[It had crossed his mind more than once. How easy it would be to end his life now that he was mortal, and finally slip into a permanent and well-deserved rest.

But as his days with X’rhun continued, piling up atop each other like a mountain, he felt that desire ebb away. The connection between them was stoked again for the umpteenth time, with no fear of it disappearing since there was no Prophecy left to keep him chained down, nor the threat of eventually returning to his own star ending their deeply-forged acquaintance.

And for the first time in a very, very long while, it feels like the days before his fall, before he ever had to think about the burden of being king, thousands of years ago when the world was simpler, when it was just himself and those he cared about, the sun shining on his face with not a worry in the world.

Ardyn wonders, truly, how one man can hold so much emotion for him.]

Yes.

[His mouth quirks upwards, and he hums low.]

For fear of getting far too sentimental between us, might I be safe in assuming that our arrangement as it is now, is… a permanent one? If I am to cling to having a life, you have been its anchor for a while yet.