Shadows like mine

37

It should've been impossible.
    The moment Aurora woke up, Azriel wondered if he was dead as well. If he did took Truth Teller, but forgot about it. If he did take his own life, not being able to go through the days any longer without Aurora.
But the Dawn appeared, the blood was still on his face and on the pebbles.
"Aurora?" he asked, his voice shaking and near a braking point.
Her golden eyes, now actually shining, blinked once.
"Azriel."
    Her saying his name made his eyes fill with tears again. He didn't care that somehow, she still lived. If she was still injured. Azriel took her in his arms and pushed her tight against his chest. His arms were like a cage, his heartbeat steady and strong against hers.
    "How is this possible?" He moved back a bit so he could look at her gorgeous face. "Why did you leave?"
    Aurora cupped his face and pushed her forehead against his. He now realised how hard he was crying, how sobs ripped through his chest.
    "I had to," she whispered. "I had had been thinking about what Amren said..."
    "That you had to be killed by something stronger than Death," finished Azriel her sentence. He furrowed his eyebrows. "But..."
    "I knew it." Aurora laughed with tears in her eyes. "I knew what it meant."
    "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked and felt anger bubble in his chest. "You left without a word. I was worried sick."
    She wiped away his tears and looked at the colourful sky, how the Dawn made it purple and pink. Fog from the sea surrounded them.
    "If I told you, you never would've let me go. So I winnowed away. It was my only chance."
    Azriel caressed her cheeks and took a deep breath. "You were dead."
    Maybe she still was. Maybe they both were. Maybe Death kept them in this place, forever.
    But Aurora shook her head with a soft smile. Like she had heard his thoughts. She tugged on their bond, making Azriel gasp for air.
    "Death gave you the answer," she said. "You gave me the answer."
    Confused he shook his head, trying to understand a single word she was saying. Azriel searched through his mind, trying to remember what he might've said that was the solution.
    The solution to break her curse.
    "Death is just the blink of an eye," she said and went with a hand through his hair. "But a mating bond lasts forever."
    "I still don't understand," he said and pushed his cheek against her hand.
    The realisation that Aurora was here, that she was alive and Death was gone, slowly started to come down on Azriel.
    "When you came to me in the palace," she started, "I thought you were lying. I thought we couldn't have a mating bond... that I couldn't have a mate."
    Through the bond she stroke his soul with her soft hands, making Azriel shudder.
    "But when we were born, it was already written in the stars that we belong together. That was before Death."
    "And that will stay, even after Death," said Azriel.
    Aurora nodded and a tear rolled down her cheek. "It was our love, Azriel," she said. "That is stronger than Death. That is the only thing that could kill me, if it was taken away from me."
    Stunned Azriel just stared at her for a long time. Then he checked if she wound she had, was still there.
    It was gone.
    The Dawn, their bond, had healed her. Aurora grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss on it.
    "Now it's time to go home."