Between Bruises & Blooms

Tairn has never
done anything gently.

He loves
like thunder.

Protects
like fire.

Threatens death
with the casual ease
of someone
who knows
he could deliver it.

But Sgaeyl—

Sgaeyl is different.

She is not
something he protects
because she is fragile.

She is his equal.

His match.

The blue flame
beside his black.

The one creature
in all the skies
who does not need
him to become smaller
so she can stand
beside him.

That is what
makes losing her
unthinkable.

Because there are bonds
built from choice

and bonds
that become
part of the body.

Sgaeyl is not
somewhere outside
of Tairn.

She is threaded
through him.

A second heartbeat
beneath scales.

A presence
he has known
so long
that silence
where she should be
must feel
like mutilation.

People think dragons
are made of fire.

Maybe they are.

But fire
does not mean
you cannot break.

Sometimes
it only means

grief burns hotter
when it finally
finds you.