excommunicated for carnal sins, and, and, he said I would never see you again! So I said fuck this! I
left and came to look for you!”
“You ran away,” Snod said flatly, still in shock. “Again.”
“Yes!” Athaliah shouted happily. “But it worked this time!”
“Because I wasn’t there to stop you,” Snod couldn’t help but growl with equal parts fondness and
annoyance.
Athaliah squealed again, hugging Snod tight as he babbled away, “Your old hunting buddy Ephraim
found out the city you were last sent to hunt in and he told me! So I got all my crap together and I took
whatever I could, and, and I ran! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I never stopped, I just—”
“Took, you took what?” Snod interjected, gaping in horror. “You stole from the Order? What did you
take?”
“Uh, duh! Whatever I wanted,” Athaliah snarked with a roll of his eyes, giving Snod a little push.
“Please don’t act like you actually give a crap. Fuck those assholes! They kicked you out for being
gay, didn’t they?”
The accusation was a slap in the face, the air very choked right out of him as the words of Frankie’s
song echoed freshly in his mind.
“Obie,” Athaliah soothed, his hands reaching up and cradling his face, his eyes calm and comforting.
“You don’t have to pretend anymore. It’s okay to be gay. I’m fuckin’ gay, too! Listen to me. They drive
all that hellfire bullshit into your head over and over, but it’s not true. None of it! It’s fuckin’ crap.”
Snod’s eyes were stinging, his chest aching with the need to breathe, but unable to draw a single puff
of air. He clung to his brother, overwhelmed by so many different emotions that he couldn’t even
name them all. There was pain, relief, anguish, and a rush of happiness that made his knees weak.
He had never even thought those forbidden words to himself. He had never put a name to the desires
he felt. It was safer if he didn’t, easier to deny the sinful things he longed for. He finally sucked in a
breath, shaking and desperate, gazing helplessly at his beautiful brother.
“I’m gay,” Snod breathed, almost in tears with the admission. He was stunned by how much lighter he
felt saying it out loud. Countless decades he’d spent in denial, wrestling with his own nature,
condemning himself and punishing his body again and again, praying for a change that would never
come.
“I know,” Athaliah teased, but not unkindly. “I’ve known since the day we met.” He pulled him into
