Axios: A Spartan Tale (Axios Series)

by Jaclyn Osborn

“I see someone who is kind and who stops to see the beauty of the world. Someone who likes to watch the birds fly in the sky, wondering where they go… wondering what it’s like to soar amongst the clouds. I see an intelligent mind who ponders what makes the sky blue and where the sun goes at night. But mostly… I see my truest companion.”

“A true warrior fights for what’s in his heart.”

“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.

“Once a thing is broken, there is no mending it.

“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.”

“But we are not gods, Ery, no matter how great we are. When we are cut, we bleed, and if that cut is deep enough, we fall. All men have weaknesses… even the ones who believe they do not. Death is inevitable.”

“Not even death could keep me from you. My soul will forever find yours. In this life and the next.”

Where he was leading me, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t question him. I would follow Eryx anywhere.

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.”

Once spoken, the words were impossible to take back.

A man who fought with his heart was more dangerous than one who merely fought out of duty.

“It is a curse, I suppose, to forever be trapped in one’s thoughts.

“And I swear I will forever choose you. When the day comes and we are asked to settle down with wives, I will refuse them. Sparta can have my life, but she cannot take my heart.”

“A man without fear is not brave. Bravery comes from being afraid, but doing a thing anyway. To be courageous is to fear death, and yet, charge at the enemy anyhow. Fear does not make you a coward. But overcoming it makes you a man.”

“Even in dark days, we must always seek the light. Once we surrender to darkness, we lose hope, and without hope… we have already lost.”

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.”

He was my sanctuary and my anchor that kept me from detaching from this world.

“Life is not just. The gods care not whether a man is a beggar or a king. We are the same in their eyes, and when they wish to take us, they do.”

Grief is not a thing we choose, and we cannot run from the pain of it.”

“If I die, do not allow Zeus to turn me into a star,” I spoke, grinning despite the gaping wound in my heart. “But you love the stars.” Eryx kissed my temple before nuzzling his nose along the edge of my brow. I grinned. “Well, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. To live in the sky and have such beauty around me. But only if you are there too.”

“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.”

But if I did not seek out the light, I would be consumed by the darkness, and life was too beautiful for such a thing.

Maybe there were only a set amount of close companions a person could have in their lifetime. Other people may come and go, but only those rare few truly stayed by your side, through the good and the bad. Life and death.

Regretting the past would not alter the present. No matter how much we wished to go back to our younger selves and take a different path, it could never come to pass.

“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.”

I’ll see you in the stars, my warrior,