oh my goodness đ stubborn lady finally running well and truly away from dark!dunkâ through the woods or something, and he just takes you right back home like heâs dealing with an escaped horse! of course a mareâs gonna run away if the gates unlatchedâŚ. maybe heâll carry you but if you keep fighting him heâll have to drag you like aerion đľâđŤ
dark!dunk carrying you back home after you've tried to run away ËËđ˘Ö´ŕť
the woods were a blur of green and brown, the damp earth cold and sharp under your bare feet. twigs scratched at your arms and legs, but you didn't feel it. all you felt was the frantic, desperate thud of your own heart and the burning in your lungs. you had to get away. you had to.
it was a thought that had been building for weeks, a slow-dawning horror that had finally crystallized into a single, screaming instinct: this is not love, this is a cage. his constant presence, his soft-spoken warnings about the world, his gentle corrections that slowly chipped away at your confidence until you looked to him for permission to breathe. you had to run.
you dared a glance back, expecting to see him crashing through the trees behind you, but there was nothing. just silence. a foolish, fragile spark of hope bloomed in your chest. maybe you'd done it. maybe you were free.
you burst into a small clearing and collided with a wall of immovable flesh. you stumbled back with a cry, falling hard on the ground. it was him. he wasn't even breathing hard. he was just standing there, his massive arms crossed over his chest, his expression not angry, but deeply, profoundly disappointed. like a master looking at a dog that has run away.
he shook his head slowly, a sigh escaping his lips. "oh, darling girl. what are you doing out here? you'll catch your death."
you tried to scramble away, pushing your body backwards but he grabbed you by your calf and dragged you back as you cried and kicked.
he bent down, hooked one arm under your knees and another behind your back, and lifted you as if you weighed nothing. you were thrown over his shoulder like a sack of grain, the world turning upside down. the breath was knocked out of you in a terrified huff.
"let me go!" you screamed, pounding your fists against his broad, unyielding back. "put me down! you can't do this!"
"hush now," he said, his voice infuriatingly calm as he started walking back the way you came, his long strides eating up the ground. "you're not thinking straight. you're frightened and confused. it's the woods. they do that to some folk."
"i'm not confused! i- i-" you sobbed, your struggles growing weaker as despair set in. he was so strong. it was like fighting a mountain.
"shhh i know," he soothed, his tone utterly patronizing, as if explaining something simple to a child. "you're running away from safety. you're running toward danger. you just don't see it right now." he shifted you slightly to get a better grip.
your fighting became frantic again, kicking and writhing. "i this- i hate you!"
he stopped walking. for a moment, there was only the sound of your ragged sobs and the chirping of birds. his voice, when it came, was cold and flat, stripped of all its warmth. "don't say that. take that back now."
the fight drained out of you, replaced by a bone-deep, soul-crushing defeat. you went limp over his shoulder, your body shaking with silent, heaving sobs. "i- mâsorry- i take it backâŚ"
he resumed walking, his pace steady. after a moment, you felt his hand, warm and calloused, gently grip the back of your calf.
"shhh, now," he murmured, his voice soft again, full of that terrible, gentle pity. "don't cry. we're almost home. you're safe now. you're safe with me."