The Scattered Bones

by Nicole Scarano

“I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you.

I’m almost ashamed to share the same air as you.”

every time you offer me your friendship, I feel my soul being pulled in two.

“I don’t want to take anything from you.” Conviction fortified his voice. “I want to give everything to you.

“I’ll help you live an entire lifetime in the coming seasons,” he whispered. “I’ll make them the best days of your life.”

have scars from those who tried, but as the cycles passed, less and less could wound me, but your tears? They hurt worst of all. Out of everyone in my life, you have the power to hurt me the most.”

“Why?” His words alarmed me. “Because I finally found a soul that sings to mine, a friend unlike anyone I’ve ever met, and I made you cry. I can’t take you away from here. I cannot touch you, and in a cycle, I’ll lose you.”

“I’ll even return when you’re old and grey and Hreinasta abandons you for another. It may take a while, but I’ll always come for you.”

Out of everyone in my life, you have the power to hurt me the most.

did hurt him. I killed him, and now his bones lie across a long stretch of floor guarded by beasts born and bred of evil.

hunter, a warrior, a priestess.

He made me Sellah. Kaid was the only person who let my true self bleed to the surface.

lived for these moments, where my world learned parts of his, where my body experienced what he felt.

“Eyes on me.” He smiled wickedly as he settled between my thighs. “I want to watch you.”

“I don’t love you,” he growled as he angled his hips to hit the spot that unleashed the stars. “This isn’t love. Love is too simple a word for what I feel. The world could end. Ages could pass. The gods could die, and I would still adore you. You’ve been braided so deeply into my heart that I no longer exist without you.”

“I’ll want you even in death, Sellah. There’s no afterlife, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll love you until I’m dead in the dirt, then I’ll love you until my body is nothing but bones. And when my bones fade to dust coating the earth, I’ll still want you.”