Page 77 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

How?! Orpheus hasn’t left his home in days! Why did he leave her by herself?! To fetch water? To hunt? To chase after a Demon? The reasons could be endless. Lindiwe felt it in the pit of her soul that it wasn’t Reia’s fault. That she didn’t run away or willingly go with Jabez.

It’s different this time. They may have only been together for a month and a half, but Reia was gentle with Orpheus. She didn’t disdain his presence; she inserted herself into it with a big smile that even warmed Lindiwe with tenderness.

Shit. Shit. I’m so sorry, Orpheus. Lindiwe flew hard, using all her might and the calm winds to get there faster.

But he’s so close to it. He must have been running since yesterday. Perhaps it’d happened only a little after she’d stopped watching them. Damnit. Was that why they’d been talking on the porch?

Orpheus has never gone after a taken offering before. If they were taken, he knew they were lost. For him to go after her...

It meant she was special to him, and he trusted that she’d want to be returned to him. History wasn’t repeating itself.

Would they be too late? Was Reia already dead? For once, can luck just be on my side? But what use would Katerina and Jabez have... for keeping her alive?

Hope was slipping through her fingers.

Trying her best not to be seen, Lindiwe landed on the pathway between two tall, thorny hedges and turned into a human. She didn’t remove her feathered hood as she brought her hand up to create a murky viewing disc, everything grey and indistinguishable.

He’s already here, Lindiwe thought, lifting her gaze to the ominous castle.

Closing her hand to undo the scrying spell, she then shifted into her Phantom form. Darting forward through the neatly trimmed hedges, she shoved her intangible, ghostly body through the outer wall.

Landing in a random hallway, she then headed straight for the throne room.

If he went anywhere, it would be there. A place where all his sadness and grief started.

It worries me that he’s here after what happened with Leonidas.

Orpheus had already suffered so much emotional turmoil, he didn’t need to be physically tortured as well.

And she imagined if Katerina got her hands on him, she’d make it far crueller. There would be no end; she’d probably get off on it too. No doubt teasing him, brutalising him, and digging into his mind just as sharply as any blade she’d wield at the same time.

Passing through the wall, Lindiwe poked her head inside and only saw two of them. The fact that Katerina was facing Orpheus alone wasn’t a good sign.

Where’s Reia? And more importantly, Where’s Jabez? Orpheus didn’t even seem to understand the significance of that.

In his monstrous form, he stepped to the side to go around Katerina, who was standing at the top of a set of podium stairs.

“I’m telling you that I want to go with you,” Katerina said, her brows creasing. “I told you where she is. She is with the Demon King. Why do you keep asking about her when you have me?”

Confusion laced Lindiwe’s mind. Why would she say that? She hates him.

Lindiwe knew Katerina and Jabez’s relationship was a mixture of like and hate, and stemmed from transactions rather than true affection.

A way to appease his loneliness while providing her protection, his desire for companionship in exchange for indulging her need for revenge. Broken trust meeting broken trust.

Neither cared about the toxicity, so long as they obtained what they sought. Filling the void of desolation was hard, so finding someone to rely on, even if it was barren of emotion, was better than being utterly alone.

It was why she doubted Katerina would’ve had a change of heart. She’s up to something. The question was: what?

Lindiwe could only imagine how confused Orpheus must be to be presented with someone he once thought of fondly. She was offering herself up, but Lindiwe knew... it wouldn’t matter.

The pain in Orpheus no doubt stopped him from wanting this woman back, but she represented the very first ease of companionship.

He likely didn’t miss her, but the space she’d filled, and had never truly understood why it was taken from him.

He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, when his actions had never contained malicious intent.

He wanted to fall in love and didn’t know how, and no one cared to show him.

He’d acted on instinct. Because instinct didn’t need a reason; all it said was to protect, provide, and nurture in every form it took.

And he wanted someone to reciprocate that base instinct.

Lindiwe didn’t need to hear his next words; she knew what his decision would be.

It would be the woman who reached out to him first, with a smile and adoration in her green eyes. Someone who invited him in rather than pushed him out. Who, even if she seemed surly at times, often thought of his best interests and knew the hidden kindness in his heart existed.

Enough to teach him how to be compassionate, even to a strange Duskwalker with a fox skull and antlers.

“Because I don’t want you. I want to find Reia.”

He’s... facing his past and choosing his future. Not just because it filled the lonely void, but because it filled it with utter warmth. If he wanted to appease it, he would take just anyone offering themselves.

He would’ve taken this callous woman.

“You will regret that, Orpheus,” Katerina sneered, and her hands tightened behind her... around a dagger.

Has she truly gone fucking mad? Stabbing him would do nothing but enrage him. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t be so stupid. Katerina was a fool in many senses, but she cared about her life above the cost of anything else. So what kind of trap has been laid?

Where was Jabez hiding, and when would he reveal himself?

She said Reia is with Jabez. Does that mean she’s actually alive, or is it just a ploy to keep him here until he returns? I need to search the castle. Maybe the dungeons?

Relief violently hurtled through her like the heavy wet winds of a cyclone when the blonde-haired woman appeared out of nowhere. Jabez materialised behind her, clutching his groin with a hiss through clenched fangs.

Reia tackled Katerina to the ground and punched the black-haired woman in the face so hard even Lindiwe winced when her head smacked against the ground. A skirmish immediately broke out, and Orpheus dived for Jabez.

Lindiwe didn’t know how to intervene, or if she should. I could just end up being a distraction. I could confuse the situation. Orpheus might turn on her, or the two humans fighting.

Although Orpheus and Jabez weren’t on even footing – one smarter than the other, one faster and stronger than the other, who could now teleport away – Reia had the upper hand.

They don’t know how to kill Orpheus, and so long as Reia survives... Lindiwe would jump out if it seemed like she was truly in danger. Jabez won’t be able to get near her before Orpheus comes to her side, and he wouldn’t do something that could put Katerina in danger.

Screeching, Katerina managed to kick Reia off her. Reia slid across the ground and stopped near her discarded sword. She rolled to it, albeit not gracefully, and picked it up with a determined, narrow glare.

Yes! Atta girl, Lindiwe exclaimed in her head.

Then the most frightening thing she’d ever heard echoed within the throne room.

With a low chuckle, Jabez said, “That skull of yours will be nice when it’s broken into pieces.”

Lindiwe shunted back in shock, and into the empty room behind her.

What? How did he learn... Merikh? With her eyes wide, she looked down at the rough carpet. No. He wouldn’t have. He gave me those charms for Orpheus, and he knows the dangers that knowledge presents to himself and the other Duskwalkers.

The answer was obvious.

Jabez said he’s been waiting nine years.

That’s when Leonidas was taken. Although she couldn’t feel it, she curled her hands into tight fists at her sides.

Were they waiting for Orpheus to get a new offering, hoping she’d stay alive long enough to become bait?

Why else wouldn’t they have taken Reia sooner?

‘It’s not my revenge but hers.’ That’s what Jabez had said.

Because Katerina would be angry if she wasn’t the one to kill him?

Had all the pieces aligned for them perfectly?

Leonidas, Orpheus, Reia. Did they think that fate was in their favour to make the perfect lure, right after discovering the truth?

They held onto this secret until the opportune moment. He spoke to her and threw it in her face, knowing the whole time, while she thought they were still safe. He had such a horrible plan, and sat down next to me, watching his lure solidify herself as bait, and even offered to aid her.

Cold, ruthless cunning. Heartless evil in the form of a man.

Lindiwe shot forward to save them. Orpheus shouldn’t have come here!

She immediately paused as she registered the two women in front of her.

Scarlet splattered to the ground in a growing puddle, as Katerina coughed up blood from between her lips. A sword had been shoved through her midsection, with Reia low on the ground keeping it in place.

Jabez called out to Katerina, alerting Orpheus, who charged and brought Reia into a protective embrace.

Lindiwe was too shocked to move or truly hear what they said. She killed her. Reia had done the one thing Lindiwe hadn’t managed to do, no matter how she’d tried. Does this mean this is... over?

No. They would keep being hunted, but now their weakness was known. There was no reason to hold back anymore.

Orpheus held Reia tightly as he stepped back towards the exit, where guards were likely outside waiting to be let in. He didn’t need to fight so long as he could run with her.

Yes. Leave. Get out of here.

If only Lindiwe could turn them incorporeal with her.

What followed happened so fast. Something glinted through the air and made contact with Reia. She arched into Orpheus and gripped his fur tightly in pain. A dagger? It was the one Katerina had dropped.

Lindiwe didn’t know what to do when the scene played out before her.

She couldn’t be overjoyed that Orpheus finally learned how to make a small protection dome – the bargain for the magic was the blood of the one they wanted to protect.

Not when Reia was lying in his arms utterly protected, but dying anyway.

I can’t watch this. It was too much, too painful. Come on, Reia. Just do it! They still had time.

It was why she hadn’t interfered. Because when she did, everything always went terribly wrong. Please...

“How do I give you my soul?” Reia rasped.

Yes! The words Lindiwe and Orpheus had been holding their breath for had finally been uttered. Is it too late? She looked over Reia and her wounds. I was this close to dying when I gave Weldir my soul. Maybe she just wanted to have faith that it would work out.

When Reia’s flaming soul emerged from her chest, bright orange and full of life, she knew everything would work out.

Eat it, Orpheus. All you have to do is eat it before it turns white. Before it, and she, died.

And he did.

Lindiwe grinned so damn wide.

Not even when Reia crumbled in his arms like ash, did her grin fall. His whines and ethereal tears were heartbreaking, but they would be short-lived. The fight that broke out afterwards was frightening and the most ruthless battle she’d ever seen, but her euphoria didn’t wane.

Her son, in that moment, was wilder and fiercer than ever, putting Jabez on the back foot.

Evading and defending, his teleportation was slower than Orpheus’ rage.

Jabez’s arm was severed, the same one Lindiwe had dismembered years ago.

Injured and angry, and seeing this was now a losing battle, Jabez created a portal and kicked Orpheus out of his home.

The moment it shut, he placed his hand over the stump of his biceps and cauterised the wound. Heading towards Katerina, he made a circle with his thumb and middle finger and put it to his mouth to whistle.

Lindiwe chose then to emerge.

He halted and then lowered his head to sneer. “What kind of coward watches from the shadows?”

“Hmm. Wasn’t quite a shadow, more like a wall,” she answered nonchalantly with a shrug. “And sometimes it’s better for others to battle it out. I knew he would win.”

A lie, of course. Lindiwe had been terrified the entire time.

“I wouldn’t call it a win. I killed his fucking human, or did you miss that?” His red eyes flicked to Katerina when Lindiwe neared her corpse. “Get the fuck away from her.”

“Did she die, or did she fade ?” she remarked, before kneeling next to the foul woman’s body. “Stop me if you think you can. But I’ll be taking her soul, just as I promised. Too bad she can’t watch me eat her heart out first.”

Jabez snarled and disappeared, but before he could get to her, Lindiwe turned incorporeal once more.

“Here’s the thing, Jabez. I’ve known for a long time that a soul can be given, and a soul can be taken.

” While she was intangible, and with his sorry self standing over her, she punched her ghostly arm through Katerina’s still chest. She felt resistance, but that’s all she perceived as she yanked out the bitch’s soul.

She looked up at Jabez’s enraged expression, his long hair curtaining around the sides of his face, and gave him a bright smile.

“You both brought this on yourselves. Have fun with her corpse.”

Then she leapt back and through the wall, and continued to bounce from room to room, until she made it outside. He didn’t follow – what would be the point?

Once in the sunlight, she looked down at Katerina’s soul, free of any scarring, spots, or anything that pertained to an injured person – whether that be physically or mentally. A pure soul that reflected nothing of the rottenness within.

I considered giving you to Weldir to take you to the afterworld and empower him. Not to torture her, as that had always been a lie, and something she doubted either of them could stomach. But I’ve changed my mind.

She wanted this woman’s existence to cease entirely. Never to be returned, even by accident.

It was asleep now, limp and at peace.

She held onto it with both hands, dug her thumbnails into its centre, and yanked in two different directions. Katerina’s soul tore apart, and nothing special happened.

Lindiwe didn’t suddenly gain newfound power. There was no gust of energy, no pulsing of magic. All that followed was the sense of triumph as it withered away into nothingness, gone forever.

She looked up at the sky. Things were going to get harder from now on, but she appreciated this moment of joy. You’re probably running after her memory right now, so let me help you go home.

You finally have your bride, my sweet Fenrir.