“I wanted you beside me,” I hissed, “not against me.”
“It wasn’t you…” she started, but I turned away.
“I’m leaving,” I announced, mounting my horse. “I didn’t want to come here, and now I wish I hadn’t.”
“Jhyssa—”
“Goodbye, Makena.” I rode past her to the stable door.
She caught my reins. “Take me with you,” she said. “We can still fight together. We can still be friends.”
For a moment, I considered it—to ignore the time we had missed, the sleepless nights, the joyless days. Live the rest of our lives as friends, fighting together, side by side.
It was tempting. But when I looked down, I saw the scar that graced her cheek, the scar I had carved with my blade, the scar that would always remind me of that battle, when we faced each other as enemies.
I flicked the reins from her hands and spurred my horse on. “Jhyssa!” she called out, but only once. I didn’t turn, though if she said my name again, I might have.
But she didn’t. I rode out into the night, and hoped she would remember I never turned back.
THE END
* * * *
ABOUT J.T. MARIE
J.T. Marie is a pseudonym for author J.M. Snyder, who publishes gay erotic and romantic fiction under her full name. A graduate of George Mason University, Marie worked as Fantasy Editor of the school’s sci-fi and fantasy journal, The Fractal, for two years. After college, she created and maintained an online webzine, Disenchanted, to further a love of fantasy fiction. For more information on her non-gay fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, please visit https://www.jtmarie.com.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
Founded in 2010, JMS Books LLC is owned and operated by author J.M. Snyder. We publish a variety of genres, including gay erotic romance, fantasy, young adult, poetry, and nonfiction. We are an invitation-only small press. Short stories and novellas are available as e-books and compiled into single-author print anthologies, while any story over 30k in length is available in both print and e-book formats. Visit us at jms-books.com for more information on our latest releases!
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