Page 20

Weldir forced a sigh from himself, rather liking the way it sounded and how it conveyed many emotions. For now, it was the noise of the guilt that continued to gnaw at him.

Perhaps I should have handled the moment better.

He let the leaf disintegrate and flutter from his hand, and watched as the tree disappeared as well. If it continued to linger, it would eat at his power – he constantly needed to feed it mana in order to keep its presence.

If he wanted to make a permanent world, then he’d need to feed it mana eternally. Some might consider that a constant waste of his power, but there was no one around in his lonely void to judge him.

He could do as he pleased, as he always had and always would.

When Tenebris was empty once more, to the point that even the inky ground faded, he moved his form to another part of his realm. To her.

He found her in her physical form, which appeared ghostly.

She still had the same feminine, curvaceous body – not lean and not plump, but with a very defined hourglass.

Her breasts were generous, her backside rounded and full.

Her dark-brown, curling hair still floated as it waved around her head and rounded ears.

Yet she was entirely transparent to him, which stole away her rich-brown skin, her dark-brunette hair, her eyes a mix of brown and amber, and even the pinkness in her lips.

He didn’t understand why she suddenly became unobtainable to his reach and proper view when she was in her physical form. All living beings had this white, transparent glow to him – no matter what kind of creature – but he hadn’t expected her to still remain that way as his mate.

“What is it?” he stated when he arrived by her side.

With the bottom half of her still bare, she had her knees tucked up to her chest with her feet covering the intimate slit between her thighs. Her pants and shoes, which were just as translucent to him, since neither she nor he were holding them, had floated even further away.

The human lowered her hands from her face and looked forward. Her gaze darted to the right when she found a trace of his cloud and followed it to where she guessed his head was.

“What?” she quietly snapped.

“Your name. What is it?” he asked again.

Her long lashes lowered as she narrowed her eyes, the emotion in them hot with anger. Her lips twitched as if she’d tightened them.

Her defiance was bothersome, especially as she’d just screamed how he hadn’t cared enough to know it. Her refusal only increased his ire.

“I can keep you trapped here forever, female,” he stated coldly. “There is no escape for you, or from me. Your suffering here is all within your control.”

Her features tightened even further, and he wondered if that was just deepening anger, or perhaps hatred that was beginning to glint in her gaze.

Her tone was sharp, deadly, and more like a snap, as she said, “Lindiwe. Lindiwe Bernadi.”

“There, Lindiwe. I have learned your name.”

Like usual, the little female shuddered at his voice, and he noticed her skin prickle down her neck. It was a fascinating response to see her body shiver in reaction to him, and he did truly wish it wasn’t a negative reaction.

He’d actually like her to find him pleasant.

Then again, I’m not human. Although he sounded just fine to himself, he had no idea how that was perceived by her little round ears.

“You have never said my name,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Not once have you ever called for me.”

She grabbed the bottom seam of her tunic and pressed it down to keep it covering her when it lifted away from her body. “I’ve never needed to call out to you,” she bit. “Are you seriously trying to make me feel guilty because you couldn’t be bothered learning the name of the woman you married?”

“Married? I’ve come to learn what that is, and our bond is not as fragile as your human custom.

” Weldir tsked as his mist collected tighter against him.

“And no, that was not my intention. Just a causality, that is all. Now, if you have no desire to be in my presence, I will leave you to the solitude you prefer.”

Just as he went to dematerialise and go back to focusing on his tree, she reached a hand out. “W-wait.”

Weldir did as he was asked. Then, since he was often lax and merely a floating being – his body felt no urge to move due to a lack of muscular stimuli – he folded his arms for her benefit.

He wished he could have cocked a brow, as the humans did, but he had little control over whatever expressions his face made – currently.

She didn’t say anything, and they did little more than stare at each other. Her expression hardened while she chewed her bottom lip, and he tilted his head to inspect her.

“You do not trust me,” he stated.

She stopped chewing. “I don’t know you.”

“You have never tried to,” he reminded her.

Her gaze averted to the side, and there was something haunted in it. “You’re a being of death.”

“I am not a being of death; I am a facet of death.”

Lindiwe opened her mouth to say something, but promptly shut it. Then she hugged her midsection and crossed her ankles, still hiding her intimates. “Do you promise it won’t hurt this time?”

Upon realising his head was still tilted, he straightened it. “I have already expressed my lack of desire to hurt you. We can try again later once you have appeased your anger, as I can see it’s still present. I don’t intend to coerce you.”

Her eyelids flickered, and her gaze slipped to him. “Why do you even care? Aren’t most gods self-centred and only care about their own wants?”

“Because I’m not the one who must bear my servants,” he answered, not understanding how that couldn’t have been obvious. “You are the one who must protect them while you carry them.”

Her bottom lip fell as her stare grew stark and wide-eyed. “What are you insinuating?”

“Insinuating? Nothing.” He waved a hand dismissively, doubting she could even see its movement.

“I’m merely explaining that, although I wish otherwise, my duty ends after my essence is provided.

I would like for you to... care for them in my absence, during their creation, and afterwards.

It wouldn’t do to make you hateful of the process. ”

Although he didn’t think he’d stated anything of significance, her expression relaxed and lost some of its usual edge.

It softened the fire in her eyes and the harsh brow crinkle, and made her look prettier.

Or perhaps he only found it more pleasant because he’d aided in its loss of tension and it was an improvement on the way her hateful regard made him feel.

“There is no need for you to turn physical in my presence,” he added, wishing she’d cease doing so and stay tangible to him. “I do not intend to physically force you, as I have clearly stated. I’d rather look upon you properly.”

He’d rather see her beauty more clearly.

Lindiwe’s gaze softened even more, as did the tension in her locked-up positioning. She turned incorporeal, which made her tangible to him – and him alone.

“That was my first time, and I admit I didn’t handle it too well.” She scratched at her left forearm absentmindedly as she looked away. “I was told it would hurt, but not like that. ”

“I don’t intend to do that again,” he repeated his assurance from earlier. “I’m also sorry for the hurt I caused. It wasn’t my intention to do so. My learning shouldn’t be above your wellbeing.”

As if he’d said something of significance, not that he was quite sure what, her bottom lip trembled before she stilled it by biting down on it. Her eyes softened at him before a more determined expression took over. “Then okay. We can do it.”

He doubted she actually wanted to, and just wanted out of his realm.

Seeing there was no point in arguing further about it, Weldir moved closer while forming a tendril. He pulled from the part of him he’d only recently discovered when he first brought a soul to his realm – a place of life he’d never known existed.

It was how he knew he wasn’t a demi-god of death, but merely a simple part of it. A soul eater that could, if he so chose it, give life. He could gift spirit – his own.

With her hands balled together near her chest, Lindiwe closed her eyes and parted her thighs for him.

Weldir pulled all of his physical matter to the tendril’s tip in order to touch her with it – rather than it merely passing through her.

Then, looking down at her mauve slit, he watched as it dragged through her darker lips, and then prodded her pink opening.

She flinched when he slowly inserted it, and her features bunched up further when he went deep until he was unable to go further. Instead of trying to force it deeper by having his tendril mould to her insides, he let his essence go.

A strange light-grey iridescent liquid fell from her hole when he withdrew, and he found that particularly wasteful. He didn’t understand how creatures could procreate if the females lost much of it.

The little human instantly shut her legs and turned her head away. “M-my pants and boots... please?”

Weldir wondered how she truly felt about the process as he moved her through his consciousness, so her artefacts were within her reach. She had to turn physical to grab them, as the material had turned solid once removed.

This interaction left him with the same feeling as before, and he wasn’t quite sure why. As he looked upon the creature looking off to the side with a shy, pouted bottom lip, guilt nibbled at the fraying edges of his black mist.

Is having a mate always this hard, or is it just because of what I am?