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She jumped, flew through his intangible form, and fell flat on her face. He jumped to the side with his arms up, oddly worried about crushing her ghostly essence.

“Ow! Why did thathuuuurt?” she whined from where she landed. Weldir laughed at her and had Ingram growling in his direction menacingly, then he brought himself closer to her crumpled form while she was rising to her hands and feet. “Why didn’t you catch me?”

The fact she had so trustingly pounced on Ingram made him chuckle warmly at her.Silly butterfly.She had been so excited to see him that she’d acted on instinct.

“I am not truly here,”Ingram stated as he lifted his hand under her jaw, hovering it there even though he couldn’t truly tilt her face up to his own.

Her lips tightened as she fully took him in. “Is that why you look like a big purple Ghost?”

Once more, Ingram was the one to laugh.“You are the one who is a Ghost, Emerie.”

Like he couldn’t help himself, too curious to care this was an important moment for Ingram, Aleron shoved his face less than a foot from hers.

“This is the female you have chosen?”he asked, tilting his head left and right, before poking her in the forehead.“Her hair is so... red. Are you sure you want a red one?”

That answered the question on whether or not Aleron could truly see Emerie.

“Her hair is orange and yes, she is perfect.”Ingram tried to push him away from crowding them, only to accidentally shove his entire arm through his bat skull. He drew it back with an annoyed rumble.

Emerie blinked at Aleron, her lips closing and opening. She peeked at Ingram.

“Is that Aleron?”she whispered, which made it almost impossible to hear her since she was already so quiet.

Heart-aching joy flittered through him.

Emerie and Aleron are meeting.His kindred and his chosen female were looking upon each other. And even though they were on the same plane and he wasn’t, it still satisfied a strange part of him he didn’t know existed.

One day, they would be bonded in different threads, and he hoped they shared one, even if it wasn’t the same as the one he and Emerie had.

“Yes, this is my kindred,”Ingram grated, craving to brush his claws through her hair and touch Aleron’s wing at the same time.

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, then closed it. The curiosity in her expression faded into something sad and unsure.

“Why are you here, Ingram?” she asked, and he wished he wasn’t able to see the tears springing in her eyes – especially since he couldn’t even see the icy blue of her irises. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you what was happening. You must be so upset with me, but I-I did it to protect you. Why are you here in the afterlife then? You’re not supposed to be here.”

He was unable to stop her from rising to her feet and turning her back to him, her hands coming up to grip her biceps.

“You weren’t supposed to follow after me. I did it to keep you alive.” She covered her face and shook her head in her hands. “Don’t tell me I did it for no reason.”

For a moment, he’d grown disheartened that she didn’t want to see him or have him chase after her, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what was truly upsetting her.

“I am still alive, Emerie.”For now, but his body had been eaten all the way to the tops of his limbs. He was just a floating torso, and he was aware he did not have much longer.“I did not come here to die.”

From what he’d been told and what he could tell... Tenebris was just another form of life for Mavka. One where he would not be able to obtain a bride, which he didn’t want if he could not have Emerie.

He may change his mind on the answer he’d give her, depending on if she rejected him or not. He just... wouldn’t tell her that, as Weldir told him not to. He’d like to be with Aleron if he could not have Emerie.

The two creatures currently before him were the only ones that mattered to him. Everyone else could fade from existence for all he cared.

“Then why?” she asked, turning to him.

Ingram came closer and sat on his hind legs around her, wanting to crowd her even if he couldn’t hold her. Her adopted brother, Gideon, was off to the side, utterly bewildered and unsure of what to do.

It looked like he wanted to approach. When he tried, Aleron quickly interfered by slotting himself between them, and softly growled down at him. Ingram could tell his feathers had puffed in aggravation, warning the male human back.

His kindred had already grown protective of Ingram’s chosen female. The fact he had so swiftly, simply because of Ingram’s want of her, made tenderness wash through him.

Ingram cupped the side of her intangible face and hovered his palm there, giving himself the satisfaction of seeing his hand on her even if he could not feel it.