Page 104 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

A time unknown, but of silent oaths

Seated on the forest floor, Weldir had his side to the hot flames that reflected across his glossy flesh like rippling water.

He saw it over the backs of his hands, while one of his offspring dangled from his claw tips with an adorable trill.

The other, this one bearing a skull that looked rather similar to his own, slipped sideways on top of his head, rolled over his horn, and grabbed it to hold on.

The world was bright, the day early, and it was apparently spring. The middle of September or something – not that he truly cared, no matter how many times Lindiwe noted the date at the top of her journals or told him.

Time was still not a construct that interested him, not when he’d live forever. Days passed, all of them a blur, except for her. Never her.

Crouched behind him, Lindiwe stirred a pot over a small morning campfire. She’d gone to a nearby village, the name he didn’t care to learn, and obtained a handful of ingredients. She was cooking for him, wanting him to experience all kinds of tastes and textures.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that food interrupted Tenebris, and he had to teleport it from him before it could enter his realm of souls. Her smile, overjoyed and soft, was just too lovely to dampen by refusing her offerings.

He peered at her silently, content that she was even there and wanted to stay by his side. Then he tipped his head so he could retrieve his falling offspring from his horn, as the sound of them thwacking against the ground was upsetting – even if they were never hurt.

He sat with them often, letting them crawl all over him as much as they wanted. He enjoyed feeling their warmth, their little paws stepping on his skin, and the way they nuzzled into him for more of his scent.

They lived underneath his robe of cloud dust, and he ferried them through the world as he explored it.

“They really like you,” she said in an uplifted tone, her dark eyelashes fluttering.

“It is probably instinctual,” he responded plainly. “I like them as well.”

He’d taken over the parental duties entirely and secretly coveted the task. Lindiwe had been a mother to all their offspring, but this was the first time he’d truly been a father. He was soaking in as much of it as he could, even though they were often a nuisance.

Especially when he wanted her naked and up against him.

Weldir would throw them into the ether of his prism, where he’d left behind his mist so he could be trans-dimensional.

At some point he’d reveal to the Elven deities that he’d left his prism.

Then he’d request that they do not touch it.

He liked having two realms, even if one was really just a prison he found comfort in because he and his mate could easily escape to it should they need to.

It was a safety net, even though he could transport them anywhere across the world his mist touched.

“How is everyone?” she asked, leaning back to observe the viewing discs he had before him.

It was annoying that he couldn’t surround himself with scrying discs like he was within the centre of a ball, since he didn’t float in this new form and the ground was in the way. He also limited it to what was in front of him, so that he wouldn’t impact her view.

“They are fine. Nothing truly exciting to note, except for maybe Nathair.”

Her dark, arching brows drew together. “Everything okay?”

A black tendril shot out from his knee so he could grab Astar, the Demon-skulled Mavka he’d named, when they wandered off too far.

“I’m not quite sure what is happening, if I’m being honest.” He brought Nathair’s viewing disc to the centre and waved all the others away. “It appears he’s made friends with a human town, and they are currently putting him in some kind of dress.”

Her wooden spoon clunked against the rim of her pot, and she rose to her feet, walked over, and knelt beside him. Her frown deepened as she tried to understand what was happening.

A smile curled her lips. “I didn’t know he bonded with that human. Linh, right?”

“Yes, I believe that is her name.”

Situated between Nathair’s hooked ram horns, a reddish-orange soul flame glowed brightly. It looked like the little female he’d had in his keeping beneath the earth in the watery cave.

“It’s custom for both the bride and groom to wear some kind of flower crown,” a human male, whose face had a light sprinkle of facial hair, said.

Then he stepped on a wooden stool to place a tangled ring of white flowers over Nathair’s horns.

His orbs instantly reddened at the human being far, far too close to his bride’s soul, and his sudden, bursting snarl frightened the male so much he fell off the stool and into a fence.

The flower crown landed lopsided on the serpent Mavka’s head, and he tore it off, petals cascading over him.

Weldir tsked. I would have reacted the same.

Which is why he’d hidden Lindiwe’s precious soul deep within his chest – a place no one could see or touch it except for him. He didn’t even want her near it, as it was his and he was never going to give it back, especially not after their recent heated intimacy.

“Oh my goodness!” Lindiwe exclaimed, patting his forearm repeatedly while bouncing on her knees. “Are they getting married? Like a real, human wedding?”

“Is that what’s happening?” he asked, tilting his head. Now that she’d said it, the scene made a lot more sense, except... “Why? It seems rather redundant, considering they’re already bonded on a spiritual level.”

“Because it means a lot to a human and is our way of expressing how much we love someone.” He wasn’t sure if she was aware that she gripped the back of his hand and wrist. “Aww. That’s so beautiful, and he looks so handsome in his suit. Can we go?”

She gazed at him beseechingly, her eyes sparkling with adoring hope. He wouldn’t have denied her, even if she hadn’t looked at him in such a way that his chest tightened uncomfortably – the sensation tender, painful, and warm.

As if she thought he’d deny her, she continued, “It wouldn’t have to be long, and I know you can’t really be seen, but I’d prefer to watch in person rather than through a scrying spell.”

Weldir sneaked a look at the bubbling pot, thankful he didn’t have irises or pupils to give away where he looked.

He offered her a grin. Any excuse not to eat that.

“Of course, owlet.”

Hidden down a narrow alleyway between two buildings, Weldir and Lindiwe watched Linh walk silently, without even a single note of music playing, down an aisle of people.

A long red dress swayed around her legs, and a golden tiara glinted in the sun above her black hair, which was wrapped into a neat bun.

A small amount of make-up had been applied to her dark, fawny skin, making her brown eyes and full lips pop.

The male who had upset Nathair earlier accompanied her down it while she held his arm, and both smiled – the human male a little teary-eyed.

Sighing, Lindiwe leaned into him while absentmindedly wrapping both her arms around his right wrist. “She looks so beautiful. I wish I could meet her.”

“Why don’t you?” he asked, unsure as to why she was hesitant.

He may not be able to leave the shadows, but she, who looked human, surely could.

“Because today isn’t about me, or my wants.

As much as I would like to congratulate them, I don’t know how Nathair would feel about it.

” She met his stare, and the joy that had been in her eyes just seconds before was obscured by lingering pain and loneliness.

“None of them ever react well to me. I just... I don’t want to ruin their day.

I can meet her another time. I’m just happy I get to watch, and I’m glad we didn’t miss it. ”

He didn’t know how to respond, or what words he could use to comfort her.

Now that I have a physical form, perhaps I can discipline my offspring to stop being so insolent regarding her.

He’d like to see them try to snap and snarl at him, when he had power he could now expend in the real, living world.

Since he had a physical form, his mana, too, was tangible.

He offered a distraction. “Is this something you once wanted? To be wed?”

“Once, but that was a very long time ago.” Her smile returned, and it made her eyes crinkle. “I’m content with how things happened, as they were the beginning ripples to where we are now.”

That was good – Weldir wasn’t interested in partaking in such an event that was beneath him.

She seems... happy. He’d never seen his female this uplifted. Now that there was an absence of anxiety, he realised she’d been utterly strangled with it for centuries. She no longer felt as though she had to do it alone, now that he was present, and he could see how much that eased her.

It softened the way she spoke, the way she held herself, and even her gaze.

She came across as more human, freer, but in a way that was a mystery for him to uncover.

It was like she’d finally lowered her guard, or rather, had invited him to join her on her side of that invisible, hard barrier, while she kept it up against the rest of the world.

He liked it. He liked that there was little separating them.

Her white owl feathers swayed against her jaw and neck as a light gust of wind pushed from behind them in the alley.

A handful of her cloak feathers were brown now.

Austrális didn’t have snowy owls, and there hadn’t been any left within his prism realm.

But it’d needed repairing, so they’d hunted for a masked owl local to these lands. Its plumage had brown and white in it.

She’d expressed that she didn’t mind the change of colour and was thankful she could keep her preferred avian shape.

“Oh, curses!” Lindiwe bit out, gripping his wrist tighter. “We’ve been spotted. Let’s go before we get into trouble.”

His gaze snapped away from peering at his beautiful mate, lost in her as always, to look upon his serpent offspring.

When his gaze met Linh’s, a strange discomfort sliced through him.

His first reaction was to shield his face, hiding its oddity from her and the world.

He realised then that he wasn’t used to having the eyes of others on him that weren’t his mate or his offspring.

It was odd that the human had turned around to find them at all, since her back had been towards them during the wedding ceremony.

At his mate’s request, he teleported them away from their location before the newest Phantom, or Nathair, could spot them again.

Until I’m used to this world, I think it’s best if I keep my appearance hidden from all. At least, until he was used to existing in it and could bear the weight of their judgement or inquisitive curiosity.