Epilogue Part Two- Kassian

Wednesday, August 22, 2074

I roll over on my side, my bones creaking with the effort, but there isn't a single ache or pain I wouldn't endure to see the way the sun settles across my little viper's gorgeous face each morning.

The same as every morning, Aiyana's eyes crack open, looking up at me with nothing but love glowing in them. "Good morning, Kas," she whispers, her voice rough with sleep.

I gather her wrinkled, tan hands in mine, pressing kisses across her knuckles. "Good morning, my little viper. Happy fiftieth wedding anniversary."

A wide grin spreads across her face, those ruby-red lips of hers crinkling at the edges. "Fifty years already? I'd have thought it was only forty-nine," she tells me with a wink.

"Only fifty in this lifetime, but endless more to go. In this life and the next, I'll always find you," I promise her, not for the first time.

"I hope for your sake that I'm a bit more amenable to being found in the next lifetimes," she says with a chuckle, rolling herself closer to me.

"I don't know, I kind of like the chase," I admit, my throat constricting as the last fifty years with the woman of my dreams flashes blissfully in my mind.

She smooths the pad of her thumb over the skin of my weathered cheek, and our lips meet. Sparks fly in every direction, electricity zipping up my spine. Nothing's changed. Even after all these years, as our bodies age and our skin becomes more wrinkled, the sweet familiarity of being with Aiyana never ceases to lose its thrill.

"I love you, Aiyana," I tell her, nearly choking on the word lodged thickly in my throat as emotion overcomes me.

"I love you too, Kas," she says, her eyes glossy, but that sweet smile remains.

My undoing and my salvation.

The end.