• The last vow

Salai and Eleonore laying on the ground. Salai had a bottle of mead next to his elbow, Eleonore had a bottle of strong red wine. They were both staring up at the ceiling, a projection of stars above them. Rather than being static it moved in a gentle spiral, stars appearing and disappearing. Eleonore took a sip of her wine, a red drop spilling over her cheek and into her dark brown hair.

“I’ve been thinking, about what we should do.”

Salai grunted, eyes hazy.

“I’ve been thinking about what to do for Maxime,” she whispered. It was first time she’d used his private name since she’d been in this place. The first time she’d used it with Salai.

“I think I want to bring him back. In this one,” she muttered and waved a hand at the stars over head. It collapsed limply back to her chest.

Salai rolled his eyes over to her, where she was still staring up at the sky. The not-real sky. Tears followed the same path the wine had, dripping back into her hair.

“What do you mean, bring back?”