[For Dyson] Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing

[st_oriedqueen]

Her daughter running the stables meant Regina knew the horses from head to hock and beyond. She knew their temperaments, their quirks, their hearts... and it also meant that there was no one but Snow or the cowboy to bother her if she happened to slip out to the stables in the middle of the night.

Tonight, the moon had come up full and huge, and her memories likewise. Stolen kisses with Daniel, secret assignations with Mal or Tinkerbell, the clock in the tower stuck at 8:15 with the moon behind it, Neverland nights trying to find Henry, moonlit walks with Robin, and incongruously also moonlit rides with Graham and the wolf pack trying to find Snow. In an effort to banish them, she'd gone to the stall of her favorite, a pinto half-Arabian mare named Compass Rose who went by the barn name of Grace, with a grooming basket and carrots. The peaceful night, punctuated by the munching of hay, the whisk of Grace's tail or the soft whuffle when her muzzle looted Regina's pockets for treats, called to something in Regina, a deep, nameless yearning that ached and ached and ached.

At length, grooming the mare couldn't staunch the flow of grief, and Regina gave in to that yearning. She slipped a hackamore over Grace's head, transmuted her clothes to riding breeches and a loose-fitting top, and led the mare out of the barn. It had been half a century since the last time, but Regina leaped up to her bare back as nimbly as a rodeo acrobat, murmured praise to Grace and together they escaped into the night.

Comments

[st_arknaked]

He captured her hand, brought it to his lips to kiss her palm before tucking it against his chest with his fingers tangled with hers.

[st_oriedqueen]

Finally, out of sheer awkwardness, words spilled out: "You don't have to act like this meant anything." Her tone was only a little defensive and not very sharp. "I don't expect it." If anything, it confused her. But she also didn't pull away or untangle her fingers from his. It had meant something to her, even if she wasn't sure what yet, but at least in the moonlit dark she didn't feel compelled to deny it.

[st_arknaked]

He arched a brow that she probably couldn't see, "I'm not acting like anything."

He was just being, how he was. "It doesn't have to mean anything more than we both wanted it."

[st_oriedqueen]

That didn't leave her any less confused. "It's not my experience that sex for it's own sake involves...much in the way of afterglow." She couldn't bring herself to say snuggling. Somehow it just seemed...perverse.

"I'm not opposed," she added after a moment. "Just surprised. Most people don't think of me as the...afterglow...sort."

[st_arknaked]

"Sex for its own sake can involve as much or as little afterglow as the participants are comfortable with." He's done after glow, he's screwed a waitress on a table and went back to his drink.

There was a pause while he considered the wisdom of asking, but he did so anyway.

"Do you think of yourself as the afterglow sort?" Because wasn't that what mattered?

[st_oriedqueen]

Did she?

"Being Queen in a world full of Kings doesn't leave a lot of space for afterglow," she reflected, but it was only a partial truth and the moment wanted honesty. "My mother ripped my boyfriend's heart out of his chest to teach me that lesson." None of that was really an answer, but vulnerability had never been her strongest suit. "I'd like to believe I can have afterglow, but it always gets torn away."

[st_arknaked]

"No need to worry about it now. No one here but the two of us," a pause. "And the horse."

The smile was evident in his tone.

[st_oriedqueen]

For a moment, hot anger flared in her chest at the feeling of being mocked. But the weight of his hand still resting on her hip, occasionally stroking her back, said otherwise.

She gave a soft, husky little laugh instead, nipped at his collarbone, and said, "In that case, hold the afterglow." Her eyes flashed and her mouth curved in a sultry, inviting smile. "For another, oh, half an hour, hm?"

[st_arknaked]

"Half an hour it is," he bent to capture her mouth with his, arms tightening slightly as he pulled her closer to share body heat. "Unless you have some other ideas."