Page 114 of A Soul to Guide

“Not yet. I must get a few things from town before you play with it.”

Raewyn rolled her eyes. “I don’t need to change the enchantment yet. I can check its absorption rate without doing so, and I don’t need to do anything else until you have the flowers and I make them bind with my hair.”

“I’ll give it to you tomorrow, since I know you’ll likely sleep soon.”

She rubbed at her eyes, like him mentioning it made tiredness wash over her. She sat there with him for a little while until she once more wanted to fill the silence.

Honestly, she was just hoping she could get him to talk for once.

“Why are you looking up at the sky?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “It’s actually pretty fucking boring if you ask me.”

Raewyn was sent into a fit of giggles. “Then why are you doing it?”

“Because I’m bored, isn’t that obvious?”

“You could always come and hang out with me.”

“Why? So I can stare at you? Most people would find that... weird.”

Her shoulders jerked as she shrugged. “Better than staring at the sky. At least you could have someone to talk to. I think I’m pretty interesting.”

“So modest,” he stated with a playful sneer. When she raised a brow, he gave her a deep huff. “Fine, I will come inside for as long as I can stand you.”

Raewyn used the boulder to get to her feet and retrieved her plate. With her cane in one hand and her mostly eaten food in the other, she headed back the way she came.

The sound he produced stayed with her, so she knew he’d not only followed but was walking beside her. She snuck a little closer, hoping to feel his heat, and her elbow snuck a feel of fur.

Then it struck her, and she dropped her plate as she halted.

Merikh paused and turned back. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s it,” she uttered under her breath. “That’s what I can hear.”

She raced forward and ploughed straight into him, causing him to stumble back in surprise. Placing her ear right against the centre of his chest, the sound became louder.

“You’re vibrating! You’re producing a sound that isn’t obvious, so it’s not overbearing and easy to tune out, but the frequency is one I can hear if I search for it.”

Now that her ear was pressed against him, it was like a purr as it rumbled deep within him. If she took it away, it would dull exponentially.

“You mentioned you couldn’t hear me, and I wasn’t keen on changing my walk to accommodate you. I’m used to being light on my feet to hunt.”

“I could tell something was different. I just couldn’t figure out why.”

She didn’t smile out of joy, but she did close her eyes as she listened, finding solace in it. His heart pounded loudly, and it’d been quicker when she’d first touched him. Now, it fell into a deep, easy rhythm. It sounded so big, and he was so warm, she would have loved to crawl inside him and fall asleep straight inside his chest cavity like a cocoon of security and comfort.

“Thank you for doing this for me.”

She was basically hugging him. Since he wasn’t pulling away, she didn’t stop – although he didn’t return it.

Raewyn finally smiled when he gave an awkward grunt in response.

Sitting on the large boulder situated underneath two trees right next to the lake’s funnel point, Raewyn combed her fingers through her curls.

She was reflecting on the previous day’s conversation.

After speaking with him about the history of her people and their plains for connectivity between worlds, then telling him she would stand with Merikh to help him live within the city, he wasstillfunny about giving her the diadem.

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