Page 18 of A Soul to Steal

“What do you mean ‘to teach you to fly’?” Gideon asked with a frown in his voice, and Aleron glanced at the expression on the human’s face. “You didn’t know how to before?”

He shook his skull.“I never needed to before.”Then he looked at the ground as they walked through the heavily misted forest.“If I am being honest, I had seen birds do it and knew their wings were like mine. I think I may have been able to before, but I did not want to.”

“Why not?”

“Ingram,”he stated softly, just as his sight faded to blue.“He could not fly with me. I did not wish to part from him.”

“So your love for your brother held you back and kept you on the ground?”

When Aleron once more glanced at the human, he’d only been intending to peek at him briefly. Instead, he lifted his head as warmth lashed across his torso in a mixture of pleasantness and curiosity.

Gideon’s expression had become so soft that it bruised his chest. His eyes had not only crinkled, but they’d bowed, and held a sincere and gentle emotion – one which he’d never seen before. His lips were curled in a subtle smile, more vulnerable than any other he’d shone at him.

It almost looked like Gideon was hurting. A happy hurt that radiated a tender, painful, yet lovely ache through his chest.

“Pretty,”he rasped without meaning to, just as his hand lifted of its own accord. He brushed the back of his foreclaw below one of Gideon’s green eyes without thinking.

The male’s eyes widened, his face fell, and his entire body stiffened. His gaze darted to the sharp point right near his eye.

Aleron broke contact, realising he’d ruined the expression by touching it.

Gideon’s stare followed Aleron’s hand as he pulled away, then it darted to his skull. His eyes grew wider before he averted his gaze to the side and covered his mouth and nose. The tips of his ears darkened a few shades, nearing on pink, as he quietly muttered to himself.

“We should keep moving,” Gideon eventually blurted out, his deep voice thick and cracked.

As Aleron moved to follow, he wondered about the expression the male had just tried to hide. Was it of distaste that Aleron had touched him too affectionately? He hadn’t meant to, but the action was pulled out of him against his will.

He didn’t know why he’d done it, and he stared at the back of the human as he pondered it.

He pondered many things.

I would like for him to share that expression with me again.The sincere one that had caused him to reach out.Should I talk more about my kindred?Every time he did, it seem to disarm Gideon.

Ingram said I must change in order to make humans like me.And, right now, he very much wanted this human to like him.Hmm. I must stand tall...

He watched how the human walked on two legs, then tried to sniff his feet like that would teach him how. He smelled nothing and was rather disappointed. He would like to know what the human smelt like – would it be pleasant, like his kindred, or something nasty?

He is nice.He bet Gideon would have a nice smell as well.

His jumbled thoughts moved back to what he’d been lingering on.

Oddly enough, he closed his sight as he concentrated on changing, shifting. He tried to remember how Ingram had demonstrated the process for him.

Just like flying, it was almost effortless. As soon as he desired it, his body clicked and clacked as it altered. The moment the change was complete, his gait felt... wrong.

His arms had shortened and put a strain on his legs, which now bowed differently. It even hurt his back, as his hips swivelled drastically to compensate. He winced and stood.

He expected to be wobbly or fall, but he remained steady as though he’d always stood like this. Even following Gideon was effortless, his bird-like legs easily stepping after him. He did notice he swayed side to side slightly as he got used to it, but eventually held himself perfectly straight.

He figured this was likely due to being in Tenebris. He found everything he attempted here to be much easier, as if he weighed less.

“I was wondering when you would do that,” Gideon stated quietly.

“You knew I could?” Aleron asked with a note of surprise, yet it didn’t sound as deep and brutal like how he normally spoke.

My voice changed as well, just like Ingram’s did.

“Well, yeah. We both watched Ingram do it, so I suspected you could as well.” Gideon slowed, allowing Aleron to catch up, and turned his face up to him. His features lacked wariness or concern, but his lips did thin momentarily. “Your kind really knows how to make us feel short.”

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