Page 82
Story: A Soul to Revive
“Why did you not form a family with this... Gideon male?”
Her features tightened. “A sickness tore through our town and his, uh, parents fell ill. My parents took him in while they tried to recover, but they eventually passed away. He was adopted into our family.”
“A... dopted?”
“It means to take someone else’s child and make them your own. It happens when either the parents die, can’t take care of them properly, or just don’t want them. He became my brother, although... that isn’t really the reason we never married. We still could have, since we weren’t related.”
“Then why not? If he was special to you, would you not want to form a bond with him?”
“I did.” Emerie awkwardly laughed. “I grew up thinking we would, especially since my parents pushed for it because he was such a sweet boy who had always been respectable towards me. But he, uh, he liked men, not women.”
Ingram’s head jerked to the side, causing the sound of dried bones to rattle from him. “He liked males? I do not understand why this would matter.”
Why do I keep having to have the birds and the bees chat with him?!Emerie almost rolled her eyes.Then again... this was more like the bees and the bees chat,she thought with humour.
“So, remember how I explained that men and women would get together to make a baby? Well, that’s not always the case. Sometimes women and women, or men and men will form a bond and be together. They prefer to be with their own sex.”
“Then it does not matter the gender of your partner?”
“No, only that they are the one who makes you happy.”
His orbs brightened in their yellow hue once more. “I see. So you could not make him happy because you are female?”
“That’s a weird way to put it, but yes.” Emerie scratched the side of her head in annoyance. “It was really hard for me to accept it, to be honest.”
“You were not approving of this... pairing?” Why did his voice hold a hint of disappointment?
“It was more that I’d had this big plan in my head for my future, all of it involving him, and I felt like that had been ripped away from me. I guess I was also really angry that he’d hidden something so important from me, and I found out by accident when I was seventeen and found him and his boyfriend at the time doing...thingswhen I came home early from working the farmlands. It’d been really hurtful to accidentally find who I thought would be my future husband in bed with someone else, no matter their gender.”
“What was he doing that was so bad it hurt you?”
Emerie’s eyes widened, and she looked at the ground.
She couldn’t say it was hugging, since she’d hugged Ingram and didn’t want him to make his own weird thoughts about that. However, she didn’t want to explain sex to him in general, not just pertaining to men on men.
“Annnnyway,” she said slyly. “I eventually realised it had nothing to do with me, and I just wanted him to be happy, even if it wasn’t with me.” She turned a bright smile at Ingram to show just how sincere she was about that. “The reason he’d never told me is because he knew how I felt and didn’t want to hurt me. He didn’t trust me, and discovering it made me realise there had always been a barrier between us. Once I accepted we weren’t the right fit for each other, I truly began to see him as my older brother and our relationship grew really strong. He was my best friend, and he meant the world to me.”
“If this is true, then where is he? Or is it like how Mavka arebrothers? We often venture near each other, but we don’t remain in each other’s presence for long.”
“He is... in heaven,” she answered sadly.
Tilting his head, Ingram leaned forward a little. “Why do you look saddened by this? Can you not just visit him, or is heaven far away?”
Emerie didn’t know why she found his words funny. Perhaps it was because it allowed her to say Gideon was gone, without having to say just how permanently.
“Yes, Ingram. Heaven is far, but I’ll visit him one day.”
“Once we destroy the Demon King, I can come with you, so you are safe. We can find Aleron along the way.”
Tears dotted her eyelashes, and she blinked them away as best she could. The fact he wanted to keep her safe was sweet, but that wasn’t a journey he could come with her on. She didn’t want to tell him that, in case he took it the wrong way – like she didn’t want him by her side.
However... something he said allowed her to avoid it altogether. Something that had her gaze darting to him and her features crinkling into a deep frown.
“What do you mean, find Aleron along the way? Where is he?”
She’d assumed he was dead.Was I wrong?
Lifting his skull towards the sky to gaze at the stars beginning to sparkle, his orbs turned blue. “He is in the afterworld. But I will find a way to go there and bring him here, so I can see him again like you will see your Gideon person.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82 (Reading here)
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231
- Page 232
- Page 233
- Page 234
- Page 235