Soteria

[Tristan]

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Nimeda’s hand stoked embers deep within. Much more and the fire may spark out of control. She spoke of things that cast his golden gaze toward distant horizons, but he did not deny her assessments. The war within his own blood was simultaneously softened and enflamed in this place. The domain of the trolls were closer, but his control over their dominant forces was also tighter. As a wolf, he was an enemy to his bloodline and as the carrier of trollblood, he was a danger to the wolves. To humans, he was a monster as both. Perhaps that was why he surrounded himself in the love and embrace of those few who accepted him: Long Eye and now, Nimeda.

His hand curled around hers, swallowing the fingers, and pulling both their hands tight to his chest. The waters dripped from his hair, but he liked the sensation, allowed it to persist.
“The deepest lake that ever was,” he repeated. That would be enough to help him find it. Once beholding the pictures of the lake-scape, he was sure he’d recognize it. “We,” he also repeated, entranced by Nimeda’s correction.

Where her hand trailed, he shivered, but not from chill. The chains on his willpower broke, and he wrapped his arms about her once again.