Page 54 of Soul Forge

“I said I’m fine.”

“If you want me to irritate you for the rest of the night, I can. Or you can eat and be left in peace,” she bargained.

He turned onto his back to look at her, narrowing his eyes. “I feel like marrying you was a mistake, somehow.”

“Can’t go back on it now.” She flashed a grin.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered, but he took the offered food and sat up again, swaying enough that she reached out to steadyhim. He looked down at her hand on his shoulder until she took it away.

“No touching, I know. Sorry,” she mumbled, withdrawing quickly.

“It’s fine,” he sighed.

Elda smiled when he bit into the boar, glad he was eating, but it faltered when Reiner turned to study the pair of them in silence, her shrewd gaze prickling the side of her face. The unspoken warning that blazed in the valkyrie’s eyes said Elda would be in for an earful during their next flight.

“There’s more left if you want the rest, Elda,” Julian said, mercifully interrupting the standoff. She accepted the meat he’d stripped from the carcass, watching him toss the remains of the boar to Nox. “Here you go, greedy beast.” He smiled fondly when the demon scarfed down the food, bones and all.

“How did you find her?” Elda asked curiously, trying to ignore Reiner’s glowering. She went back to eating her cold cuts in silence, watching and listening to everything, her weapon never far from her reach.

“By accident,” Julian admitted, shrugging one shoulder and patting the creature on her flank. “She took a liking to me when I bumped into her outside of Bratus about ten years ago. We’ve been together since.”

“You weren’t afraid of her?”

“Not all demons are evil,” Sypher interjected. When Reiner let out another scoff, he scowled but ignored it. “Some are balanced, like Nox. Dragons were considered the same before they vanished.”

“Dragons were demons?”

“No, they were dragons. The people of Valerus just didn’t understand them.”

“I didn’t know there couldbegood demons.”

Julian shook his head. “She doesn’t have a concept of good and evil. If I asked her to eat you, she would because I asked her to. Sypher likes to believe she chooses, but I don’t think that’s the case. The ones that understand the difference andchoosenot to be good are the ones you want to watch out for.”

“You mean like me?” Sypher asked, arching an eyebrow. Reiner’s brow furrowed, but she remained silent. Elda hid her wince, expecting every reference to the creature hiding inside the Soul Forge to be the one that made her snap and try to kill him.

The vampire shrugged one shoulder, oblivious to Elda’s nerves. “Perhaps, although you’re a weird case.” She looked between the two men, expecting the Soul Forge to be offended by the answer. Instead, he nodded. “You’re only scary when the demon soul goes nuts.”

“Does that happen a lot?” Elda squeaked, alarmed. The thought of the black-eyed, sharp-toothed demon going on a rampage sent her heart dropping right down to her boots. Reiner’s eyes flicked to the Soul Forge, and Elda half expected her to leap across the clearing and brain him.

“No.” Sypher finished eating and tossed the bones to Nox, who eagerly crunched them to pieces. He glanced at the valkyrie, noting how her body tensed, and shook his head.

“We should sleep. We still have more travelling to do tomorrow.” He inclined his head towards the vampire. “I assume you’re coming too?”

Julian grinned. “I guess I can tag along.”

Elda woke up just before dawn. She sat up to find Sypher and Julian still asleep, both unbothered by the lack of a fire to keep them warm. Reiner was awake, her bedroll already rolled up beside her pack, running a brush steadily over Atlas’ coat. Sypher had returned the cloak to Elda at some point during the night, and she woke up to it draped over her like a blanket.

Julian stirred, noticing she was awake and rubbing his eyes. Sypher didn’t move, his chest rising and falling in the rhythm of deep sleep. The vampire tiptoed across the shelter to sit beside her, pulling up the hood on his worn leather jacket and ignoring Reiner’s watchful glare.

“Morning,” he greeted cheerfully. “How was your first night on the floor?”

“Not as bad as I expected,” Elda admitted. “My back hurts, but I feel rested enough.” She noticed the Soul Forge frown in his sleep. “Sypher seems to be out cold.”

“He will be. His body needed the rest to replace all the blood I drained.” Julian hesitated for a moment, glancing at the ex-captain. “You know, he’s my closest friend. I met him about four hundred years ago, right around the time Nova was destroyed.”

“I’m surprised he has friends,” Reiner remarked.

Julian chuckled, but the sound was troubled. “I worry about him. I’m not sure how to say what I want to say in a way you’ll understand without telling you too much. If I spill his secrets, he’ll knock my head off.” Elda waited patiently for him to find the right words. “Sypher is part of my family, Elda. My bloodkin. When you learn what he doesn’t want you to know, I need you to remember that. He is important to someone.Lovedby someone.”

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