoke, she understood. Of course she did. No matter their desires towards one another, they were bound by their words to others. Their heart were severed, torn as they both loved another. Unable to heal. A festering wound. Would that be the death of them? A broken and long bleeding heart?

She would answer his promise to her with one of her own. He had her heart, as much as she had his. It was a pained smile that would pull on his lips. Then her paw was coming up, toes brushing along his torn cheek, her softly spoken words would cause his ears to pull forward. Could they find a way to be together? The words would startle him, her tone startled him. He would withdraw ever so slightly so that he could look into her gaze, his own would search her, trying to find her intention. Surely she would know that neither Alaric nor Nephthys would share, just as Ronin would not share. His surprised expression would remain as she spoke, she did not wish to keep them a secret anymore. The war-torn man would sigh softly, he would love nothing more than to be with her. He felt the shiver roll over her and while he wanted nothing more than to be with her there- beneath their tree, he could not. She spoke the words and Ronin was silent, his expression finally shifting from one of surprise as he sobered and regarded her with a sadness. He hated himself for this, for turning away from what he had wanted for so long. What he had fought for, for so long.

I can’t, Slaine.. He would whisper, tone pained and gentle all at the same moment. I belong to Nephthys…You told me to fall for someone else….and I fought it for so long…but I did fall for her. He would shift, gently pulling himself back away from her a step, so that they could both breathe the fresh air of summer. To rid themselves of the cloud of lust that fogged his brain (and he assumed hers as well). Even now, that desire could still be seen in his gaze. Ronin would destroy any Kingdom for her, but he would not destroy the one she ruled over. He would not send her home crumbling. Not unless provoked.

A heavy sigh and a thick swallow. I don’t have many promises left to give, Love…but I promise so long as you love and rule the Mire, I will leave it be. For you. For her, and Nephthys, he would leave Alaric alone. Would it be enough? He wasn’t sure. His expression was tired, pained, exhausted. He was tired of fighting, for once. He lingered there, unsure what to do, before he would take another step back and then turned to make his way back to the desert sands and his wife.

@Sláine

--exit unless stopped--

His kiss is fire and love, his touch everything that she desired and lived for. It is both memory and a promise of what could be and she clung to that hope, allowing it to flourish in her heart. The potential wake of devastation seemed almost an after thought, for who were they if not selfish beasts? To be here and caught in a moment of such pure bliss anyway? To cause a war for the sake of their hearts? But it is only an almost now, where once they had been all and everything to one another, there were others now, more pulls upon the heart than either of them had imagined there ever could be.

Even so, Slaine was all in, led by the moment and how it felt so good. Her heart beating for @Ronin's touch, willing to rage against everything for his to beat to the same time. That happy, hopeful sapphire gaze misses the cues that darken his own expression. Too sure now that he will fall upon her, his heated body coupling with her azure form in a fervent show of desire and love. But the moment does not come to pass and her eyes widen as he enforces space amidst the gentle, lovers whisper that hit like a rock.
"I belong to Nephthys..."
Static floods her ears and over the din, she hears what remains of his dismissal. Words that belong to her, that are stamped like a brand across her flesh even as it recoils and she feels her tail snaking about her form defensively. But she does not stumble backward, stupefied and against it all, hopeful still that he will look at her, that he will realise his mistake. That he will change his heart. Never mind that this is all what she deserves, that she herself has broken so many hearts in pursuit of her own selfish wants.

This is all that she has cultivated.

Mouth slackened, opening but to form no words, there was nothing that she could muster, none of the pleas that her mind roared at her to say, to beg. A gulp, long and dry, rolls down her throat as she looks up at him. Ronin's promise to leave the Mire be is no prize for her then, when she realises, with blinding shame, that she would have taken his war before she would have the rejection of his heart. And what does that say about you? How many heads must roll before she finally learned her lesson?

Ronin moves, turning to leave. For once and for all. Not at all the fairy-tale she imagined it would be. Leaving her to be with his true love, Nephthys. And she, pathetic as she was, remained beneath that tree, silent, a carpet of flowers at her feet and watching her lover depart.

Once he finally disappears from view, she collapses into a heap of sobs.

-Exit-

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS