‘A hollow show for no audience, that’s all it was.’
MY MIND STOPS TO FEEL
Alswytha Van Tyle
prompt: senses capture by leaves’ eyes
From this distance they were ignorant to her presence. She could watch and bide her time and think her thoughts without interruption. Even Gareth was far away, off on some hunt she had wanted no part in. She had told him as much and he had tried to change her mind but she’d pushed him away. She’d growled. That had told her mate she was in no mood to play and off he’d gone, promising to be back in a few hours. Alswytha had said nothing when he’d slipped out and left the basement that had become their home when they’d come to this city.
A while ago she’d lowered from standing to sitting, crossing her legs beneath her on the edge of the rooftop two rows of buildings over. The wind caught in her hair and tossed it back behind her. Alswytha was old and cunning, she knew to stay downwind of any prey or enemy and in this case it was both. Prey and enemy alike dwelled within the building she watched in silence and with discontent brewing inside of her, a potent mix of contempt and vicious regret. So many things she could have done differently and it was far too late now to do anything about them. One hand curled around the lip of the roof, the asphalt digging into her fingers and palm. The pain, shallow as it was, did a poor job of distracting her.
It had been stupid to tie herself so tightly to someone so unstable and unpredictable. Gareth was the one who had done this to them, cast them down and out. Others had played their part but her mate -- her own mate -- had done the most damage himself. With his own actions and his own words he’d sown the seeds of dissent and now here they were, little more than strays.
A growl rolled in her throat and she swallowed harshly against it in its futility. A hollow show for no audience, that’s all it was. Alswytha knew she was at her finest when she had an audience and without a pack she didn’t have that. Captivating and powerful in a way her mate could never again hope to be, it was down to her to reclaim what had been taken from them so many years ago. Not Gareth. She couldn’t rely on him anymore. Oh he had his uses, he wouldn’t stop to think before he jumped in front of a blow meant for her and he was always so quick to come to her defense in other ways too but he was weak in his savagery. Brute force was all well and good, Alswytha loved violence and bloodshed herself, but more was needed if there was any hope of rising from the ashes.
And she would. Gareth wouldn’t drag her down again. Even if she had to crush the life from her mate herself she would make sure that never happened again. Alswytha belonged at the top, in a seat of true power with followers at her heels ready to do anything and everything she asked. One too many times now she had been held back and away from what was rightfully hers. Never again.