As soon as the words left her mouth he stopped right in his tracks, turning his gaze on her and she knew with little doubt he had seen through her facade. Slowly he turned toward her and she locked her knees to keep from stepping back. She wasn’t afraid of Nathaniel, more of the confrontation she had stirred up. The woman was a peacekeeper, a lover of love, and getting into tibs with others was not a game she liked to play.
They words he gave her certainly unsettling, holding a venom that surprised her. A small frown marred her maw in the final sentence. Such a lonely statement he’d made, such spite he spit them with. He might have done bad things, treasonous things, but it seemed he still had a soul afterwards. And, currently, it was aching. It hated itself, and that was something that wrecked her even more.
“I will not play the game of acting, I do not love you in the same way I do Vespertio. But, I still care for you like a family member. If the things you say are true, then they are things that will weigh more on your soul than mine. But, you cannot tell me that they are all you are.” she said firmly. Images of him smiling at the children, playing with them, the conversations on border patrol and in passing, the time he’d spent in the Cove, he couldn’t convince her that those were fake. Some act to lure her like a incubus then leave without a trace. “I have seen you with Neha and Cernan, I have seen the way you look at them wanting them for your own or not. You care for them, and you would sooner risk yourself for them than allow them harm as you have done before. You have saved us many a time and been at our side. If all you wanted here was me and these lands, you would have left long ago. I have seen wolves with that as their true intentions, and when they do not get it quickly they leave in a fit. You are not some empty shell, you are not the monster you make yourself out to be Nathaniel. Pasts can be redeemed. I do not intend to keep you here. In fact, I cannot allow you re-entry but I do not want you leaving thinking that you are alone in this world. I still care for you, Cernan still cares for you, and Neha still cares for you. Leave, but go and make a life for yourself that you would want them to think nicely of you for. It is not impossible, not even for you.” she said.
She was tired, very tired in fact and simply craved a nap. But, her own words and the situation have given her hope for herself all the same. She would reclaim the Cove in due time. After all, if she couldn’t abide by her own words how could she expect the dark man to believe them. “Good-bye Nathaniel,” the Star Dancer said simply, turning and heading back into the territory. She’d bump up her patrols to ensure he wouldn’t return, but something told her he wouldn’t. Make yourself a good life.