“You said this evening could be all about my heart’s desires.”   “I did, didn’t I?” Charentais rogueish smile might have been enough to bring any Courser back to foalhood, knock-kneed and uncertain, “Lucky for us both that I’m everything your heart desires.”   “Careful,” Lonicera warned, bumping against his shoulder as she passed with affect...

“It’s natural to be nervous.” “I am not nervous.” Lonicera quickened her pace, so that Crispin was not leading her across sudden clearing that opened before them, but that instead they walked together. “Of course not,” he agreed, turning his head so she would not see the sly smile that predicated the response, “I meant you in the royal sense, that all Coursers should have nerves. It’s wh...

“Look,” Lonicera’s voice was almost a whisper, as if the poorly disguised pit might hear her if she spoke too loudly, “Brings back memories.” She bumped her flank against Charentais’, affectionate now in a way she had not bee on their first date. --- They weren’t quite foals, in fact Loni would be quick to correct anyone who dare call her a filly, and yet the pair of them seemed engulfed by the dungeon’...

ssSSSSSsssssss The quiet gasp might be mistaken for the building pressure of steam, desperate in its search for a way out. Lonicera knows better. She knows they will morph and they will twist, and so they do. What have you done? She does not reply, picking her way across the rubble that has suddenly begun to litter the cavern floor. Lonicera has been here before, whether in her dreams or in a dive long past she cannot recall. It d...

The unfathomable depths of the dungeon do not call sweetly to Lori as it does to so many coursers, but neither does the surface devoid of mystery and wonder. She is caught between worlds, longing to live out the rest of her days within the overgrown caverns, while knowing all too well this can never be for her. She was born amongst the coursers, and her fate had been cast long before she took her first breath.  Loricera takes her time, picking her way through the chambers she knows so...