For a long moment, neither spoke. The only sound was the quiet hum of the realm's waters, endlessly flowing yet somehow still.
Ikem's hands tightened into fists. His nails pressed into his palms, not out of rage, but from the weight of what he was feeling. Tide's confession struck something deep within him, an uncomfortable recognition.
Because he understood.
Tide's longing, his pride, his despair, they mirrored his own. Ikem thought of his unborn child, the life soon to come into the world. It was a child he would father not out of duty, not because of divine expectation, but because he wanted to. Because for the first time in his long existence, he had chosen something purely for himself.
And now, hearing Tide speak, he realized how painfully similar their hearts were. Tide had simply reached for love in the same way Ikem had. but his hand had been burned in the process.
