“You died,” I say, my voice breaking on the word. I shake my head. “You died in my arms.”
I close my eyes, and tears—tears of gratitude fall.
I will never let her go. I will never let anything harm her. I make the oath to the world. To myself.
I will choose her over it. Every single time. Always. No matter the cost.
“How?” she asks again.
“I bound you to me.”
She blinks, confused, as if her senses are still returning. “What—what does that mean?”
How to even explain? I’m not sure I know myself. I feel her life within mine, tied. Flickering.
This is not forever. I know that. But I will find a way to make it so. I will find a solution. For now, though—
“It means we share a life.”
Her eyes widen. She takes a shaking breath. “You—” She frowns. “You gave your life for me?”
I smile down at her. My dirt-crusted fingers smooth down her face. “You did the same for me.”
She just looks at me. She looks, and I still can’t believe it.
She gave her life for mine. I did the same. Now, we are one. Not just sharing powers ... but sharing life itself.
I feel her worry. Forme. Even after she did the same, she thinks I gave too much. Perhaps I did.
I smooth her hair behind her ear. “I don’t ever want to live a single day without you,” I say. “It wouldn’t even be living.”
I kneel by my bath and comb the dirt out of her hair. I take the soap in my hand and gently rub it on her skin. She’s sore. Raw. She winces, and I stop until she tells me to continue.
“I’m here,” I say, and she grips my hand, like I’m her gravity. She’s mine.
She’s my everything.
I carry her to our bed, and she lies there in near silence, as if deep in thought, before asking for her little dragon.
I portal him in—and he immediately makes a shrieking sound of happiness. He lies on her chest, and she smooths a finger down his scales.
I take the quickest bath of my life, not wanting to leave her alone. By the time I towel off and rejoin her, though, she’s sleeping. I let her rest, my hand over her heart. I just need—I just need to hear it beating.
It’s been days now, and Isla is quiet. It’s like part of her is rediscovering the world for the first time, or maybe she’s just deep in thought. I give her space. I portal her back to her room. She tells her guardians she’s sick, to get out of a few days of training.
I don’t know why ... but I portal her back to the field of nightbane. The flowers. They made her smile before. I don’t know what else to do ... how else to make her happy.
It’s night. The stars glimmer overhead, watching us. We’re drowning in purple. The petals sway gently in the wind.
“You gave your life for me,” she says again, quietly.
You are my life, I want to say. But I don’t want to scare her.
I think she can read it in my eyes. She takes a step toward me. The flowers are nothing compared to her; they should hate her.
All at once, she throws her arms around me, and her face is buried in my neck. She’s shaking. I hold her tightly, as if I could stand here, in a field of flowers, keeping her alive forever.
If I was guaranteed forever with her, I wouldn’t move. I would stay right here, in this moment, in this place, and be happy. I’m holding everything I’ve ever wanted.
