Cursed with immortality, Mars goes on a journey with his lifelong more-than-friends partner Astral, a painfully average future-seeing mage, to find the root of magic, in an effort to ease the side effects of Astral's visions - and to finish their th...
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I awoke the next day, feeling much better. My throat didn't feel as raw and the pain in my body had slowed to a dull ache, rather than it being a heavy pounding.
Astral snored a bit in my ear, his body sealed to mine. He had his arm around me, his chest rising and falling in my back. I felt so safe. Even his snoring didn't bother me. It soothed me.
I moved back a little, so we were closer, and his snoring stopped. His arm around me clenched me closer and he kissed me under my ear.
"Good morning," he whispered, no doubt still very tired.
"Good morning," I murmured back, fitting my fingers in between his.
"How're you feeling?"
"Much better. The tea helped a lot."
"You're genius with those remedies, Mars."
I felt warmth spread in my chest. This was a perfect way to start the morning. Him complimenting me, holding me close. I counted myself blessed and lucky every day I didn't wake up in the cell, and I'd probably continue to do so until the day I finally perished. If that day ever came.
"I missed you," he whispered. "I was afraid I lost you."
"I'm immortal..." I said hesitantly and turned around, facing him.
"I know, but... If it weren't for Zeke, we might've never found you. They could've kept you. Forever. I was so scared, Mars."
"I'm here now," I said as softly as my throat would allow me.
"Yeah," Astral said with a shaky voice. He hugged me closer. "I can't... Without you."
"You won't have to." I ran my fingers through his hair and softly kissed him. He was less gentle in returning the kiss, almost crushing my body to his. It was fierce and unlike him. He was pushing a lot of emotions into it, and I had no doubts he was serious about being afraid. I wasn't sure how he'd fare in this world without me. Or me without him. We had grown entirely co-dependent and had been for many years. We wouldn't function without each other. That went beyond love or romance. This was a bond so strong it didn't really have a proper word for it. It wasn't familiar – clearly family wasn't something that was bound by blood, but something that was actively chosen. We had chosen our family and we were it. Astral had chosen to let Zeke in too, as I had before him.
Family wasn't blood. It was chosen.
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