A Fire in the Flesh

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

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“It’s from the oldest of our language. Toria had a few meanings. One meant garden. Another could be loosely translated into pretty flower. But a more exact translation is poppy.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I…I don’t know much about love, or anything really. But love should inspire one to indulge in more than just violence and death.”

“Because I have not seen life restored—real life, with my own eyes—since Eythos. But more than that? I never thought his plan would work. Restoring life to a hawk is one thing, but a draken? Eythos was under the impression that the embers would protect you and maybe give you some ability to restore life, but not to that extent. Even before the embers he stole from Eythos died out, Kolis couldn’t bring a draken back.”

“I am the first.”

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

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

“But if you handling it doesn’t actually handle it? And they still show you disrespect? I will fucking destroy them.”

“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.”