Page 156 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
When Kitsuki spoke again, his voice carried the authority of his inner dragon. “Never forget that we have claimed you. We refuse to relinquish you to the likes of Nasume. Death itself cannot keep you from us, for we will tear through every realm to retrieve what is ours.”
His lips found Maseo’s, claiming him in a kiss that promised a king’s refusal to surrender what was his. Maseo melted into the embrace, savoring how Kitsuki’s hands held him like something precious and irreplaceable. It was desperate and tender, filled with all the love they had not had time to explore and all the moments they were gambling on having in the future.
When they parted, Maseo’s lips tingled with the memory of Kitsuki’s touch. “I never thought someone would want me enough to fight for me.”
“You must come back to us,” Kitsuki’s dragon insisted, his forehead resting against Maseo’s. “Promise us. Whatever happens in that realm, no matter what underhanded tricks your father tries, remember that you have a home now. You have love here. You have a future worth living for.”
“I promise I’ll return home to you both.”
Auslin stepped forward, his eyes bright with fierce determination. “I’ll be beside you every step of the way. You aren’t alone anymore.” He reached out, his hand closing around Maseo’s. “Trust that our bond will guide us home when the darkness tries to claim us.”
Auslin’s kiss differed from Kitsuki’s. It was softer but no less passionate, filled with hope and the promise of a love that could survive anything. Maseo lost himself in the sensation, overwhelmed by the knowledge that two incredible men cherished him.
“I love you both,” Maseo said when they parted, the words coming easily despite how foreign they felt on his tongue. “More than I ever thought I’d be allowed to.”
He turned toward Fate’s Gate, positioning his back to the monument. The forgotten runes pulsed with a waiting energy, the dragon spirits watching with eternal patience. One step backward and he would fall into the Beyond Realm. One step, and everything would end to begin anew.
“I’m ready,” he said, his voice steady.
Auslin drew his soulkeeper’s sword. The purple fire dancing along the black diamond blade cast strange shadows across his face, highlighting the anguish of loving someone enough to kill them.
Maseo’s unwavering gaze met his. “You’re not killing me, Auslin. You are giving me the only weapon that can win this war, so I can come back to you whole.”
Auslin raised the sword, bringing the point to rest over Maseo’s heart. The tip pressed against the fabric of his tunic, a pinprick of pressure before the coming pain. Auslin’s hand was steady now, his focus absolute despite the tears tracking down his cheeks. “I know why this has to be done, but that doesn’t make it easier to…”
“To love me enough to let me go,” Maseo finished, offering a reassuring smile. “To trust that what we have is strong enough to survive. I am not afraid, because I know what awaits me when I return. Nothing will stop me from coming back to you.”
The purple fire flared brighter, responding to their connection.
“I love you,” Auslin said, the words carrying all the hope and desperate devotion in his heart. “Now and always.”
The declaration made dying worth it. He rested his hand on the hilt of his own sword, prepared for the journey. “I love you, too. Both of you. Forever.”
And then Auslin moved.
The sword plunged forward with devastating precision, sliding between Maseo’s ribs in one swift, terrible motion. Steel parted flesh and muscle, severing arteries and penetrating his heart, which had only just learned to love.
For a moment that stretched into an eternity, time stopped. The blade buried to the hilt in his chest, with Auslin’s face inches from his own, their eyes locked in perfect understanding and unbearable horror.
Pain exploded through Maseo as his body convulsed. His muscles spasmed as his heart fought to beat around the steel that had torn it apart. Blood gushed from the wound, soaking his shirt and painting Auslin’s hands and face crimson.
Worse than the physical agony was Auslin’s devastation, his beautiful features crumpled by a grief Maseo had caused. He wanted to offer comfort, but blood filled his mouth, spilling over his lips in thick streams that choked his words.
Purple fire erupted from the wound, a judgment of the Death Power unleashed. The flames were not heat but pure spiritual force, burning his soul free from its failing body with a soulkeeper’s authority. Through it all, he could feel Auslin’s magic wrapped around his own, a protective guide through the throes of dying.
Maseo’s legs gave out, his body crumpling against Auslin as his lungs filled with blood. Each attempt to breathe produced only a wet, rattling gasp. His hands clutched at Auslin’s shoulders,trying to hold on as his strength bled away. With one final, desperate flutter, Maseo’s heart stilled. The silence in his chest was deafening, a void where life used to be. Yet the fire kept burning, keeping him aware as his body died around him, each flame a thread connecting his soul to Auslin’s.
“I won’t let go,” Auslin swore, his voice breaking as they stumbled backward toward Fate’s Gate. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with Maseo’s blood. “Not in this realm or any other. I will bring you home.”
Ancient magic embraced them as the prophecy fulfilled. Maseo’s soul separated from his dying body like smoke from an extinguished flame, but Auslin’s presence tethered him to purpose and love. His blood painted the monument as they fell through shimmer and shadow, through the space between realms where reality was negotiable. Its dragon spirits roared, their stone eyes blazing with ethereal light, but their blessing could not ease the agony of a heart pierced by steel.
The last thing Maseo saw before darkness claimed him was Kitsuki’s face through the closing portal, twisted with anguish and fierce determination. His lips formed words that Maseo couldn’t hear but understood all the same.Come back to me.
The Living Realm vanished behind a curtain of stars and shadow as they fell into the endless night of the Beyond Realm. Auslin’s arms wrapped around him disappeared, but the purple fire still burning in his soul was his only lifeline to everything he’d left behind. His last coherent thought before the void swallowed him was a prayer that the men he loved would forgive themselves for what they had done.
Then there was no heartbeat, no breath, no life in the endless dark.
Until the shadows learned to laugh.
