Page 69 of Beyond the Storm
“I will remain with Elasus through the night,” I told them. A pressure filled my chest. “To watch over him.”
Only for tonight, we had told each other.
My brothers and I parted ways. Bellamy found another warrior to warm his bed while Raiden found the leftover food and gorged himself by the firepit. Galen and Castor joined him. Daman kept to the shadows of the camp, not speaking to anyone. Gradyn had fallen asleep in the grass, and Alastair scooped him up and carried him to a mat beside the fire before settling in beside him.
“Come with me.” Elasus grabbed my hand, and our fingers threaded together. Much like our hearts.
He led me to the edge of their encampment and stopped beneath a tree with long branches. Gently, he pressed me against the trunk and kissed me. We didn’t speak at first. With words, anyway. We said much with our bodies. Lips that hungrily nipped at each other, hands that slid beneath clothing and gripped warm skin. Hearts that beat hard in our chests.
“I struggle to understand any of this,” Elasus then whispered, his large body a barrier in front of me. “Men with wings. Powers that heal mortal wounds. This connection I feel toward you and why.”
“I know.” I lifted my hand and trailed my fingers along his jaw. Short stubble prickled my fingertips. “Tell me something.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Anything,” I said. “Everything. Tell me of your life.”
“Lie with me.” He sat in the grass and grabbed my hands, guiding me down beside him. We then held each other as we stared up at the thick canopy of branches and leaves. “I’m afraid there’s not much to tell. I’ve lived the life of a warrior. I began training at the age of seven and learned how to survive ever since. My mother passed from sickness when I was only a babe, and my father died in battle when I was twelve.”
“What of your dreams?”
“I don’t dwell on dreams,” he answered, gliding his hand up and down my bicep. “Though… I suppose I did have a dream when I was a young boy.”
“Tell me.” I shifted to my side and slid one of my legs between his.
“You will think me foolish.” Elasus peered over at me, and when I tapped a finger on his chest, signaling my impatience for him to say more, he grinned. There was something almost shy about it. “Very well. I will tell you. I once saw a man forging swords for our army. He belonged to the perioikoi class, so neither a helot nor a Spartan. I was fascinated as I watched him.”
“You dreamed of becoming a smith? To forge weapons?”
“And armor,” Elasus said with a nod. “The thought of forging something with my own hands, of shaping it into a thing that has purpose, intrigues me. Yet, that is a life I’ll never have. My hands were meant to wield weapons, not forge them.”
“I don’t think you foolish for dreaming of such a thing.” I settled more into the crook of his arm, using his bicep as a pillow. “Have you shared this dream with Nikandros?”
“No. You are the only one.”
That pleased me for some reason.
“Must we truly say goodbye on the morrow?” Elasus asked, voice thin. As though he were close to breaking.
“Yes.” I saw no other path for us. Even if Lazarus decided not to take action against me for biting a human, Elasus and I couldn’t be together. He had his duty… and I had mine.
Elasus wrapped me in his arms and buried his face against my neck. “Then I wish to stay here with you beneath moonlight where the sun will never rise.”
The base of my throat squeezed. I returned his hold and breathed in his scent of olive trees and earth. “I will always remember this moment.”
“As will I.” He softly shuddered. “My heart aches, Kallias. Tell me what to do with these feelings, for I do not know.”
“Kiss me,” I said.
And then, he did.
Soldiers had turned in for the night, and little sound came from the camp apart from the few men still awake who sat around the fire. The tree we lay under could’ve been in a separate realm entirely, one where only he and I existed.
The thought of leaving him was painful.
My sexual attraction to Elasus was undeniable, but it went beyond the physical. I yearned for all that he was. I wanted to stake my claim over his body and soul. Over his heart.
One day was all it had taken for me to know I never wanted to spend another one without him.
