Page 36 of Eryx

“No,” Father answered. “Death would’ve been a reprieve from their misery. Missing a part of yourself is much worse than death. The humans walked through life, yearning for their missing half.”

“What happens when theydofind each other?”

Father bumped my chin with his knuckles and smiled. “According to the poet, when the two halves meet again, an unspoken thing passes between them. A connection they’ve never felt before. Amongst the unspoken things lies a sense of unity, of home. And they finally know joy.”

Axios was my joy. The missing part of my soul.

And gods, I reveled in his soft sighs and trembling body as we kissed.

“Hey, you birds in the tree!”

We broke apart at the voice, and I looked down to see Haden.

“Come down from your nest and play,” he said with a sly grin as he stared up at us, holding a leather ball in his hands. “We need you to make the teams of even number.”

He’d become a close friend over the years, and I trusted him with my life. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel relieved upon seeing his smiling face. He’d seen Axios and I kiss and held no disgust or confusion over it. He accepted it because he knew us. He’d probably seen the signs even before we did.

“Are you certain you wish for me to join?” I asked, eyeing the ball in his hands. I caressed Axios’ lower back, a light touch to let him know we’d continue our kiss later, before shifting on the branch and hopping down from the tree.

I met Haden’s gaze with all the confidence I possessed. I excelled in sports, and it had caused a friendly rivalry between me and the bigger youth.

“Of course,” Haden answered with a smirk. “You shall be on my team.”

Axios jumped from the branch and landed on the heels of his feet before glancing between the two of us. “No fair. The two of you cannot be on the same team. The rest of us won’t stand a chance.”

I touched his hand with the back of mine, smiling when our eyes met. “Oh, come now, Axios. Even when outmanned, a Spartan never admits defeat.”

Axios answered me with a playful snarl. Then, he straightened his stance and raised his chin. “Remember those words when I have you on your back in the dirt later.”

It was something I liked about Axios. No matter how many times we raced through the valley, he always held onto hope that he’d eventually beat me, even though he never did. I’d never met anyone more resilient.

Haden laughed and slapped a hand to his shoulders. “No offense, my friend, but he’s already made a mess of you this day. Best not challenge him further.”

But Haden didn’t know the truth about our fight in the arena. Axios could’ve easily struck me, maybe even knocked me to the mud and busted my face like I’d done to his, but he’d refused to lift a hand to me. It said so much about his strength of character.

I felt incredibly foolish for my earlier thoughts about him being weak. His compassion for the slaves would do nothing but cause him trouble, but it didn’t make him weak. The fact that he stood up for his beliefs when other people tried to beat him down spoke wonders. It took more strength to continue fighting than to surrender to another’s way of thinking.

“Hurry, you asses!” Quill said as he and Theon approached. “Stop fiddling with each other’s cocks and let’s play.”

“The runt has spoken,” Haden said, tossing the ball in the air before catching it.

“Who you calling a runt, you big ass?” Quill retorted, shoving Haden’s arm.

The bigger boy didn’t even budge.

Axios smiled at our friends, and I smiled at him.

He’d said earlier that he would rise from the ashes if he crashed to the earth and burned, like a phoenix. But I viewed him more as a lion. My thoughts drifted to how he’d stood in place as I hit him in the arena, how he had squared his jaw as tears burned in his eyes. He never broke. Although I’d never understand why he held differing beliefs from the rest of us, I realized right then that I didn’t need to understand in order to accept it.

The five of us sprinted toward the field behind the barracks where we met Melias. We formed two teams of three, with Melias being on my and Haden’s team. Axios was paired with Quill and Theon. The pairing was unfair, perhaps, but it made for an amusing show as the smaller boys fought to keep up with us.

Later that night in the barracks, Axios rolled toward me once we were on our mats and softly pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was hesitant, as if he sought permission to deepen it. I moved my hand to his nape and pulled him against me, chest to chest and mouth to mouth.

We not only shared a breath, but as we kissed, I felt that we shared a soul as well.

Chapter Seven

The kiss in the tree had been the first of many. Never once did the kisses become anything stronger, though, only gentle touches of our mouths before bed and in the early morning before the boys woke around us. After a brutal day in the arena, nothing soothed me more than the brush of his lips on mine.