The tiled floors of my parents’ home, that I played on with Lucas as a child, were still intact amongst the rubble. None of the people of the island had touched a thing as a mark of respect to my family.
But they agreed it was only right I take it, rebuild there.
And so we worked, Robin, Esme, Maria, we all worked. We made a garden, gifted seeds from our neighbors. We fished, we cut wood, we worked, and we built a house for all of us to live in.
We lifted those tiles, made a basement that was more fortress. Covered it so it looked like the floor had never been touched.
Then we got to work on the rest of the town.
Day by day, Atrea rises anew. A different Atrea. One that’s preparing for war.
Training recommenced a week after I got home. I’m teaching them every trick I learned in the last five years. We’ve sent envoys to some of the communities Robin and I found along the way. We’re making alliances. Recommencing trade.
We’re building this land stronger, smarter, better than even before.
Because this time, we won’t wait for the battle to come to us.
We’ll strike first. We’ll hit them where it hurts. And we’ll take them down.
Five years, I got to learn that place inside out. And even if it takes another five years, I’ll have my revenge—
“Aren’t you done with your letter yet?”
Robin, my beautiful, eternal love, Robin, settles down on the sand beside me.
“I have a lot to tell him.”
He peeks over the edge of my paper. “And you’re sure you won’t get Evander in trouble if that’s intercepted?”
Robin still is right about most things.
And I still don’t like to admit it.
“I just want him to know we’re okay. You know, it’s going to be ten times harder in there for him now. They’ll have all those men locked down even worse than we were.”
He drops a kiss on my cheek. “And they won’t have you to train them.”
“Yeah.” It’s melancholy, in its way. I tried to be fair. I tried to help them survive. It makes me sick to think they might end up with a cruel guard teaching them. That I won’t be there the next time some lost Atrean slave is brought to line up. That I can’t even deal out the small mercies I was once able to.
Robin’s hand touches softly to my cheek. He still seems to be able to read my mind. “It was your time, Marco. And you do more good here than you ever could there. Look at what you’ve done for Atrea.”
He turns his head toward the small, sleepy settlement, windows lit in cozy yellows and oranges, the reassuring sound of cutlery tinkling, the smell of home-cooked meals drifting into the night.
I drop Evander’s letter to the ground, pulling sand over it to hold it safe from the wind. Then I wrap an arm around Robin and bring him up onto my lap. He straddles me easily, made to be here with me, held in my arms.
And I breathe. Breathe deep and easy. All the fresh air of home, all the hopes for the future. Robin.
His kiss, as ever, runs all down my spine, all through me, lights me from within. Then those beautiful granite eyes, lit by the last gasp of the day, the sea and the sky all around him.
“You’re all I ever want,” I tell him. “I’d do it again. Five more years in that place just to have you for one more minute.”
He drops another gentle kiss on my lips. “Then it’s just as well you’ve already got me. Forever.”
Even now, every time I hold him, I clasp him tight to my chest. I wish I could pull him inside me, to know that no one can ever take him away from me again.
He understands. For all his own demons that he has to fight, all those months, all the death and torture, Robin always takes me in his arms andholds me just like I need. Locks himself tight around me through the nightmares. Presses his cool hand to my temple and soothes me through every horror.
He settles onto the sand now, pulls me down to lie with him, letting me rest my head on his broad shoulder, staring up at the endless sky overhead. “Do you remember that night on the balcony?”
