by the passage of time. His hair was thick and black, his skin smooth and unlined.
She shook her head in disbelief. "How?" she asked again. "How is it possible that I have aged a lifetime, and you have not aged a day?"
"A gift," he replied, "from the goddess Shaylyn."
"The devil's gift," Katlaina exclaimed, awed by the unearthly miracle that stood before her.
Navarregrunted softly. It was the devil's gift, indeed, he thought bitterly, to stay forever young when all you loved withered and died. He could scarce stand the pain of looking at Katlaina. Her beautiful green eyes were faded and dulled by time. Her hair, once as black as his own, had gone completely gray. The skin he had loved to touch, skin that had once been smooth and clear, was now careworn and lined.
As if sensing his thoughts, she looked away. "Why are you here?"
"I've come every year," he admitted. "To see you, to see my son and his family."
"Every year," she said, her voice edged with pain. "Every year, and only now have you made your presence known."
"You sent me away, Katlaina, remember?"
"I remember."
He heard the regret in her voice, the harsh rasp of her breathing as she sought to draw air into her lungs.
She was dying. She had no reason to fear him now, he thought bitterly.
"Navarre." Just his name, but it held a lifetime of yearning, coupled with the knowledge that she would never see him again.
Gently, he drew her into his arms and cradled her to his chest. Tenderly, he stroked her cheek, and once again he saw the beautiful young girl who had taken him to her bed and her heart.
"I love you," she whispered. "I never stopped."
He nodded, unable to speak. She was dying. The thought struck him again, harder this time.
"Kiss me," she begged. "One kiss, to warm me through eternity."
He recognized the words, the same words he had spoken to her so long ago. Tears stung his eyes as he lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips were warm and dry and unbelievably sweet. Even now, when he knew she was dying, she tasted of life and sunshine.
He kissed her with all the love in his heart, and for a moment, he was young again, mortal again. Tears burned his eyes as her strength ebbed and her lifeforce slipped away. One last kiss, and her last breath mingled with his, the warm radiance of her spirit illuminating the darkness of his own for one brief moment before her soul freed itself from the bonds of mortality.
"Katlaina." He hugged her to him, holding her close until her body grew cool, until the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.
Only then did he release her. Never before had be felt so completely, irrevocably, alone.
A last look, a last caress, and then he ran out of the house and into the woods, pursued by memories, and by the relentless, unforgiving light of the sun.
Interlude
He never went back to the mountains of Mikos. The thought of watching his son grow old and die was too painful.
He spent the next two hundred years on a small tropical island pretending to be an ancient god of war come back to life.
He dwelt in a temple hewn of red stone. It stood atop a lush green hill, surrounded by trees and brightly colored wildflowers. The villagers brought him live animal sacrifices to assuage his hunger, showered him with finely wrought gifts of gold and silver, of fine-twined linen and costly furs. They provided him with whatever he desired and asked nothing in return, save that he slake his horrible thirst on the blood of beasts and let the people of the island live in peace.
When the burden of his existence grew too great, he slept deep in the earth, rising when the people of the village called his name.
After two hundred years, he wearied of being an object of worship. Gathering up the myriad riches the villagers had bestowed upon him over the centuries, he left the temple in the dead of night and caught passage on another ship.
For a time, he wandered aimlessly, not caring where he was. He kept aloof from the people around him, afraid they would look into his eyes and see that he was not one of them, afraid he would be hunted and destroyed, as those believed to be witches were hunted and destroyed.