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Ingram’s hand twitched again before he reached it out. He waited for the baby Mavka to climb onto his palm, but the creature couldn’t see he’d presented it.

He didn’t want to just grab it.What if I hurt it?

“Don’t worry, you can’t harm them. They are indestructible like this, and your claws will just sink through them. I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.”

Ingram and his kindred had never realised that Faunus spoke so well. Healmostsounded human – at least, he did to Ingram. For the longest time, they’d thought they had the same level of humanity as the rest of their kind, but the more he tried to speak with his fellow Mavka, the more he realised his intelligence was... lacking in comparison.

He was unsure if he was upset by this or not.So long as it does not bother her...He was growing self-conscious about it, only because he didn’t want Emerie to see him differently.

With Faunus’ reassurance, he grabbed the tiny creature by the back and lifted them off. They squealed as their arms and legs flapped beneath them until Ingram brought them into the safe cradle of his other hand.

The baby Mavka immediately bit into his palm and then retched at the purple blood in their mouth. Faunus let out a chuckle, whereas Ingram had to resist every urge to fling the creature halfway across the protection ward in revulsion. For a creature without teeth, thathurt.

“I did not know we could create our own,” Ingram mused, bringing them nearer to his beak so he could inspect them up close. They bit his thumb and retched again before trying to climb over and around his hand and fingers.

They were a tiny thing, barely bigger than his palm.

“Neither did I until I saw Delora and Magnar’s youngling,” Faunus admitted. He caught the one hanging from his horn and placed them against his chest to let them crawl on him. “Something awoke within me at seeing them. I hadn’t known we could create life.”

Ingram was thankful they had stopped biting him and instead walked on him while sniffing at his scales. It gave him the freedom to look upon Faunus, and the soul with its arms crossed over its chest and knees tucked underneath them as though it was kneeling.

“So eating a soul is how we bond with our brides? How do we obtain them to do so?”

Faunus’ head cocked, as if he wanted to turn his skull to Ingram. After many moments, he did eventually pull away from Mayumi to look upon him.

“You have to ask for it – that’s all I will tell you. It is best you don’t know more, otherwise you could make a mistake.” Faunus was quick to grab his youngling as they jumped from Ingram, so they could go after their female creator. “Are you asking because you wish to bond with Emerie?”

Ingram hadn’t expected that question, and he turned his sight on the pretty female with her hair twisted into a singular big braid going down her shoulder. She squeaked as she went to the tips of her toes with her arms rotating in circles like it was the answer to not falling.

It didn’t matter – she fell to her arse. He almost chuckled.That was cute.

Do I want to make Emerie my bride?He knew he desired some form of connection with her, but he didn’t know what having a bride entailed.

But what about my bond with my kindred?

Aleron was important to him, but he was beginning to realise Emerie was as well.

He liked the bright, shiny colour of her hair, and how it seemed to glow in any light. Her eyes were an icy blue, but they made him feel... calm when he looked into them. Now that he knew he could slip his tongue between her pale-pink lips, and have them kiss his skull all over, he’d grown fascinated and enthralled by them.

He adored her face and wished it was directed at him at all times so he could view it at his leisure. His appreciation for her body grew every time he was permitted to touch it in some form, and the absence of it left him feeling cold and barren inside.

And her strawberry, and possibly primrose scent – since he was hoping what Faunus called it was correct – sang to him in a way he never thought possible.

Even though it worried him constantly, he also appreciated that she was short, small, and delicate. She was something he could protect, rather than just being a horrifying monster. Yet, she had this softness to her he’d never experienced with Aleron, where he wanted to grip and hold and touch until his mind fell into bliss.

He wanted his marking on her because he didn’t want anyone else to have her. He wanted to smear her in his possessiveness and smother her until everyone within a wide radius of her knew she washis.

“You did not answer me,” Faunus pushed, bringing his sight back to him.

“I don’t know what I am feeling, or what I want. All I know for certain is that I want Aleron back,” he admitted.

Faunus’ orbs flickered blue, before he drifted his skull in the direction of his bride.

“Well... when you look at her, has your sight ever turned pink, and you got a fuzzy feeling in your heart?”

Ingram tilted his head. “No. I have only experienced this with Aleron.”

Perhaps not the fuzzy feeling in his heart, as he’d definitely experienced this with Emerie, but his sight had never turned pink because of her. Then again, it had never turned dark purple for Aleron either, and he was still learning much about the world and his orb changes.