Page 42 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

Something tickled the edge of Lindiwe’s ear. She groaned and twisted her head away to avoid it. Her hands, which were curled up next to her cheek, went to push off the ground... only to be met with nothingness.

Gasping in surprise, she opened her eyes to the weightless void of darkness and lifted her head to see what had been tickling her.

Her cloak of white owl feathers had been carefully placed around her like an unnecessary blanket. She didn’t need warmth, as Weldir’s realm lacked any temperature, nor did she understand why he’d place it over her.

Her bare shoulder slipped out from underneath it when she twisted to ‘sit’ in the weightlessness. She curled her fingers around the edge of her cloak to keep it to her naked chest and shield her.

Did he... put this over me because he knew waking up naked would bother me? Lindiwe searched for him and was drawn to the only light.

With his back to her, he was seated cross-legged before fourteen viewing discs teeming with life from Earth. They revealed each of their children, apart from Nathair, who was in Tenebris, and Merikh, whose disc was murky from being under Jabez’s ward.

Lindiwe wrapped the cloak around her more securely. “How are they?” she asked, swimming over to look into the discs as well.

“They are all fine,” he answered, his missing head collecting into streaks before fully forming – likely for her benefit so she could see his face. He dipped it to the side at her. “How are you? You slept for quite some time.”

Her heart and stomach fluttered in memory of what had transpired right before she’d passed out from exhaustion. Tucking a curl behind her ear, she blushed demurely.

Her racing pulse made all the tender places on her body throb.

Her nipples ached from overstimulation, as did her abused clit and pussy.

She thought... she could even feel lines of swollen bruises from where his tendrils had bound her, and she peeked down at her wrists.

Purple welts matched where he’d held her arms above her head, and she nibbled her bottom lip.

Her thighs were sticky, and there was an uncomfortable, erotic liquid clinging everywhere that made her want to squirm.

She squeezed her thighs together. “I-I’m okay,” she said, with a weak smile.

She was more than fine, while also simultaneously freaking out. She felt... satisfied, content, and not just physically, but... emotionally? He’d been so honest, and over something she’d never in a million years expected from him.

He wanted sex? Even though he couldn’t feel it? He wanted to watch and be a part of it, be naughty because it somehow made him feel good mentally ?

He’s more of a pervert than I thought. The emotionally void demi-god wasn’t as unfeeling as she’d assumed.

No. That’s not true. He’d... become this.

His rejection from when she’d first offered sex still rang in her mind. He hadn’t cared for any intimacy back then. Pointless, he’d said.

Something had changed.

And Lindiwe worried about what that meant.

Could he feel something more for her, or was it limited to sex and intimacy? She knew he wanted to deepen their bond, but was that through logic for the cohesive unity of their marriage or... because he actually had a heart he could give?

He doesn’t have a real heart. Her own panged at the realisation that it was very unlikely Weldir could... love. There was a physical reaction that came from such an emotion.

He probably could feel tenderness for her, contentment in their relationship, but the mind-altering, life-changing adoration she’d longed for as a young girl.

.. that came with aches and pains that were special.

Like the emotion was so strong it clawed into one’s spirit until it tore it in two and let someone else inside.

If sex like that was going to be in their future, and she could have it freely outside of duty, she worried her own feelings could become tangled, twisted, and confused in ways she may not be able to handle.

I don’t want to fall in love with someone who can’t return it. It’d be too painful otherwise. And we can never really be together.

Strengthening her resolve on the matter, Lindiwe decided she could be content with affection through the most basic carnal need.

A giddiness struck her. I guess this means I can be honest and naughty about it!

Satisfaction thrummed, and she offered a real smile. “I think I had the best sleep I’ve had in a long while,” she admitted.

“Yes. You snored quite loudly.”

Lindiwe laughed. “I bet I did.” Then she showed him her wrists. “I’m surprised all these didn’t wake me.”

He gently cupped one of her hands and brushed his clawed thumb over her bruises. “Do you want me to heal you now?”

Lindiwe pulled her arm from him before he could even try. “No. I’d rather you didn’t.”

His head cocked, making pieces of his face break off and collect in his wisping hair. “I... don’t understand, but as you wish.”

Peeking at each of the viewing discs, she pulled up the falling cloak and then looked around. “Where are my underwear? I’d like to put them on.”

“Your panties?” He looked forward into the disc before him. “I’ve lost them.”

Her curling lips flattened with humour. “That’s entirely impossible, Weldir.”

His lips parted, revealing straight teeth and canine fangs, as he let out a sinfully deep chuckle. “Very true.” A tendril pulled from below them, and on the very tip floated her pale-green underwear, half untied. “I considered keeping them.”

Lindiwe reached out, slipped them up one leg, and then tied the loosened side at her left hip. “Alright, and now my dress?”

“I lost that too.” He dipped his head to the side at her pretend pout, and he chuckled once more. Another tendril formed, this time with her altered Anzúli dress bundled in it. “You know, I think I should implement a new rule within my realm.”

She reached out for it. “Oh? And what’s that?”

He ducked it out of her reach. “Along with remaining as a Phantom in my realm, you should also be naked in it.” He waved the garment side to side. “It would make things easier, as I’m hoping you’ll be here for more erotic reasons in the future. You did promise me.”

“I don’t remember promising anything,” she answered with a grin.

He yanked her dress further from her. “Little female, you know I can keep you naked here until you agree, and can strip you of your clothing with nothing but a thought in the future.”

“I’ll think about it,” she lied.

Weldir tsked, just as the bridge of his nose wrinkled lightly. He handed her dress to her. “That’s your way of saying no.”

She raised it above her head so she could slip her arms through the sleeves and shimmy it down her body. “You can’t just make up rules and expect me to adhere to all of them.”

“Not to boast,” he hummed with mirth, “but I am a god, and this is my realm. I may do as I like.”

Lindiwe rolled her eyes at his harmless arrogance before shifting her cloak over her shoulders and doing up the ties. “I think I’d like to return to Siran. I haven’t seen Anubis since before I went to Unerica.”

Anubis had tightly spiralling markhor horns. She’d given them that name since they bore a jackal skull, and it had reminded her of one of the Hygyptian gods.

Admittedly, with everything that had happened with Orpheus, she’d struggled to stray from Austrális for too long.

Many of their newer children, like the two in the Sing Empire and the one in Pyrssia, she hadn’t visited since.

She tended to give them space in their adulthood – after spending an initial year with them to help them through the beginning trials of their lives.

It was time to return now.

She cupped low on her pelvis. Especially if I end up becoming pregnant again.

Considering the amount of seed he’d used to ‘lubricate’ her, enough to leave its evidence all over her thighs, it was doubtful it wouldn’t take.

“You could stay here for a little while longer,” he said softly.

Warmth flared in her cheeks again, and she averted her gaze when her stomach fluttered with a strange tenderness. As tempted as she was, as much as she’d like to... I don’t belong here. Her presence could only be fleeting, as it’d always been. I can’t live in this realm with him.

When she brought her gaze back to his carefully blank expression, the giveaway was his eyes, which were so focused on her that her chest squeezed.

“Maybe I can stay for a little while,” she conceded. A few hours wouldn’t hurt, surely. “I want to check up on those I haven’t seen in person since giving them their skulls and horns before I stay in Austrális again.”

“You plan to go there again? Why?”

“Because if we have another child, I don’t want to be too far from Orpheus... who may need me . ”

Because things revolving around him still concerned Lindiwe, and she was hoping that she could do more to ease his distress and loss. There had to be some way she could help, maybe by giving him a new companion who may, one day, love him for all the goodness inside his heart.

The more children we have in Austrális, who may end up protecting each other against Jabez, or maybe even Katerina, the better.

Jabez wanted an army?

Then Lindiwe would make her own.