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She’d woken both mornings with his head plonked on the ledge, watching her like a weirdo. A pretty weirdo, with mesmerising orange orbs that seemed to want to inhale her into their fiery vortexes.

“I think I’m done for the day,” she stated quietly, somewhat evading his orange orbs.

Now that she was done foraging, he snorted a deep huff and turned to lead the way back to his pond. Linh followed a step behind, and watched as his tail created a massive, continuous wave for metres. He’d folded his arms and lifted a hand to his cheek as if he was ponderous.

It made him come across as more daunting and grumpier.

I don’t think he’s grumpy, though.Brash, absolutely. Nathair lacked a filter for his movements, and sometimes she thought she could read his mind with them alone. He also didn’t seem to be hiding his orb changes, even the purple of his arousal, and offered them freely.

She liked that he was kind of rough. His movements could be sly and smooth, and she thought that may be his serpent nature, but the Duskwalker in him was harsh, brutish, and jarring. He was also very direct when he signed, getting to the point despite possibly being insensitive.

I like that about him. He comes across as honest.

Linh eyed how he ducked underneath branches she wouldn’t even be able to jump to graze with her fingertips. She even tried and almost stumbled when she landed on a damn stick.

Quickly righting her footing, she flushed.Of all the spots I could have landed, it had to be on a stick?!Come on, the universe was just fucking with her at this point.

A grunt caught her attention, and she looked up.

His dark horns and the back of his skull glittered gold in the dappled light before he turned it to the side to look at her over his shoulder. Orbs yellow, he signed, “I saw that.”

Her cheeks flared with such a heat that even her ears went hot. “How could you see that?” she yelled, waving her arms up in disbelief. “Your face was turned forward.”

“I see everything.”

Embarrassed, she sneered before sticking her tongue out. She barely had time to gasp before he suddenly spun to her and grabbed the end of it. She froze with her tongue caught between his big fingers.

“It’s...” He purposefully changed his orbs to blue and pointed to one. “Blue.”

Crossing her eyes, she looked past the tip of her nose to her blue-black stained tastebuds. He let it go so she could talk.

“Well, yeah. The berries I was eating stain your tongue.”

Seemingly curious about this, he dug into her bag and stole a few. He sat back on the base of his tail and pried a berry apart with his thumb claws. Then, to her surprise, he threw the rest into his mouth.

He instantly shuddered inwardly. All the way to the tip of his tail, his entire body convulsed in what she figured was disgust. He squished them, his jaw segments moving and parting, while his orbs flickered with black.

She giggled behind her fist when she figured this was a Duskwalker’s way of cringing like a human might when eating something sour.

When he was done, he scraped his tongue clean, rather than swallowing, and poked it forward. His orbs didn’t move, but she knew he was inspecting the way his purple forked tongue had turned blue-black.

He turned from her to lead the way once more, but he never drew his tongue back in. He even grabbed the forks and pulled them apart. Linh ran up beside him to watch intently, and something became apparent.

He’s more curious than I thought.Because he could speak so well, spell, and just in general seemed to be knowledgeable, she often forgot he was a monster.He hasn’t been alive for long– as he’d been dead for most of it –and I’m guessing there’s not actually a lot he’s seen and done.

And this monster apparently wanted to be very curious with her.He always leads so well that I forget that I’m the first... woman he’s ever kept.Linh was his first.

She could be his first for many things, if she chose it.I want him.But becoming his bride... did that mean he wanted her to be hislastas well?

How many souls can he bond with?Because, if Linh was being truthful, she’d rather not be one of many he kept.But with two cocks, he wouldn’t have an issue pleasuring more than one person at a time.Was that why he had two? And did that mean all Duskwalkers did or just him?

She covered her mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous. She didn’t want to give herself to him to have to deal with that kind of emotional anguish.

Rather than sitting in her sickly thoughts, she just asked the question. “You said your father can eat many souls. How many people can you bond with?”

As if he didn’t care for the conversation over his stained tongue, he lifted a singular finger in her direction without turning his skull to her.

Okay. So just one.That did make her feel a little better.More for me, then?Her back stiffened at her thoughts.I-if I decide to, that is.She palmed her face.Oh, who am I kidding? Resisting his charm and barring touching just isn’t going to happen.