Page 139 of Eryx

I studied him in the faint candlelight, watching the shadows dance across his bare skin. I ran my hand up his torso before resting it over his beating heart, feeling the soft thumps beneath my palm. Each beat was more precious to me than anything on this earth. More than duty or honor. More than my own life.

“Sleep,” I said before kissing him lightly on the mouth.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“It was a silly question.”

He opened his eyes, staring at me in silence. He traced the edge of my jaw before moving to my lips. And then he kissed me.

We could reach each other with a single glance. I knew he saw the answer in my eyes. That I would always choose him first.

Chapter Thirty-One

375 BC – One Year Later

“The Sacred Band?” Axios asked on our way to the dining hall.

“A newly formed Theban unit,” I responded, relaying to him what I had heard earlier that morning while gathering food from the market. “Rumor has it that they match us Spartans in discipline and skill. Unlike other Greek hoplites, being a soldier is their only profession.”

Clever. The Theban general who’d formed the Sacred Band unit couldn’t have Spartan men and so he created the closest thing he could to them.

“How many are there?” Axios was thoroughly intrigued.

“Three hundred. All are male couples.”

“They are like us?” he asked, bewildered.

“Yes. It is said that a man will fight harder to protect the lover at his side.” I met his stunned gaze. “They aren’t wrong. I am strongest when by your side, Ax.”

“As I am by yours.”

I breathed in the cold air and peered up at the gray sky. Winter had fallen on Sparta, and with it came a certain quiet not found during any other time of the year. Spring would be upon us before too long, but for now, the trees remained bare and the quiet remained.

When we reached the dining hall, we escaped the frosty nip in the air and slipped inside the building. We lived in our own home but still had evening meal with oursyssition. It helped keep our bonds strong.

Laughs echoed down the corridor as we approached, and loudest of all was Haden—whose boisterous laugh was highly distinguishable. Once we reached the table, a helot brought our meal and left the room.

Quill consumed all of his food before glancing at Theon’s plate. Theon smacked his hand, making Quill drop the piece of bread he’d tried to steal. The two bickered before Theon leaned forward and brushed his lips across Quill’s neck, silencing the other man who’d been in the midst of arguing about his ravenous hunger.

“Silence,” a voice came from behind us. All the men turned their heads. Gaius stood there, stern-faced as always. “I have news to report.”

All allies had turned against Sparta apart from Orchomenus and the city of Plataea. Only their loyalty remained. Several Spartan forces were already in the two places, but reinforcements had been requested. And once again, we were told of our imminent departure.

“You’re heading to Orchomenus to join the men garrisoned there,” Gaius said. “Your orders are to defend it if necessary, though an attack is unlikely. More as a precaution, but you should still remain on alert.”

Axios had been correct… we were losing the war. Protecting our only allies was of grave importance.

The men at the table nodded and stared at their food. Haden wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before standing and leaving the hall, all traces of his earlier merry mood gone. I knew he was going home to his family. To spend as much time with them as he could before we left for another campaign.

I planned to do the same.

Later that evening, Axios and I returned home and built a fire to fight the chilly winter night. Axios stared at the flames before moving to the window and peering outside.

“Everything must end eventually,” he said, not taking his eyes off the large oak tree. “The leaves fall and the grass dies. If a wound doesn’t kill you, it will heal. The pain won’t last forever.” Sighing, he looked over at me. “I wonder whenthiswill end, Ery. The fighting. The inability to live in peace. I try to hold onto hope, but I feel it slipping away.”

“Hold onto it a little tighter then,” I said, offering him a kind smile. “One day, you and I will be just as we are right now, only perhaps a bit older, and we will recall our times in battle as we sit by the fire. They will be nothing but a memory.”

Axios turned away and peered outside again. “I wish I could see it.”