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He was so irritated, his growl had a sharpness to it that almost gave it a hiss-like quality.

“I cannot stay here,” he stated, turning towards the lake.

“No!” Linh shouted, lunging forward to grab his wrist. “Wait! Please don’t go.”

“Linh,” he warned, likely only halting so he didn’t drag her across the ground.

“We’ve never been able to talk freely like this before, and I have so many questions. Please? I promise not to get upset if your thoughts slip something out. I can ignore them.”

“You say that–”

Her cheeks warmed, and she clenched her eyes shut in courage as she shouted, “I know you want to touch me! I know you probably want more than that. I’m not an idiot. But I-I don’t think I’ll mind hearing things like that, even if they are... more bloodthirsty. They are just words, and I know you aren’t going to purposefully hurt me, nor are you saying them to make me uncomfortable or get a rise out of me. I’ll trust what you do, not what you say, e-even if it makes me uncomfortable.”

Gosh, she was rambling, but she really did want him to stay.

What if this is only temporary?If she missed her chance to get answers, she’d be really upset.

Yes, she was learning what he’d called ‘Nathair speak,’ but it was taking time. She’d only been learning for a week, and it was all new to her. It’d take forever to understand a whole new language.

Nathair turned to her slightly, seeming to assess her and weigh his options.

“Please? I want to know why you are suffering from human memories when you told me it isn’t normal for other Duskwalkers. I want to know where you came from, how you came to be, why you’re choosing to...protectme.”

The wrist she was clinging to for dear life pushed through her hands towards her. He gently cupped the side of her face, and she let out her held breath as her eyes flickered open.

“I am protecting you because you deserve to be shielded.” He fully turned towards her and retracted his hand to fold his arms across his chest. “Fine. I will stay unless something rather difficult to bear slips out. I will try to remain thoughtless.She has aided me, so the least I can do is answer her questions.”

The smile she gave was fully of relief. “M-my questions, then?”

He grunted in answer at first, his arms tightening, before he loosened them in defeat. “You asked about my fragments and why it is not normal. The reason is because I ate souls in the afterworld when I should not have.”

Her brows drew together, her lips puckering in uncertainty along with them. “Afterworld?”

“The afterlife is what your kind call it.” When her lips parted in understanding, he tipped his head to the side like he often did when annoyed. “Yes, little female. I died.”

“B-but you’re alive!” she exclaimed, her eyes roaming over his very alive body.

“I was brought back to life by my father, who is also the demi-god of that world. He is a soul eater, and he collects all the human souls that have been eaten by Mavka and Demons and gives them a place to rest, while also taking their life force for power.”

She covered her mouth, unsure if it was in shock or rapt curiosity. She wouldn’t dare argue with him in disbelief. “How long ago, and for how long were you dead?”

“I was brought back around three months ago... For how long I was dead, roughly two hundred and eighty years.”

Heat drained from her face, and she gawked at him. “You were dead for that long?!”

Linh was trying her hardest to not freak out, but he couldn’t suddenly throw insane information like this at her without letting her react to it. He hadn’t even done it softly! Instead, he’d sucker punched her with it.

Nathair sighed.“She’s a human. Humans cannot comprehend Mavka.”At the slip of his thoughts, he stiffened. “Sorry.”

“All good.” Her apologetic smile was forced, and likely came across as a grimace. “Your memories are because you ate souls in this afterlife? Why would you eat them then?”

“I did not know. I was rather underdeveloped when I arrived. And, before you ask, it means my humanity was low, and my body gaunt and thin. Mavka gain physical strength by eating any creature, but intelligence by consuming humans. What we first eat before our horns form will dictate our characteristics. Obviously, I first ate some kind of serpent.”

Linh was rendered utterly silent from the sudden bout of information he dumped on her.Is Mavka what they call themselves?

“What this meant is I was too stupid to realise that while my father was asleep, consuming so many souls was damaging for me. I also harmed him in the process and almost forced him into an endless sleep. I was confused about my new life, and despite no longer feeling hunger, I was still affected by my rages because Mavka like to chase theirprey.When Weldir, my creator, woke up and realised what I’d done, it was too late to save me despite his efforts. I’d consumed too many souls, had been harbouring them for too long, and parts of them had burrowed so deep into my own soul that he wasn’t able to completely remove them. I infected myself, and what remained are the fragments of dozens of human memories that constantly speak. I cannot sleep, as my trances are far worse when I do, so I rest by letting them play. However, I am tired, I am weakened, and sometimes a voice will shout louder than the others. When that happens, a fragment will take hold, and then it becomes a barrage of them.”

Her lips pursed in thought. “Does this mean that, technically, you haven’t actually eaten that many humans?”