Page 43 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

A time unknown, but another life begins

Weldir could perceive his strength waning rapidly. His mana was being eaten by the very soul he’d sworn to protect, as penance for consuming it beyond his normal duty.

Its white flames flickered and flashed within the rapidly moving, agitated layers of his physical self, and reflected off the sweat coating Lindiwe’s ashen skin.

The luminous soul brightened the dimly lit hotel room she’d hired for the evening, a place that was warmed by the fire that pushed back the early winter chill and was safe from Demons.

Perspiration dotted her face and soaked through the tunic she was using to cover herself while keeping her legs free.

Everything was quiet after hours of screaming and grunting, except for how she let out pants of relief through chapped lips.

She was exhausted, and by the trembling of her legs and arms, Weldir knew she was weak.

But the worst part was over.

She sat on her knees upon the wooden floor with her cheek resting on the grey sheets of a lumpy bed.

She’d chosen the human establishment, as she trusted in the strength of Weldir’s magic to keep them safe.

He could sense the mana of a scent-cloaking spell she’d activated, which ensured their offspring wouldn’t attack her immediately upon being brought into her world.

She’d also learned from the Anzúli how to create a sound dampener within a hollow space, and the symbol scribbled with coal upon the ground still glowed a faint yellow.

He’d long ago hovered in a kneeling position next to her, as standing over her often distressed her when she gave birth. He couldn’t touch her – his hand would merely go through her body – but he hovered his arm over the bed as a reminder that he was there.

She’d reached for his dark clawed hand many times, only to grip the sheets.

He tried to do this often, to be by her side when she felt the most vulnerable. If they were out in the forest, he’d kneel in front of her so she had something to focus on. He knew his ability to praise wasn’t great, but he’d practised over the many years to soothe her with his voice.

At first, she’d seemed nervous about doing this in front of him, but even from the beginning, he’d seen that she preferred it. She hadn’t wanted to be alone, and needed someone to fill the space to distract her from the pain and fear.

After so many times – sixteen from his count of offspring, although two had come at the same time – she was at ease with his presence.

She knew his time here could only be limited, as the soul he’d consumed, which consumed him in return, would fester and weaken him the longer he held onto it.

“You have done well, as always, owlet,” Weldir offered.

She brought her weary eyes to him and offered him a tired half smile. When movement made her flinch, she pulled back from resting against the side of the bed and lifted her hands.

A Mavka no bigger than her cupped palms stirred.

Their featureless oval face pried apart, revealing their jagged mouth, and they hacked a mixture of blood and darkness. Their slitted nose holes flared, but with all blood scents muted, and Lindiwe unafraid, they merely relaxed into her palms.

“Are you ready to depart?” he asked, pushing out a puff of mist to leave behind so he could return her to this location.

She winced as if a contraction cramped her stomach and nodded. “Yes.”

Weldir’s form retreated as he released the hold on the chaotic dead soul currently feasting on his mana, and he was pulled back to his realm. He brought Lindiwe with him.

Before she could turn incorporeal, and therefore tangible to him, he already shoved a tendril into the Mavka within her hands. He couldn’t touch their physical body, but he was able to caress their soul and force the shift so they, too, would turn ghostly and within his reach.

He couldn’t do this with Lindiwe, and he often wondered if this was due to her soul being outside of her body.

As Lindiwe shifted, he cleansed her of the afterbirth she had yet to expel and then healed her wounds. He also cleaned her and their offspring, and she sighed with relief.

Weldir petted their newborn offspring. They were tiny in his large hand, able to fit entirely in the palm of it, and looked fragile. He hated the limpness, and that he could only greet their offspring while they slept, but being on this side of life and death forced them into a slumber.

It was useful for her, but an annoyance for him.

Just once, I’d like to have one of our young offspring teeming with energy and life as they crawl over me, like they do with her. He’d like them to pester him as they swam through his realm, forcing him to chase them.

He’d once made the mistake of letting them go, and they turned physical. Their shrieks as they frantically searched for her, alone in the scentless, floating darkness, ensured he never released them again.

Instead, he just focused on their light breathing, and how he could hear their heart beating within his realm, filling it alongside hers.

He pressed his foreknuckle under their rounded jaw to caress them, which accidentally rolled their head into an unnatural position while they lay limply on their side.

“I have them for now,” he told her. “I can send you back to rest comfortably.”

“Actually, could I stay here?” Lindiwe asked, and he caught her pushing a curl behind her ear.

It was only then that he noticed her satchel in her hand, and he must have missed her seizing it between the seconds he left her side and then brought her here. He’d noticed it on the ground next to her earlier and hadn’t thought this was why.

“Of course. Do you plan to return to that establishment at all?”

She shook her head as her eyelids drooped. “No. I have everything. I only paid for the night to give birth. I’m happy to return to the forest where they belong when I leave.”

A sense of tranquillity shimmered through his mist that she was choosing to remain, and found his realm a safe and comforting place to sleep. Especially after all these years where she’d rejected his offer.

“I will hold on to them so you may rest.”

She perked up with a smile and dug into her satchel to retrieve her dress. “That’s okay, I’m not feeling all that tired since you healed me. They also didn’t take as long to come as usual.”

“I see.” He tried not to make it obvious that he wanted time alone with them before she would forever have them in her world. “In that case, I’d like to speak with you regarding something.”

In the middle of getting changed, uncaring that she was naked momentarily before him, she cocked a single brow at him. “Should I be worried?”

“Depends. I’m always unsure with you.” Humour vibrated through him at the unamused look she gave him, then he glanced down at their offspring and patted their back. “Will you be alright on your own for a short time?”

“Sure, but why? There’s more of you than usual. Your power has grown.” Her lips pouted, as if she was a little disappointed by the potential solitude she had once so fervently wanted.

“That is because I haven’t been completing my duties.”

He’d been putting off consuming a large portion of souls and placing them in Tenebris. It was for her, even if he’d never tell her that. He’d justified the wait because a few months was a blip in time comparatively, but the souls were beginning to pile up, and he needed to tend to them.

He was finding everything... tiresome. Tedious, even.

Between consuming souls and giving them a home, keeping Tenebris bright and playful, spreading his mist, and barricading Demons from returning through the portals to Nyl’theria, his power and mana were constantly being drained.

And there was also the mana she used, as well as Weldir frequently having many viewing discs summoned.

He was strong now, but it was only because he hadn’t been doing half his duties. Now that they’d resolved the foundation-breaking issue, it was time he returned to them.

And it came with sacrifices.

“I have perfected how to consume a large number of souls while their fate tethers give them their homes and places within Tenebris with little effort and thought.”

He’d made it automatic, a spell that had taken him since meeting her to perfect. That, too, cost him mana.

Lindiwe came closer to pet their offspring, and he was very tempted to run away with them so she couldn’t take them before he was ready to relinquish them.

She used the pad of her index finger to pat between where the baby Mavka’s eye holes should have been. “How long?”

“A few months.”

Her eyes drifted up, and he made his face form so their gazes could meet confidently. It was... odd, having her this close of her own volition if it wasn’t sexual. They were almost face to face, and he rather liked this innocent nearness.

Her eyes flicked back and forth over his horned features. “Do you want me to wait to give them their skull and horns so you can witness it?”

His mist tightened against him, and Weldir was surprised by the offer, and... appreciative of it. “Yes. I would like that.”

She gifted him a rather large smile, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it was soft and tender in a humoured way.

“As you wish,” she said, repeating the words he so often said to her.