Melissa’s Reviews > A Dive into Darkness > Status Update

I have always known that peace is only a breath between storms, that the world will always find new ways to break and reshape itself. That power shifts like the tide, endless in its ebb and flow. And I know that Jude and I will remain in flux, caught between the currents of what we were and what we are still becoming.
But whatever comes next, we will face it together.

Balance is never permanent.

“They seem content for now,” Jude says, his voice thoughtful. “They thanked me for writing. Said they’re still wandering, still searching for something of their own. They don’t want to be found. Not yet.”

Jude’s letter from the kelpies

Lorien- We’re still growing together, still finding our way, and Jude knows that although much has changed, I’m still the same possessive asshole who doesn’t like it when he keeps secrets.

Lorien- I used to think his defiance was a challenge I could conquer.
Now, I know better.
Jude was never meant to be tamed. But he is mine, bound to me as surely as I am to him, our souls braided together by the darkness we walked through and the love we bled for. The love we chose and almost died for. The love that made us what we are now, and in it, let him find the acceptance he didn’t know he was missing.

I reach out, brushing my fingers against his skin, and he leans into my touch, his hand finding mine, intertwining our fingers. In that simple motion, everything is said. Once we needed words, and now we don’t. Not now. Not when we have this.
“I love you,” I whisper, as though it’s the simplest thing in the world.
He smiles, his lips curving in a way that makes my heart race. “And I love you.”

🩵💙

This isn’t lust, this is love, and this, this moment, is about unity and trust.

Jude and Lorien

I remember the way he looked at me afterward, the infinity of all our unspoken emotions passing between us as the priest declared it done.
Bound.
Mated.
Mine.

Jude and Lorien
Mating ceremony

Names are anchors. They are more than a few syllables, but perhaps they mean less when the past has devoured yours. They are supposed to grant identity, but when that has been unmade, it is difficult to know where to begin.

Lorien about the kelpies

My advisor was always a diplomat and he might have made an excellent eel in another lifetime. Soren is damn near impossible to pin down, and he slips through the spaces between words with an ease I’m forced to respect.
Lorien holding