Till Death do us Part

His Only.

I was trying to understand what he meant. His only friend? I know he doesn’t have many. He’s a loner, like me, like most of the people I choose to be friends with.

We had left AR and begun our journey to Schendi. It was evening and we had stopped to camp, to give the birds a rest and to eat. I was about to say something to him in reply, when he stood, swayed, dropped the plate he was holding, and fell down to one knee in a tragic teeter. There was blood oozing from his eyes, his ears. I moved to his side immediately, but I didn’t know what to do for him.

His guards too were there, but he commanded them away so that he could speak to me without them hearing. He tugged me down to his level, pulling my face to his, bidding me to listen to what he had to say. He told me he didn’t think he was going to make it. That.. brought form a panic from me, words I did not wan to hear. He had told the men whom he hired that he was an entertainer, but truly, he was a Scribe. He had no family. He had.. no one, except me, his only.

His hand tightened in my hair, he wanted me to take what was his, to.. inherit what he had, after the guards pay. To do that, I was to companion him.

After several days of knowing me, he was willing to take me as his companion and leave to me all that he owned. If I denied him, he would send me away.

I have never been companioned. Not legally, not truly. Castor, once, had gone through the motions, but then he had told me later that it hadn’t been legal. He had allowed me to believe that we were, and then had pulled the rug out from beneath me with his lie. That had hurt me in ways I never let him know, even more than the fact he could never be faithful to me. I was never.. enough. I was never.. his only.

Lucian, he had said he would not deny me, if I asked him for companionship. I never asked though, it just wasn’t something I could .. do. He too had promised me things but at the first sign of difficulty, he had left me alone and taken our daughter. He did not even try to talk to me, to work it out, had simply ended it. Now I realize that he never cared for me, not the way I cared for him. I promised myself .. after, that I would not so easily fall again. Trust, it’s a hard thing to gain, but an even harder thing to hold.

And now, here was a man who was asking me, no, insisting that I be his companion. Not because he loved me, but because he wanted me to have what was his. Why? Because I had chosen to come with him and asked for nothing.

We drank the wine with the guards as witness.

I didn’t agree because of any material wealth he had to give me, if he did indeed.. die. In truth, I didn’t want anything from him, I .. just wanted to be with him. That sounds strange, as I write this now, days later, for if I would have opened my eyes and only looked, I think I would have seen things much differently.

One of the guards insisted that the companionship must be consummated, so August sent them away under the pretense that it would be. I don’t think he really had any intention of fulfilling that part of our obligation, but a kiss had escalated into something neither of us could deny. And of course there was no doubt of it when we were caught in the act, having to break camp in a hurry because of the wild tharlarions that were headed our way.

He promised that if he survived, he would not hold me to contract. I promised him until death do us part.

August had lost his sight that night, but he was not the only one there who could not see, for never in my life have I been.. so blind.