Page 7 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

Eyes homing in on her target, Lindiwe pulled taut the string of her conjured bow, and took in a steadying breath. The weapon’s shadowy upper limb and grip glittered black in the sunlight, highlighting its magical origins.

Travelling lightly worked to her advantage, as did having the ability to create any weapon at her disposal.

Daggers, bows with an infinite number of arrows, spears, and even swords could be made from nothing but her imagination.

After spending nearly two decades training with every kind of tool she could possibly need at the Demon Hunter fortress, she was lethal out in the wild forests.

Closing one eye to better her sight, she waited for the wind to settle. Then, releasing her breath as she slipped her fingers from the bow’s string, her black glittering arrow shot through the air. She made sure it’d hit true and deliver a quick and merciful death.

The snowy owl, resting its tired wings on a boulder jutting out from the snow, didn’t have the chance to escape before it was pierced in the heart.

Like with most creatures killed by Weldir’s magic, its white flaming soul floated out from its chest. Retrieving her glass vial from her satchel, Lindiwe opened the top of it, and the soul was sucked inside by a spell Weldir had woven into the material of the container itself.

Afterwards, she picked up the bird by its feet as her arrow finally disintegrated like drying sand.

This is the third one, she thought, and she lifted it high in the air to inspect its pure-white feathers.

She lowered it so it would dangle as she walked through a snow-covered forest of Kanata. The country was situated above Unerica, a little larger in size, and its beauty was just as riveting as everywhere else she’d been in the world.

Its landscapes were breathtaking. It had some of the most majestic mountains she’d ever seen, all of them covered in icy white powder in the winter, while crystal-blue, pristine lakes appeared in the summer.

Forests were scattered all over, and the trees were diverse with fir, pine, birch, oak, and maple – many of which changed colour with the evolving seasons.

All of this butted up against coastlines that were just as mesmerising as the rest of the country.

She’d visited Kanata a few times during her near-fifty-year stint in Unerica. Both were wondrous countries with landscapes that showcased the power of nature, and how it could be shaped in ways the human mind could barely comprehend.

She’d even left one of her children along the border, letting them choose where they wanted to venture. They often visited both, roaming back and forth between each country, from what Weldir had informed her.

Lindiwe intended to leave the one currently growing in her womb much further north.

It was early days, which meant she would have been at least a few months into her pregnancy had they been a human. But, like all her children, this one grew just as quickly and seemed to be on track to be born in a five-week gestation period.

A little exercise is good for me, she thought, placing her hand over her swelling belly. And I’m actually pretty excited to make a new cloak.

With her scent-masking spell activated, the blood of the creature in her hand and her own smell didn’t lure any devilish monsters to her. She couldn’t hide the crunching of her feet in the snow, but the talisman at her waist was warm and ensured the cold didn’t creep into her toes.

Although shifting into a Phantom would have alleviated the tiredness in her aching limbs, she refused to do it unless absolutely necessary. It slowed the process of her pregnancy and delayed it by the amount of time she was in that form.

Thankfully she didn’t need to walk far, perhaps an hour, before the very voice she longed to hear trickled through her consciousness.

“You’ve brought me another,” Weldir stated, informing her that she’d reached the edge of his mist.

It was so thin, she couldn’t see it like usual. Surely in a few more decades it would span all the way through this mountain range’s forest. The portal to Nyl’theria, the Elven realm, was at the centre and a few kilometres away, proving just how far his reach was.

She shifted into her Phantom form so that the owl in her fist would fade. He took it from her through his mist, but she swore he appeared before her in a glimpse of the murkiest and lightest outline of his body.

Or maybe she was just hoping he was there.

Lindiwe tucked a curl behind her ear after she shifted back to a human. “Do you think you have enough now to make me a white cloak?”

“I won’t know until I try.”

“I guess we’ll have to do that in a few months, though.

They’re a rather large bird in comparison to ravens, but I’ll find more just in case,” Lindiwe said, looking around the dense brush.

The expanse of spruce trees held up thick blankets of snow, ensuring the world around her was vibrant and teeming with life.

Her breaths came out as puffs, and despite the chill in the air, her cheeks warmed.

“I don’t want to be without my current cloak until this child has their skull and horns anyway. ”

“I’d rather you not be without your ability to shift while you, and they, are delicate.”

She hardly considered herself delicate, even when pregnant. His magic meant she was formidable, and only the ease of quick travel was why she wished to keep her feathered shroud.

But she appreciated his care.

It also reminded her of their last bout of intimacy, and she fidgeted because she might have been a little greedier than usual. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d come, but she’d passed out almost immediately afterwards while thrumming with satisfaction.

She’d woken up bare... and not alone.

As much as she should have been mortified that he’d been watching her while she slept naked, without even a blanket to shield her, she just couldn’t muster up the emotion.

Weldir had always been watching her, would forever watch her, and her sore and tender body had tingled in reaction to it for once.

She also couldn’t remember the last time she’d woken up that well rested. She’d turned shy due to being naked and at the recollection of what had transpired before she fell asleep, but she hadn’t felt uncomfortable.

The conversation afterwards had been awkward, but that was simply because she hadn’t known what to say after being fucked so thoroughly. A lot of this was still new territory between them, and even if she lost her inhibitions while they were in the middle of sex, they still resurfaced afterwards.

So she’d grabbed her clothes and left.

But the memory of it lingered, and her belly often coiled with desire, which led to heat pooling at her core. Every time she spoke to him, she remembered.

And she wanted more, even if she didn’t dare ask for it.

She knew it was best that they kept the act to merely making offspring – or rather, servants. Lindiwe worried she’d grow too attached if she allowed them to cross that line where sex was no longer a duty but something they enjoyed outside of it.

Even after all this time, and the fact that things between them had changed, she knew she had to keep her heart closed off to him.

It was doubtful he felt anything more than duty and desire towards her anyway. And she refused to fall in love with someone who was entirely incapable of giving it in return.

Still, it didn’t mean she disregarded the way her belly flipped at knowing he was there, nor could she ignore how her heart stuttered when a strange yet genial and warm chuckle, deep and sensual, curled around her brain.

“What’s so funny?” she grumbled, her eyes narrowing into suspicious slits at the empty space before her.

“Nothing, little female,” he answered with mirth. “Nothing at all.”