A Fire in the Flesh

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

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, but I’ve got you now, liessa, and I won’t let go. I’ll never let go again.”

“What truly ails you goes deeper than blood loss and cannot be circumvented, Consort. It can only be delayed, no matter how steep the price or how often it is paid.”

“I’ve never stood with Kolis. Not truly.”

“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.”

“I’m nothing without you, liessa. And there will be nothing without you.”

“Fates, Sera, I…I love you.”

“Wait. Do you think to compare me to the mortal trash known as Tavius?”

“I’m loyal only to the true Primal of Life. That was Eythos, and now it is you. Yes, you only have two Primal embers, but that still makes you, for all intents and purposes, the true Primal of Life, as long as those embers remain inside you.”

“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.”

“Primals cannot sense one another when we’re in our nota forms—when we take the shape of the animal we find ourselves most connected to. Just as Kolis didn’t sense him in his wolf form.”

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

“You were afraid of me before, when I first lost you and brought you back. It wasn’t until the end of our time together that it changed. But this time, you’ve shown very little fear of me, even if you’ve felt it. That’s changed.”

“Those bones, when wielded as a weapon? Prick even the skin of a god? Dead. And because of the embers, if I try to take you through them and you get nicked? Dead. They can even put a Primal into years-long stasis. Nyktos is just as imprisoned by them as you are, and he’s far more guarded.”

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

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

“She was never yours, nephew. She has always been mine.”

“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.”