[AW] The mechanics of cheap melodrama

[Raymond]

Raymond straightened, the impersonal stiffness of his stance akin to a heavy gate clanging shut between them. There was no way a creature as delicate as Ruth could have survived passing through the eye of the rift - and if, by some miracle, she had, what then? What would be left of her? Would it be worth looking for?

Where would they even begin, when the rift was the nexus of a thousand, thousand worlds? Better to hunt for a needle in a haystack made of needles sitting on a planet comprised entirely of needles. It would never happen.

No, there was nothing to discuss. He would not humor her with some misguided attempt to recover Ruth's body. Sometimes, that's how it is in war. Sometimes you just have to let go.

The red stallion met her eye with a dark, unblinking look, and his expression didn't change as she spoke of the swamp, of his priorities. Normally what she said might have piqued his interest - strange intrigues on a friend's doorstep - but he had no patience left for the conversation. He waited for her to finish, but that was as much courtesy as he could muster.

"There is nothing to find. If you cared for Ruth, let her rest, your majesty."

With that, Raymond nodded curtly and gave her his back, stalking away from the gates of the Court like a seething lion.

Raymond.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around

@Florentine