“Why?” Laurent asks quietly, the word itself an admission.

Because Damen is selfish, selfish beyond means, and he wants so badly - to feel the cold air against his skin, to know another’s warmth beneath his touch, to be alive again - but there is also this: “Because you deserve it.” Damen doesn’t realize how much he means it until he says it out loud, but it’s there and it’s true, and the thought of Auguste lost to the darkness, claimed by Death, is - “Because Auguste deserves to be found.”

Laurent considers; Damen lets him.

The moment stretches.

Then, Laurent produces a spool of thread that seems to glow all on its own, and holds it out for Damen to see.