"Maybe we saved each other" she said softly, her eyes meeting his. She wondered if he realised quite how close she had been to just giving up the day they had met at the hotel pool. She had been so tired of the endless cycle of arguments and recriminations, pain and anger. In a way he had given her the strength she needed to work her way through it simply by being there. She twisted slightly in his arms, one hand reaching up to caress his cheek. "You are as vital to me as the air I breathe, perhaps more so. I'm not sure that I could live without you anymore. I know that I don't want to try." She couldn't bear to think of anything happening to him. A quiet conviction had settled over her awhile ago now that if she ever lost him then she would probably follow him not long after. What was the point in living if your reason for doing so was gone?

In that quiet moment Y'roden saw in Arianne's eyes what he felt in his own heart. Other's might say that true love was wanting the one you loved to continue on after you were gone, to find happiness in life. Yet, when you found the one thing that completed your soul such a thing had no place. If Silverthorn had asked him to go on after she was gone, she would have been condemning him to misery. With a soft smile Ro opened his soul to her and offered the final tie that could bind them together. A joining of their lifelines... if one should pass, so then would the other.

Silverthorn smiled gently, acceptance filling in her green eyes. She had no need to consider the offering he made for she already knew her answer. What she had said a few moments before was nothing more than the literal truth. She did not wish to live without him. It would not really be living, merely enduring what for her would have become a hellish existence. "Yes, melda" she said softly, her lips brushing against his in a soft kiss. Her soul wound delicately around him, brushing against his.

Y'roden closed his eyes as Silverthorn's soul joined with his, and he sighed softly as the warmth of her lips brushed over his own. He felt his heartbeat slow, then steady, matching hers beat for beat as their souls made a connection that would make them more than bondmates, more than husband and wife... Emerald eyes slid open to gaze into jade pools, a look of wonder in their depths. "So be it then," he said softly, "Hon-maren lire, hildo." A smile lit his expression and he kissed her softly, moving to lay her back on the rug before the fire.

Silverthorn's fingers brushed tenderly through his hair, the expression in her eyes reflecting the same wonder that he felt. "My heart and soul, always" she said softly. Her hands skimmed down over his shoulder and chest. "I love you", the words were a breath of sound. Firelight danced over their skin as she gently pulled him down to her.