Eden had nurtured a healthy fear of vulnerability. It was not a fear borne upon prevention of emotional betrayal, no, Eden had been lucky enough to avoid the invisible agony that accompanied a bruised heart. The fear that she held within that warrior soul of hers was one far more simple; one of self preservation, the primitive instinct of a defender that had been trained into the core of her being until it influenced every decision she made.
That instinct, coupled with an upbringing that shunned the understanding of love outside of a platonic scope, had caused Eden to remain ignorant to the truth of the matter between she and her beloved Behemoth. The Paladin had no name for the whirlwind of emotion, the sensation of wholeness and contentedness that swelled her breast ever since that first day - the day they had bloodied one another within the confines of a dirt ring, forging something stronger than friendship beneath Solis’ blazing gaze.
Indeed, Eden had attempted to give a title to the simultaneous heaviness and lightness that ensconced her heart when Leviathan even so much as looked in her direction; camaraderie, companionship, fondness. Yet, when none of those quite fit and when the word “Love” floated into the forefront of her mind, the Paladin found that she could not agree with that either.
It was too short, too diminutive a word to encompass all that she felt toward the stallion. Four letters didn’t seem to be enough, would never seem to be enough.
He held her, and within her warrior’s heart, in the spaces between each pulse, she held him. Leviathan was within and without, as much a part of Eden’s identity as she knew herself to be.
Her mind was a tangled thicket, a restless wind, a tumultuous sea.
And he was her lighthouse, guiding her home and keeping her safe against anything and everything.
The rumble of his laugh was like a cool drink on a hot day, a salve to her frayed nerves, and the words that fell from his lips left her sighing into his skin, happiness wrapping itself around her shoulders like a cloak. Yet, the moment broke as he pulled away and the mare’s face fell only for her expression to morph into one of shock as Leviathan’s lips pressed to the bridge of her nose and she felt the truth of his words sink into her skin.
You’re the one that keeps me around. Even if I wander... I always come back to you, don’t I?
She was about to reply, about to tell him the words that were written upon her heart and glowed within her soul; that she loved him, that some part had known this since we had heard his surprised laughter within the arena, that whatever would come to pass was their path to wander together, their gift from the universe.
But he beat her to it.
Mouth falling open, Eden pulled back, her face a caricature of bewilderment and frustration. For a moment, she half glared, half pouted at the scar stitched face of the stallion that had captured her heart with an ease that both terrified and thrilled her.
“You ass!” Yelled the mare, her face splitting into the widest, most dazzling smile she could manage around her laughter, “I was going to say it first. I love you, you giant, ridiculous, tumbleweed man. I love you more than I knew I could.”
Stretching up onto the tips of her golden hooves, those ebony lips reaching to brush against the mammoth stallion’s forehead that leaned just out of reach, Eden settled for blowing a breath against his skin, her amber eyes glimmering.
“I cannot tell you how relieved I am that I don’t have to build a shack.”
@Leviathan omg
