I knew neither how to refuse Ansei, nor how to accept him. Both choices were unthinkable. I would not destroy him, and yet I could not force myself to do the right thing, and walk away forever.

We wasted eighteen hours debating the consequences of our union while the Okugawa heir lay upon his futon in a stupor. He would not awaken without the help of an antidote Ansei had developed, and the remedy would not cure him. It would merely prolong his broken life. The only agreement we could come to was more delay.

“You have a partial antidote. Couldn’t you improve it?”

“Furi, you may not think I care to preserve a life with you, but I do. I have spent every spare moment of my past trying to develop a complete antidote. All my efforts have failed. I don’t think it can be done.”

I remembered Ansei’s experimental journals and recognized their significance.

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“But you haven’t given up.” I said, voice rising.

“No. But to be honest, I believe further pursuit of a cure would waste valuable time and distract us from what is most important.”

I gasped in disbelief.

“What could be more important than saving your life?”

“Furi, you are an immortal. And I will only die once. Time only, keeps us apart. We will always return to one another in the Skies. Your parents do the same.” Besides this,” he added hesitantly, “an extraordinary child’s life is at stake.”

“But we might grow our space for happiness. We might raise our child together.”

“We all fall to the demands of Nature, Furi.”

“Nature’s demands are cruel.”

“Not cruel. Bold. Remorseless. But its extremes are beautiful.”

“If our roles were reversed, would you be so ready to take my life?”

He conceded the point.

“I don’t know that I would be able to do it at all. And I will not force you, but don’t imagine to yourself that I will give up easily.” Ansei set his jaw and his eyes lit like burning coals. “I’ll use every device I can think of, every last seduction, whatever strategy I can think of, to persuade you.”