Wild ​Reverence

by Rebecca Ross

It had been real to me, even if I claimed otherwise. Even if it had only been in dreams.

I pray that my days will be long at your side. Let me fill and satisfy every longing in your soul. May your hand be in mine, by sun and by night. Let our breaths twine and our blood become one, until our bones return to dust. Even then, may I find your soul still sworn to mine.

She had an uncanny way of making one feel like he was the only one in the world, as if she saw the deeper layers of a soul that no one else could see.

She was not mine by spoken vow but something deeper. Something that felt older, stronger, darker, like a language that had been sung centuries ago but had now been forgotten. Something that simmered in the blood, calling to me, calling to her.

Rowena smiled. “Oh child, you are still quite young, aren’t you? He longs to worship you, but not in the way you think.”

My home is your home. My arms are a haven for you to rest. My last name is yours if you desire it. I will love you to my grave, and even beyond it, when the mists welcome me, when I am hopefully very old and gray and grouchy and have spent the seasons beside you when you are here and dreaming of you when you are gone. I love you, dearly, Red.

“Because she is yours, as you are hers,” Bade replied quietly. “And she is precious to me.”

Life went on, as it always had, even when it felt like it shouldn’t.