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“Then I will be reborn from the ashes,” I responded after a moments consideration. I wasn’t exactly sure what the statement meant, but it sounded nice. And I liked to believe that we lived on after death in one form or another. Perhaps in the Elysian Fields where all fallen warriors were believed to go.
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine. “I would kill any man, go any distance, and burn the whole world down if it meant keeping you safe.”
One reason we were pulled from our homes at age seven was so we would not be weakened by such nurturing that came from a mother’s arms. Yet, I could not stop the way my heart sang in Eryx’s presence—in his embrace—and how he made me tremble with just a kiss.
Eryx tilted his head to gaze upon me, grabbing my hand and interlacing our fingers. “Not even death could keep me from you. My soul will forever find yours. In this life and the next.”
I was his. I had been since the very first day I laid eyes on him.
He was the very air I breathed and the water that sustained me. A life without him was a life not worth living.
“I do not fear death because I’m afraid of dying, Ery… I fear it because it would take me from you.”
“You are my heart,” he said unexpectedly. The amount of care in his voice settled over my chest like a warm cloak. “I do not easily confess emotions in the way you do, but know I feel the same. The words I once spoke to you hold true: I will kill any man and turn the whole world to ash for you, my warrior. I fear neither battle nor death, but I fear the day you are not by my side. Never question where my heart lies, because it is forever yours. In this life and the next.”
“To surrender is to be disgraced. Fear is for the weak, as is love. Pain is irrelevant, for a true Spartan rises above it.”
You and I will never part, my warrior. In this life and the next, we will be just as we have forever been: side by side. There is not a thing that can take me from you, neither the slashing of a sword nor the impalement from a spear, for I will always find you.”
“For as long as there is breath in my lungs, I will love you. Only you. And even when I leave this world, I will still belong to you, for my soul will forever seek yours. In both this life and the next.
No amount of time with him would ever be enough.
“Do not ever leave me, Ax,” he said, gripping the side of my neck and pressing his forehead to mine, still moving inside of me. “By the gods, I could not bear it. My whole world is right here in my hands. Without you, I am nothing.”
“I will not leave you,” I swore to him. In life and death, I am yours.
“In all the ages, there has never been a love like ours. No one has ever loved another as I have loved you. If we fall today, my soul will find yours. For I am eternally yours… in this life and the next.”
Ian and Melias were slain as well. Their bloodied bodies upon the ground lay less than a foot apart, as if they had reached for each other before death had claimed them.
