— Look how beautiful you are, Krim spoke, taking your chin and lifting your face to the mirror.

— Look at yourself, do you see it? — he remarked, and you felt his body press against your back.

— Just like before, when you, Leilia, and I were together.

Before...

The word echoed in your memory, strange and painful.

Before — before the humans attacked the tribe, before the partings, before they kidnapped Leilia and made her their queen, forced her to bear an heir for their Prince Hazel, before you found Erial, a human infant from a camp plundered by bandits, who became your son.

A human infant, though you were an Iorph — a being who weaves Hibola, a fabric that holds within itself time, the memories of those who once existed in this world, a world where Iorphs live for millennia without aging, without falling ill.

That is why your tribe lived far from Mezarte, the kingdoms of humans, whose lives are but a flash compared to the Iorphs.

— Now almost everything is perfect. We only have to save Leilia, — he said and rested his head on the crown of yours.

— Do you know how disappointed I was when you betrayed us? — then Krim said in a sweet, quiet voice, puffing out his cheeks and clicking his tongue.

— Happy, with a child, not forced to marry a human prince and let him inside you, like Leilia.

Sighing, Krim spoke, running his fingers through the hair on your head.

— You didn't have to suffer, hide, and try to save Leilia, watching her belly grow from that prince's seed, fight for your life and for your beloved, curling your hair into ringlets, — he then said.

— You were happy with a human child.

You heard the anger in Krim's voice as he suddenly released your hair and, placing his hands on your cheeks, said:

— But everything will be fine. I will fix it all, and we will live as three, like before.

He spoke and, pressing his head against your hair, inhaled their scent.

Krim had kidnapped you, kept you locked away until you once again looked like an Iorph with golden hair and eyes.

And now you realized that Krim had gone mad. Mad for the past, unwilling to let go of the happy times of the tribe's life, unwilling to accept the present, the partings. And so he craved only one thing:

Krim;

Leilia;

{{user}}.

Together, as before.