Wearing only bracers and his talon ring, everything about Tash was real. In a blend of contrasts, he was tough and gentle all at once. The longer Mayr stared, the more contradictions fell away, leaving the consuming sense of being connected well beyond their understanding. Nothing

could soothe the feeling of familiarity burning him from inside. Touch only fueled the fire.


"Last one. This one's for the ring." Mayr licked his lips, caught between wanting to feel the talon's piercing tip graze his skin and seeing Tash without it. If not for his curiosity, he would have let Tash keep it. It would be another fantasy for another time. "Your scars—what are they from?"


Tash's gaze fell, his expression darkening. Long, silent moments passed.


"Never mind," Mayr said. "You don't have to—"


"Mistakes. Ones I should have never made. Ones I deserved. Just like these reminders. I broke the rules. I didn't do what I was told. I paid the price, taken from my flesh for something as simple as morality. I wouldn't spill blood, so mine was taken in its stead." Tash looked up.

"Blood can be remade; death is permanent."


"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"


Tash raised his hand. "No, no apologies. Just tell me: your scars, they're battle-born? Brawls, fights, training?"


"Yes."


"Then I'd say the game's finished." Tash unclasped the chain from his bracer, slipped off his ring, and laid it on his discarded garments.


"In case you didn't notice, I don't have any clothes left."


"Ah, but there is one thing I want." Pressed against Mayr, Tash removed the tie from Mayr's braid.


Able to take the hint, Mayr teased the braid apart and shook his hair loose until it hung in waves past his shoulders.


Tash coiled the end of several black strands around his finger. "Beautiful," he whispered, resting his other hand on Mayr's hip. His lips sought Mayr's, and as he tilted his head to claim a deeper kiss, he interlaced his fingers with Mayr's.
Their bodies were almost as one, Mayr realized, moaning against Tash's lips. They shared the same breaths, passion flowing between them as smooth as water. What he poured into their kiss was returned, suggesting, just for the moment, they felt the same for each other. That everything he had thought was only in his head was actually real. Not a figment of his imaginative hopes.