Zera help me, his laughter – it rolled over me like magic, a melodious sound so rich and full of life that I could do nothing but stand there and drown in it, soaking it in like warm sunlight on the first day of spring. He laughed like a male set free. Like all the weight in the world had been lifted from his shoulders for the first time in centuries and he could finally breathe again, the music of it resonating not just in the air between us, but in my very soul.
