Ezo stood up and stretched. There were so many things he wanted to learn and so many books to go through, but he was trying to pace himself. Kammon might get lost in a book as much as Ezo, but he would snap out of it to check on Ezo occasionally and force him up from the table. Ezo liked to return the favor. It worked most days and Ezo knew his work was more productive for the breaks they forced on each other.

Ezo looked back at the waterfall and sighed. This was one of his favorite places to read. The waterfall was loud, but the sound was soothing. It also gave him a clear view of the entrance and let him keep an eye on which part of Riverkeep Kammon decided to read in.

Kammon hadn’t had a restful night since a few days out of Riverkeep and it had been worse once they arrived. He was napping when it became too much, but Ezo didn’t like it. Kammon also had frequent headaches. Ezo worried that Kammon’s soulsucker was getting worse, but Kammon said there was no change that he noticed.

Ezo was keeping a close eye on his lover.

Kammon was currently outside of Riverkeep. He’d walked past a while back with a basket and said he’d be out for a while.

Ezo set his book on healing down to go check on Kammon.

The path had become familiar over the last week. Kammon wandered the castle and its grounds often and Ezo usually found him out there reading.

Ezo had no idea what Kammon was studying. They were both working toward different goals. They spoke about what they learned, but not what they were really trying to find. Kammon read books on the elements and history and war. He picked up stories about famous lovers and legends and followed them with very dry accounts of history from other countries. Ezo didn’t know what he was looking for.

He reached the castle’s study and stepped into the ash-filled space. He thought about trying to sweep it clean, but he didn’t want to disturb the ghosts that rested there.

He walked past the room and outside. He was more likely to find Kammon in one of the grassy fields around the castle at this time of day. The early afternoon breeze caught Ezo’s hair and threw it in his face. He’d been lazy that morning and left it hanging long. He was paying for that now.

Kammon’s power drew him closer. Even without the bond, the strength of his lover’s magic told him where he was. He was pulling a lot of the elements, and Ezo used the bond to reach out to Kammon to make sure there was no danger. Kammon was calm, so Ezo forced himself to relax. When he walked down the path Kammon favored, it only took a few minutes to find him.

Most of the surrounding area was open fields. However, a small tributary fed into the larger river on the other side of the castle, surrounded by trees. It left a wooded path from its edge to the cliff where the water fell. Within those woods, Kammon had found a large clearing he liked to relax in.

As Ezo moved closer, Kammon’s power grew. He entered the clearing but stayed at the edge of the trees. Partly so he didn’t disrupt his lover and partly in awe.

Ezo knew how powerful Kammon was. He’d felt it under his skin every time their magic joined. This was different, though. Kammon rotated through a series of movements, flames dancing in his grasp in ways that Ezo barely followed. The balls of fire he held were small, but they burned blue.

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Ezo had never produced a fire that hot, and Kammon did it without breaking a sweat. He danced the flames over his head and through branches of the trees. Where flames caught in the outer leaves, Kammon deftly trailed water to each and doused it before it did more than singe the edges.

Ezo had always heard about the sheer force of power that was the Calamity, but he’d never understood his lover’s absolute control over the elements.

The Imperium had turned him- and the other War-Sworn- into blunt instruments when they could be so much more.

When Kammon let go of the fire, he seamlessly transitioned into pushing whirlwinds of air around him in the same configuration. Beneath his feet, earth shifted and buckled and settled again until you could no longer tell it had moved at all.

Kammon pulled at the surrounding magic until he was full with it to Ezo’s eyes. The elements shined around him, creating an aura the likes of which he’d never seen.

It was devastating that a man of so much power and goodness had been turned to blood-craft.

Kammon stopped when his eyes fell on Ezo. Ezo entered the clearing and offered a hand to Kammon. When he took it, Ezo’s magic rushed to meet him. It thrilled him to be so connected to the War-Sworn. There was no danger this time, nothing outside the two of them to distract Ezo from this.

They had never done this without cause, and Ezo leaned his head against Kammon’s chest, focusing on the magic that swam around them.

It reached into Ezo’s core, and his body vibrated with the power. Even with his eyes closed, he saw Kammon in his mind’s eye. The darkness at his core was shut off to Ezo, but he felt how it drained Kammon. Beyond that, something deeper was etched into him.

Ezo pulled on his own power more and he fed it into that, trying to satiate the thing that drained Kammon. It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough to fill the endless void that hungered. Ezo couldn’t stop, though. He wanted to give Kammon respite from the relentless exhaustion. Ezo didn’t know how he lived with this every day. There wasn’t one thing pulling at him, but two parasites feeding on him.

“Ezo, stop,” Kammon whispered against his temple. “You can’t heal me.”

“Not trying to,” he admitted. It hurt to know that he couldn’t do that. That the strongest healers in all of Distria hadn’t been able to heal him, but Ezo wouldn’t endanger both of them by doing that again.

“I just want to give them enough,” he said softly.

Kammon’s arms pulled him closer, and it felt like Ezo was breathing his essence into him. He wasn’t just pressed against his body; their souls had joined in ways he couldn’t understand.

“Ezo, you have to let go,” Kammon said, his voice harder this time.

Ezo looked up at his lover. His dark eyes were filled with concern, but all Ezo could see was how his brows furrowed and the little lines creased his forehead. His hair had fallen into his face, and Ezo reached up to push it aside.

He felt drunk on the power that surged through him, and his thoughts and movements were sluggish.

“Ezo!”

Kammon shook him, and Ezo smiled. Kammon stepped away and dropped his magic completely. Ezo reached out for him but tripped back as Ember jumped into existence between them, screeching so loud he covered his ears.

He fell on his ass, reflexes too slow to keep him upright. He stared up at the effigy as she flew in circles around him. He shivered, and a pounding started behind his ear. When Ember landed on his shoulder, she startled him by nuzzling his cheek.

Kammon kneeled and pushed Ezo’s hair back to examine his face. “You still there?”

He nodded, but his throat was thick, like he’d been screaming. “What was that?”

Kammon helped him stand and kept an arm around his waist as they walked back toward the castle. “You pulled too much magic to yourself. Didn’t you feel it?” Kammon asked.

He shook his head, which made the whole world spin, and he groaned softly.

“Come on, bed and Leria for you.”

Ezo groaned for a different reason then.

Kammon gave a relieved huff of a laugh. “If it makes you feel better, I’m joining you.”

“It doesn’t. Unless you mean you’re joining me in bed. Which would at least make up for the Leria.”

Kammon pressed a kiss to his temple as they walked. “Sleeping. But once you wake, I don’t promise to keep my hands to myself.”

Ezo smiled. “To bed then. The quicker we nap, the quicker we wake.”