Page 97 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

“As I said, I can manipulate this mana, and I can create with it.” He lifted it higher so it was between them. “I will gain no power in doing so, but I can give myself a physical form. Not just temporarily, but one that will have life, where I can leave my realm... and live in yours.”

“You’ll have a real body?” she asked, her voice filling with hope. Her heart fluttered at the idea, and her trembling lips curled into a broken smile. “Y-you’ll be able to feel?”

“Yes. But ... I have no idea what it will look like, or to what extent.” He tilted his head from side to side. “I’m certain it would be Elven formed, as that’s what my soul is like, but other than that, I’m unsure. As you know, much of what I do is a guess.”

“Why didn’t you just start with that?!” Lindiwe shouted, wishing she could bash his stupid chalky shoulders because the intense stress and hurt he’d just put her under was near cruel! “The decision is easy, Weldir. I would rather you have a physical form.”

“Really?” he asked, his head rearing back, mirroring the surprise in his voice. “But you would continue to be tied to me.”

“All I’ve wanted for the longest time was for you to join me on Earth, to feel it with me.

To be real, and not some half-tangible being shrouded in shadows and trapped in a world of dark void.

” Lindiwe looked down at her arms full of two Duskwalkers, and even in her Phantom form, she could feel their heat.

Bashfulness lifted her shoulders at her next words, and she’d been waiting so long to utter them that subtle shyness made her cheeks warm.

“I love you, Weldir. I have for a long time, but it hurt too much to be near you, knowing that any future with you was just... empty. That’s why I had to pull away from you. ”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She clenched her eyes shut. “What would it have mattered? It would have changed nothing.” She opened her eyes to stare at their babies before lifting her gaze to him. “So, of course I’d rather be with you. I want that more than anything.”

“You understand I will never let you go if I do this?” he asked, just as part of a large grin began to pull at his face. When Lindiwe nodded in answer with her own smile, he said, “As you wish, then.”

He pulled back to give himself space, and she was thankful that she wouldn’t have to be kept in suspense for too long.

The golden crown fragment hovered between his hands as he started to manipulate it.

Shadowy essence swirled around it like chalky clouds of a tornado.

A tendril pierced the middle, and it pushed inside and widened it until it became a cylindrical pole.

Once it was in that hollow shape, he moulded it further until he made what she could only describe as a stick figure.

Honestly, she was surprised at how far such a tiny piece could be spread out.

Then Weldir grabbed it by its stick arms and shoved it into his torso.

The limbs began to separate until they made arm and leg bones, while hands and feet bones morphed into shape.

The torso changed, spiking apart to make a ribcage, pelvis, and spine.

Then, finally, a skull began to form that looked an awful lot like the Demon skull of the baby in her arms.

Lastly, tapered horns formed at the edge of his hairline, tucking closely to the top of his head, before the narrow ends pointed up at the back.

When it was done, Weldir was essentially just a skeleton with mist surrounding him, and the world around her began to wobble and vibrate. She perceived a change in the air, like pressure spiralling around and around, as it pulled towards a centre – him.

The darkness surrounding her sucked away like water, and brightness crawled closer as seconds passed. Within only a handful of moments, it all retreated into his form, and light ate at the utter darkness in a flash.

A world beyond came into view.

Upwards and around her was a room that was so large she felt like a tiny ant.

The clear crystal container they were in had too many surfaces for her to count accurately to gauge its true shape, but it appeared to be sitting on a purple cushion on a table of some kind, which was situated up against an obsidian wall.

Weldir lifted his hand above his brow to shield himself from the light.

“Too bright,” he hissed.

Mist expanded from him, and it shoved them back into a strange, grainy darkness. It wasn’t as solid as before, making everything look dark grey.

The lightness of it allowed her to see what he looked like when they both stood and faced each other.

Her eyes widened because it absolutely wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Oh god. He looks like a Demon.

His skin was... well... it was like a spectral void holding his insides in place, just like a Demon. It was glossy and inky, like the night sky reflecting off a pond.

Except it was transparent.

Most of his golden bones were visible. They were duller in places that were covered in thick skin and muscle, like his thighs, calves, biceps, and forearms. When he lowered his strange, ethereal face, that of a golden humanoid skull with large canine fangs, he wiggled his hands.

The skin and muscle of his palms was thicker than across the backs of his hands, making the bones harder to see.

Two brows of pitch-coloured hair came together before he lifted his head. He looked one way and then the next as two long and pointed ears, like those of an Elf, flicked rapidly.

“Is that what a heart sounds like? How noisy,” he stated, and somehow his voice was unfairly richer than before, with a huskiness to it that instantly had her nipples pearling in delight.

Lindiwe hesitantly came closer while keeping one arm on their babies. She reached out while he was distracted and went to touch his abdomen with her fingertips, heart swelling with tender warmth.

Her stomach dropped when she passed right through him.

Seeing she’d neared him, Weldir looked down at her, and panic suffused her as she looked up to his onyx eyes – exactly the same as they’d been before. There was no sclera, no irises, just that glossy darkness like before that always felt all-consuming.

Honestly, the weirdest thing was that he actually blinked . “I’m no longer intangible.”

Understanding instantly dawned, and she shifted to her physical form.

She tried again, and her fingertips met solidness.

And warmth. And a torso that expanded and contracted from breaths.

She placed her whole palm against his void-like flesh, and muscles leapt to her touch, right before a clawed hand wrapped around the back of hers.

“I can feel that,” he said quietly, as a soft exhale came from him. “I can feel you.”

A quiet sigh left her, just as a small smile formed. Bringing her palm up, he placed it over his bare chest, and a real, beating heart resonated beneath. He lifted his own hand and cupped the side of her face, then brushed his thumb up and down her cheek before inching over to do it to her lips.

“Your skin is softer than I thought it was,” he murmured, then he drifted his hand back and brushed the backs of his claws through the underside of her curls. “Is this what silky feels like?”

She didn’t know what to say. Any words that tried to climb up her throat formed as a lump of emotion. She wanted to say he looked magnificent – in an otherworldly way. That she was so happy this was happening, and that she could sense his heartbeat while he felt her.

All she could do was stare, and when he cupped the side of her face again, she leaned into it and gave his palm a nuzzle.

His black eyelashes were long and fluttery as he peered down at her, and his gaze held an edge to it that hadn’t existed before. Piercing, all-seeing, and intense. She felt herself being swallowed up by the pools of obsidian.

She thought his eyes might be moving across her features, but it was impossible to truly tell. His tongue darted out, dark grey and slightly pointed, and dabbed at the seam of his lips. Every time his lips parted ever so slightly, the gold of his teeth and fangs was bright.

When he didn’t do anything, just stared while caressing her cheek, she leaned up. “Well, are you going to kiss me or not?”

A deep, body-tingling chuckle vibrated from his lips. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Weldir met her halfway and slanted his mouth over hers. It was overly gentle, like he remembered their horrible first kiss and didn’t wish to repeat it. Not only did she instantly melt into it, she deepened it.

Lindiwe let go of their babies, knowing they’d be caught in the weightlessness he was providing, and both squealed as they spun.

She leaned up further, wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, and kissed him harder.

He was quick to grip her in return, his arms catching her around her middle and pulling her in tighter.

Warmth radiated everywhere as a completely solid form pushed back against her own body.

Muscles pressed into her everywhere they touched, not a single part of him missing, while a strong heartbeat thumped against her chest. Breaths shoved his torso against hers, and she felt them all the way to her middle.

She tilted her head to intensify the brush of her lips over his soft ones, and he eagerly followed her increasing speed.

For the first time, he had his own saliva to share with her, and it helped to make their kiss messy.

He tasted like a diluted version of his scent.

She’d always imagined he’d smell smoky and of fire due to his other form, but he actually had an amber-and-geranium aroma to him.

The taste of him, the warmth of his mouth, the textured firmness of his tongue when it greeted her, made her moan.

The squealing in the background quietened. Shadowy tendrils retreated to him, like he’d made the two floating baby Duskwalkers go to sleep, just as her eyelids drooped and then slid shut.