Sweet Nothings

She was resting in the suite she shared with Siren, laying next to Ruse and telling the girl about her "trip" with fanciful stories that greatly obscured the truth of the matter when Chimera came to find her. She looked up at him with a smile and easily agreed to go with him as he invited her out with him, leaving Ruse to go back to her usual exploring and play, none the wiser to her mother's ailments. Dalila walked with Chimera as he brought her out to the familiar gazebo, her shoulder brushing against his leg occasionally as she walked at his side. Being with him helped to quiet her worries and helped her not feel as if she needed to be checking around every corner. Chimera had become a point of safety in her mind just like being tucked away in her suite with Siren was. Their relationship had grown to a point where she trusted him wholeheartedly and loved him more than she had ever imagined she would.

Dalila settled into the comfortable furs and pillows with Chimera with a soft sigh, letting herself relax a bit with a soft smile was he kissed behind her ear. She looked to the wine he presented her with a little bit of surprise, but still glanced up at him with a thankful smile all the same. She hadn't really partaken in much wine since the night that had eventually led to her having Ruse, but she wondered if perhaps it was just what she needed in a moment like this. "Thank you," she said as she leaned into him a bit, turning it around in her paws for a moment before pulling off the cork so she could take a drink, the sweet and slightly bitter wine coating her tongue. As she sat the bottle back down he asked how she was doing and her initial instinct was to brush it off, to assure him that she was fine and that she was recovering well, but when she looked up at his two toned gaze the words died on her lips. "I'll be okay," she responded after a moment, feeling like that was at least a bit more truthful. She would eventually move on and accept what happened the same way she had her mother's murder and the genocide of her old pack. She hadn't quite figured out how to find that solace just yet, but she would.

She held the bottle of wine between her paws as she leaned into him more heavily, tipping her head to rest it at the top of his shoulder while she just enjoyed being with him for a few moments. She still couldn't quite shake that feeling of not being able to get back to them and feeling as if she had failed them and herself by not being able to get away, by being so easily overpowered. She took another drink of wine and frowned a little as she leaned into him once more, her ears flicking back uneasily. "It... It wasn't uncommon for the slaves and the lower class to get used and abused from time to time in my old pack," she told him quietly, her ice blue gaze on the wine bottle in her paws. "I had managed to get a placement with a nice older lady before I was old enough for the men to be interested in me, but it was one of those things that all of the women just accepted. Even... Even when you..." She trailed off, not really wanting to bring up the first time he had her since it was a sore spot in their past, but in the grand scheme of things he really hadn't been that terrible to her. She hadn't wanted it, but he hadn't brutalized her and torn her apart the way that brute did. "I could rationalize that because I belonged to you and Siren. But this... And after I've spent so much time and energy training and getting stronger just to be powerless..." She gave a shaky sigh before she took another drink, letting herself focus on the slight warmth and tingle it brought instead of the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Dalila Vista Klein"