Leaning into her warmth and her strength, he let her whisper bear up beneath the weight of his folly. It couldn't carry it away, but it could make the burden a little easier for him to shoulder as he held her close and buried his face in the concealing cloud of her hair. Sascha and Boreal held him firmly sandwiched where Alys wasn't keeping him safe in her embrace, grounding him in a circle of love and family bonds that anchored him against the enormity of what he had become in the shadow of the Void's influence. He drew in a breath that was half sob, but there was a note of healing in the pain, and no doubt at all in the promise that Alys made him.
"We're together," he agreed, rough and jagged but so full of relief he almost seemed to break anew from the strength of it. "Because of you. Gods, y'really are th'best o' us both, love. I only ever played at bein' a hero, but you're th'real thing." He sniffed, eyes still tightly closed against the world, then tilted his head to nudge her cheek with his nose, fingers curling in the fabric of the back of her shirt. "An' I'm the luckiest guy on all Caido, bein' your partner. I'll never know what I did t'deserve you, but I'll spend my whole life thankin' all th' gods that y'love me enough t'save me, Alys Glasse. Even when y'have t'do it from myself an' my own stupid, selfish choices."
"We're together," he agreed, rough and jagged but so full of relief he almost seemed to break anew from the strength of it. "Because of you. Gods, y'really are th'best o' us both, love. I only ever played at bein' a hero, but you're th'real thing." He sniffed, eyes still tightly closed against the world, then tilted his head to nudge her cheek with his nose, fingers curling in the fabric of the back of her shirt. "An' I'm the luckiest guy on all Caido, bein' your partner. I'll never know what I did t'deserve you, but I'll spend my whole life thankin' all th' gods that y'love me enough t'save me, Alys Glasse. Even when y'have t'do it from myself an' my own stupid, selfish choices."
