Ancient Monsters (Chasing Titania #3)

The Great and Glorious Ezra I: At the End

My story has been told and retold a thousand times. Ezra, the mad god, the God of the Future. With a name and a history of cursed fae.

My diary, left in the hands of my Splinter, meant my name got heard again.

Orpheus finally saved me. Gone was the madness I struggled with millennia in and millennia out. I could breathe now. I could see the future without pain. I could love without holds.

Getting used to flesh again was a tad difficult. Now, here I was with Argus, getting my own chance to love him. Getting an opportunity to rekindle the friendships I had burned at my end.

My story has been told. I have lived thousands of years. My diary was in the hands of my protégé, my Splinter. She could tell you who I was.

I must tell you what came after those pages ended.

When I died at the hands of Arn and Leviathan, I was awoken in Mother Gaia's cavern. I was raised a god, a promise Mother Gaia had made to me while her sirens were slaughtered.

I was reborn Ezra, the God of the Future, the All-Seeing Eye.

When I awoke, Xena was before me. Titania also greeted me happily. I met a few other gods. I then saw Argus standing there. I collapsed into his arms.

"Please, darling," he whispered. "Let's take this elsewhere."

Argus took me to a quiet room. I assumed it was his by the decor. His journals sat on a shelf. Drawings of me covered parts of the wall.

He gestured towards the bed. I took a seat upon it.

"I wanted to make sure we were okay," Argus sat beside me. "You left things an awful mess."

"I did what I had to do to keep you safe," I met his gaze. "Especially from me. I was going to kill you."

"But are we okay?" He embraced my hand. "The two of us, I mean."

"I..." I felt a lump grow in my throat. "Argus, I never, ever stopped loving you. You plagued my thoughts constantly. I hated pushing you away. I didn't want it. I had to."

"Thank you," he nodded.

"Argus," I pulled his hand to my chest. "You believe me, right?"

He smiled. "I believe you were the one who called me an addiction."

"I love you so much, Argus," I moved his hand up to my neck. "I love you more than life itself. I love you to the end of the universe and back again. I loved you for every damn second I got and ten times harder for every second I didn't. You gave me meaning. You made me important. I wouldn't have survived without you. I want you to know how heavy my words drip with love for you."

Argus enveloped me right by my ear. He held me steady. I closed my eyes. Please.

"You never were a man for poetry," he said in a low voice.

"Sonnets were more your thing," I let out a tiny laugh.

"You should have tried it. Those were the most beautiful words I've ever heard you say."

"Thank you," I whispered.

He leaned forward and kissed me. I had missed this. Two hundred years without him, hundreds more before that, couldn't compare to this. It was like he had never left. I knew every bit of his movement, his body, and I loved it.

"Ez," he moved back. "I have to tell you something."

"Of course," I answered. "Anything."

"I love you more than there are stars in the sky," Argus said. "I meant every song and sonnet, every whisper and sigh. I want you to know that when you locked us out of your tower, I went into a long period of mourning. Cali and Levi thought me mad."