Love and Death

Her life was fading on the stone steps they sat upon, her elven warrior holding her body up while her breath labored. She clutched to his shirt, her grip weak, and the skin of her body was stark white compared to the still vibrant red of her hair. The elf pushed back his lover’s long hair; the cold of her skin shocking to him.

“Is this the price of our freedom?” He asked.

She took a deep, shaking breath. “Hush.” She said, her voice as weak as her grip. “You speak as if this is your fault, but it is no fault of either of us.” The woman jerked as she coughed, holding up a wrist to her mouth and closing her eyes as her breath labored more. When her wrist fell back to the stone steps, the elf saw a bright splash of red on her white skin.

“I should’ve stayed, I could’ve protected you.” He said, clutching the lock of hair he held, eyes focused on the splash of bright red. “I might’ve been able to stop it…”

“Should’ve…. Might’ve….” The woman weakly waved her hand, letting it fall back from his sleeve to the cold stone. She couldn’t even feel the chill anymore. “This wasn’t the work of something you could stop.” She took another deep shaking breath to cough more blood. “This was something that you can’t fight. I was poisoned Love.” She struggled to move, and the elf put his arms around the woman to lift her into a sitting position on the cold stone. “You can’t shoot an arrow at poison, and you can’t always know the culprit.” She said, taking another shaking breath before she doubled over to cough more, the red splashing onto the grey steps.

“But I do.” The elf stroked the pale cheek of his beloved, who was getting paler by the second, the light she always held within dimming. Even the sun filtering through the window at the top of the stone steps did nothing to improve how she looked. It only made her hair stand out more against the white she was becoming, a fact that only made the elf angrier.

“Don’t do it.” The woman said, the last spark in her fierce blue eyes holding his own. She struggled again to sit up more, this time not allowing the elf to help her, she was breathing hard in no time at all, the shadows under her eyes seemed larger.

“My sister, she never approved of you, never approved of our unions. It is tradition for the eldest to rule. But I didn’t allow her to rule me, and now, she is taking my love away, taking all for which I am made.” The man stroked the cheek of his beloved again before she turned to cough, this time falling forward, unable to stop and breathe. The elf gathered the woman into his arms when the fit was over, and she panted.

“You’ll not lose me, not truly. Not unless you seek revenge.” She raised a pale shaking hand to her lover’s face, stroking his cheekbone and smiling her best, all be it, shaky smile. “I will see you again, I will once again face you, and be held in your arms, we will love each other again.”

“How...” The elf asked, his throat tight, this was the last goodbye, she was preparing for it.

“In everything you are, everything you do.” The woman smiled more, tracing under his eye and over the tattoos on his forehead. “I am you, and you are I. Those are our vows are they not.” She turned and coughed again, more red staining the stone. “So long as you keep me in that vow, I will be there for you.” She smiled, resting her head onto his shoulder. The elf held her closer, crying silently until he felt her go limp in his arms.

He stood, carrying the woman to the top of the stone steps, where the doors creaked silently. He took her to the alter at the far end of the room, setting her down. Her skin matched the cold grey stone, her eyes darkened, but thankfully closed. He wiped the blood from her lips and her wrists, taking the evidence of cruelty from her last moments.

“I am you, and you are I.” He whispered, with one last lingering kiss to her brow before he left the chamber and walked into the bleak morning, though he no longer felt warmth from the rising sun.