Page 115 of A Soul to Steal

Aleron... instigated this with me.

The talk of brides, and their future, and everything that had felt like a set of constricting hands around his throat, had stopped. In the silence, he hadn’t been alone despite how much his heart had ached.

Then, just when his thoughts were at their lowest point, turning into too many versions of his own voice, and he was ready to crack and embrace temporary insanity to cope, Aleron brought him out of the worst of it.

His heart and head hurt so damn much. Even now, as he bounced from Aleron’s heavy footsteps, they radiated agony. Yet, it didn’t feel so pressing. Even though a shoulder currently knocked the wind out of him here and there, he felt like he couldfinally take a damn breath that wasn’t laced with the quiet wails of his conscience.

In the darkness, he needed someone to remind him of who he was. To let him feel like himself for just a few fleeting seconds. To make the unrelenting voice in his head shut up so he could focus on the outside world beyond himself.

He still felt angry, the nasty emotion festering inside him like an infected wound, but at least he’d weaklysmiled.

“If you don’t put me down, I’m going to pluck you like a chicken,” Gideon threatened, grabbing a fistful of feathers between Aleron’s wings.

“Do not do that, it hurts.” Aleron rotated his head a hundred and eighty degrees to look at him. “If you do, I will take you into the sky.” He flapped his wings, emphasising his threat.

Letting go of his feathers, Gideon huffed out a sigh. “I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t know how I feel about flying.”

“You will enjoy it, like you did in Tenebris.”

Gideon opened his mouth to rebuff him, but closed it.I... remembered soaring earlier.

The previous day, not long after Aleron sheltered him with his wing, a memory had rushed to him. It’d been short, only a few seconds, but it’d been vivid. Gideon being cradled, as wind gently pushed his hair and clothes around, while a surreal world opened up. Meadows and a mountain, forests and a large, dark canyon. Below him had been a small lake, with the tail of a creature slipping inside it.

He hadn’t been scared, like he thought he would be. Instead, it’d been beautiful and exhilarating.

Other than a murky image of who he guessed was Emerie, since her reddish-orange hair was recognisable, he hadn’t regained any other new memories. At least, he didn’t think so. They were impersonal, for the most part, but he absolutely remembered the excitement of flying.

He just hadn’t known if it was real... or a wild daydream.I guess it really was something from Tenebris.

He waited for the fear and panic to come at knowing he may truly start remembering, but neither did. He felt rather calm.

Does that mean that perverted dream of Aleron was actually real?He winced and clenched his eyes shut, wishing the images that suddenly bombarded him would vanish.

Sweat dotted his brow, and his mouth dried. No, he wasn’t ready to accept something like that. He barely considered the living Aleron a friend, and he wasn’t ready to think about anything more.

Just as sickly nausea started to seep into his gut, Aleron let out a pained grunt and abruptly stopped walking at the exact moment there was a loudthunk. Gideon gasped when he almost fell from his shoulder, but was quickly saved by a tightening grip.

He turned his head up to find Aleron still looking down at him with his neck twisted in an unnatural way.

A burst of laughter erupted from him. “Did you really just walk into a fucking tree?!” He tried to point at him but found it too awkward. Plus, he was forced to cross his arms over the back of Aleron’s shoulder when the laughter ended up giving him a stitch, but he wasn’t quite able to clutch his stomach. “Watch where you’re walking, doofus!”

Aleron’s wings twitched, subtly opening and closing with irritation. He grumbled as he stepped back from the tree he’d run into, awkwardly tossing his head. A reddish pink entered his orbs, and it only made Gideon bite his lips shut to stifle the noise that continued to come from him.

Yeah, I bet that was embarrassing.

It hadn’t taken Gideon long to realise that he already knew what the colour of his orb changes meant. Even though he had no memory of them, he figured their meanings had passed through from Tenebris to his conscious here.

He’d grown thankful for that, as it made Aleron easier to read. It also made his skull less haunting and creepy, and instead gave it a changing beauty he hadn’t realised was there.

Aleron put him down and rubbed at his chest with his head turned away.Is he actually sulking? That’s kind of... cute.

As per their usual agenda, Gideon walked.

He didn’t have the same enthusiasm for it, like his reason for it was waning. He felt lighter than he had for a while, and he peered at Aleron in his peripheral since he was the cause for it.

Strange, that – all things considered.

I should thank him.These past days had been hard for both of them. He should extend some kindness towards the person who had eased him, despite how he’d acted towards him.

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