This and Every Life

by Emmy Sanders

“Will you think of me while you’re away?” His response nearly sets my heart on fire. “How could I not? Forgetting you must mean I am dead, for I cannot see how it would be possible otherwise.”

“I don’t want to touch another,” I finally manage between breaths. “I cannot love another. Not as I love you. Why can’t they let me simply love you?”

“You feel lovely. My cock is in Heaven, if such a place exists. There has never been a home as perfect for me as you.”

would hold you in our bed at night. Take you like this whenever you pleased. I would kiss every inch of you, swallow down the spend from your cock. I would belong to you happily, Jasper Sinclair. I already do. No matter our fortune in life, I will love you for all of our days and long after.”

“I think you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever set eyes on,” I tell him seriously. “But even if I didn’t have eyes, I would want you just the same.”

“Don’t lose hope,” I beg of him quietly. “Never that. When you feel lost, look at the stars and know I am looking at them with you.” A tear slips down his cheek, cold against my nose. “My warrior.” “Forevermore,” I vow.

“My heart. My star. My love. Whoever it was that wove the fabric of my being did it with you in mind. I was made to love you. And I will do so no matter where on this earth you are. My love for you will never, ever flicker out.”

“What I mean to say is… If I can find some comfort in the lot I’ve been given, it’s this. I would choose you countless times over. I’d take a lifetime of being loved by you, Arthur Kane, over any life lived without. I’m more than certain there’s not a storm I couldn’t weather, so long as I have you at my side.”

“My heart,” I say softly, more than ready to offer every fiber of my being to the person most deserving of it. “Have me as you will. Have my body, my love, and my everlasting soul. For there is not a single other in this universe I wish to share eternity with.”

“Charlie, you will always be my heart, no matter how many times your name may change. No matter your body or age or the years we see pass. There is nothing in this universe that would stop me from loving you. Dare I say not even death.”

“Do you know what I felt when I first met Gray? It was like I’d found a piece of myself that had been living outside of my body. And I didn’t even know it until he was close enough to bring it home. If soulmates are a thing, he’s mine. It’s not romantic. It doesn’t have to be. He’s part of me, and I would no sooner cut out my own lungs than be without that man in my life.”

Ezra makes a thoughtful noise. “Maybe not. But it’ll be temporary. Dying stars, remember? We can only shine for so long.” I hum, but I don’t think there’s a star out there with as strong a gravitational pull as Ezra. When he goes out…the blast will be felt worlds over.

“And us?” I ask, turning my head to see his profile. Ezra smiles, the corner of his lips drawing upwards. “We’re inevitable, Grayson Fox. Bound by fate or luck or maybe even gravity. The moment I found you, I knew there was no escape.”

can picture the blast of light in my mind’s eye clearly. A collapse of two stars and an explosion so great it can be seen across the universe, causing ripples in the very fabric of space-time. Cataclysmic. Ruinous and miraculous. No words better describe what Ezra is to me. There’s a smile on my face when I answer my friend, the world around us dark. “Supernova.”

“Some say the stars themselves wept at the loss of such pure devotion, placing the sword in the sky so that the young lovers could be guided together in the next life. Others say it was the Fates. Either way, the constellation we now know as the Sword of Leandros sits bright above, a beacon for many who draw strength or courage from its celestial blade.”

“Who are you to me?” Lee’s voice is solemn, his question causing my breath to stutter. “In these visions you see, are you my…husband? My lover? My friend?” I swallow heavily, a smile tugging at my lips, even as I ache fiercely inside. “All of those,” I tell him. “More.”

“Do you believe in fate, Lee?” His eyes hold my own, brown and gold mixing in a hue I’d recognize anywhere. Any time. “I believe in you, my love. Which is why I can say with absolute certainty… I love you. In this and every life.”

“This and every life,” I repeat. My own promise. My own vow. The absolute and utter truth. “I am yours, my warrior. And I will love you until everything goes dark.”