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Fear not, he whispered Let me tell you, love, what happens after this life You coain Your rebirth is beautiful and real You coht from the lamp flickered and ainst hers

But I die again and again

What? He tilted his head Even when his physique looked exotic to her, she knew his expressions so well--that be he hadn't expected her to understand How do you--Never ain be together We will always find each other, always love each other, no matter what I will never leave you

Luce fell to her knees on the stone steps She hid her face in her hands I don't kno you can stand it Over and over again, the same sadness--

He lifted her up The sa--

The saain You don't know You can't remember hoonderful--

I've seen it I do know

Now she had his attention He didn't seem sure whether or not to believe her, but at least he was listening

What if there's no hope of anything ever changing? she asked

There is only hope One day, you will live through it That absolute truth is the only thing that keeps ive up on you Even if it takes forever He wiped away her tears with his thuh every death I will not be bound by anything but my love for you

But it's so hard Isn't it hard for you? Haven't you ever thought, what if

One day, our love will conquer this dark cycle That's worth everything toin his eyes He believed what he was saying He didn't care if he suffered again and again; he'd forge on, losing her over and over, buoyed by the hope that one day this wouldn't be their end He kneas dooain anyway, and he alould

His commitht she'd given up on

She still wanted to argue: This Daniel didn't know the challenges coes He didn't know that she'd seen him in his moments of deepest desperation What the pain of her deaths would do to him

But then - Luce knew And that made all the difference in the world

Daniel's lowest , she'd felt bound to their love, but now she kne to protect it Now she had seen their love froles She understood it in a way she'd never thought she would If Daniel ever faltered, she could raise him up

She had learned how to do it from the best: from Daniel Here she was, about to kill her soul, about to take away their love perht her back to life

So for love like this

Luce had had it all along

The future held no starshot for her Only Daniel Her Daniel, the one she'd left in her parents' backyard in Thunderbolt She had to go

Kiss me, she whispered

He was seated on the steps with his knees parted just enough to let her body slide between them She sank to her knees and faced hi The tips of their noses

Daniel took her hands He see, but he could not find the words

Please, she begged, her lips edging toward his Kiss ed for her, swooping her up and laying her sideways across his lap to cradle her in his arms His lips found hers They were as sweet as nectar She h her, every inch of her Layla's death was near, she knew that, but she never felt safer or more alive than she did when Daniel held her

Her hands locked around the back of his neck, feeling the fir the tiny raised scars protecting his wings His hands roved up her back, through her long, thick hair Every touch was rapture, every kiss so wonderful and pure it left her dizzy

Stay with rown tense, and his kisses had becorier, more desperate

Hein her core, spreading through her chest and flushing her cheeks Tears filled her eyes She kissed hih this so many times before, but for some reason this felt different

With a loud whoosh he stretched his wings out, and then deftly wrapped the the two of them fast

You really believe it? she whispered That soh this?

With allher face in his hands, pulling his wings tighter around the as it takes I will love you everyhot She cried out fro in Daniel's ar his skin, but he never let her go

The moment had coht nohen she would have used it But she was never going to give up Not on Daniel Not when she knew, no ive up on her

Her skin began to blister The heat was so brutal, she could do nothing but shiver

And then she could only screaulfed her body, Luce felt her own body and the soul they were sharing untwine, seeking the fastest escape frorew taller and wider until it filled the roo, and Layla was nothing at all