Wild ​Reverence

by Rebecca Ross

War only makes love flame brighter, defiant. It seems to bloom from the bloodshed you leave behind, unfurling from the most unlikely places. From the broken seams of the world. From the graves and the anguish and the fear you inspire.”

Let me be not loved but feared.

“Forgive me, but I must kiss you now.

“I have never told anyone this, but I have always wanted to care for the land. To have a small farm somewhere, tucked away from the world. To live in solitude, to live simply, where there is no war and no bloodshed and no violence. To live in a dream, I suppose.”

“I did not save you to make you indebted to me,”

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

I was weak for her alone, and I wanted her to know it. I did not want to keep anything from her.