A Fire in the Flesh

“I am the first.”

“With my sword and my life. I shall honor you. In blood and in ash, forevermore.”

“To become a Revenant, you must die—like the soul leaves the body and all that. Correct? That’s why Kolis didn’t attempt to save me by turning me into a Revenant.”

“I know who you are, Sera, and what you mean to me. And that is everything because you are everything to me. And that will never change.”

“Loving someone isn’t…it isn’t less than being in love. It’s just not as strong or as irrevocable. Loving someone can change. It can grow into being in love, and it can fade. Being in love…it doesn’t do that. It only gets stronger, and you would do anything for that person. Anything. Being in love is…it’s unbreakable.”

“You have a real fucked-up, unhelpful way of showing your loyalty.”

“I knew what Eythos did before Kolis or Nyktos figured it out. Eythos and I were brothers in a way that he and Kolis never were. Friend. And I was one of the few entrusted with the knowledge of what Eythos did.”

“So, Sotoria’s name could be translated into my pretty…My pretty poppy?”

“Then I hope she hears this, I will save you this time.

“The embers are bonding with you, allowing you to access more of the essence. It happens when gods near their Ascension, just as it does with Primals.”

“So, there must always be the Primal of Death and the Primal of Life, even if nothing more than a spark of embers remains in them. Even if they are in stasis or…Or hidden within a mortal bloodline. As long as the embers exist in some fashion, and life is created and taken, the balance is maintained.”

“Because even if we weren’t mates of the heart, what you made me feel from the moment you stood in the Shadow Temple years ago to every moment between then and now, would’ve still made me fall in love with you. Your courage and strength, your beauty and utter fearlessness, your humor, and most of all, that softness of yours you share with me. It would’ve made sure my kardia somehow came back. I believe that—I know that—because you’re the first person I have ever felt has truly accepted me, no matter what I’ve done in my past or what has been done to me. You’re the first to refuse to allow any more drops of blood to be inked into my flesh. You were the first to ever make me feel anything that mattered. You’re…you’re simply my first, Sera, and you will be my last.”

“Your life could’ve been so fucking different. Your family never would’ve punished you. You wouldn’t have had to feel as if you were alone—never allowed to experience what most take for granted. You wouldn’t have felt like a monster. My apologies were and will never be enough. I could’ve—”

“With my sword and my life. I swear to you, the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, to honor your command.”

“Sotoria’s soul is in you, but you’re not her. And even if Kolis never realizes that, it means you’re not the weapon Eythos believed he created.”

“I have a feeling Holland really likes to push that fine line he walks between interfering and casually observing.”

“Only a union formed out of love can be blessed. You love him.”

“They can kill a fledgling Primal, depending on where they are struck, like one who is just coming out of their Culling. They’d be susceptible to that for many years until they fully harness their eather. But if any Primal, fledging or not, is impaled by a bone, they would remain incapacitated until it was removed.”