zeph ♡’s Reviews > The Strength of the Few > Status Update

“Vis.” Aequa is in a sleek blue stola that emphasises her form. Her raven hair is meticulously arranged, curled artfully at the front and plaited into an elaborate bun at the back.
I take a moment to say anything. I don’t think I’ve seen her dressed up since we travelled to the naumachia together. “Hail. You look nice.”

aaaahhhhh 😭😭😭😭😭

Grief, my mother once told me, is love’s most honest expression. The last and hardest aspect of truly, truly caring for someone. (...) She explained through choking sobs that without grief, love would be meaningless. Because it is impossible to truly love something that cannot be lost.

i’m gonna bawl vis lost so much 💔

Aequa is kneeling over me. My head cupped in her hands. Wide-eyed.
As I fade to unconsciousness, I can’t help but feel vaguely annoyed that she didn’t run like I told her to.

aevis my most beloved

Livia was Tertius Ericius’s stipulation. Aequa was mine.

i love how vis and aequas rs directly contrasts vis and emissas 😭😭 where vis doesn’t feel like he can trust emissa at all, he trusts aequa like it’s breathing ☹️

twotm spoilers

Is the version of me in Res relaxing somewhere with Emissa, right now? Laughing with Callidus and Eidhin? Or did he somehow manage to win the Iudicium and find a peaceful escape to the embassy in Jatiere?

oh.... oh

“And she is an excellent choice.” (...) “I can think of no one more deserving.”

he is so in love with her i’m sick. he knows her so well, is so in awe of her and her achievements and it's truly dawning on him now how much she truly means to him 😭❤️‍🩹

Before I can start after Aequa, her father claps me on the shoulder. Leans in, voice high even as it’s soft. “Keep her safe, dear boy. Keep her safe, and win.” He waddles off.
I jog to join Aequa, catching her as we reach the sand. “I think your father likes me more than he used to.”
“You kept me alive, and then you embarrassed your father by defecting. He’d adopt you if he could.”


ADVENIUS KNOWS WHATS UPPP

No.” I don’t even have to think about it. I say it to him, make eye contact. Ensure he understands that it’s not because he’s in Religion but because I’m refusing him, personally, no matter how good he is at racing chariots. Then I turn back to Iro’s father. “I’ll take Aequa.”

going from their fathers’ pawns to trauma bonded acquaintances to enemies to friends to i’ll pick her everytime... oh the yearning

Ahmose is looking at me as if I am a monster. Or perhaps a god. Reverence and fear in every line.

my son is saur cool 💖

i am finally back to read this beast of a book and i cannot believe this many vis x aequa moments were just out of reach 😭🙏
I sling my good arm forcefully around her shoulders, squeezing her close against my drenched tunic. She laughs as she feigns struggling before embracing me back. “Disgusting.”
MY ENDGAME 🥹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹