Page 106 of To Free a Soul
Her smile twitched with strain. “I’d rather not do it that way.”
“I’m sorry, owlet, but I cannot–”
Lindiwe threw her hand up with a strained laugh. “It’s okay, Weldir. I understand, and I’m happy to wait however long it takes.” Then she looked up at the bright sky and let the sun warm her face with a small but genuine smile. “Just know I’m ready whenever you are.”
She gasped when she fell backwards as she was sucked into weightless darkness before she was caught in the comforting ether.
Parts of Weldir’s face formed, enough to dot an eye, cheek, and the opposing side of his nose and jaw. He shoved his face less than an inch from her own to glare at her.
“This kind of teasing is unfair,” he growled, yet it had no edge to it, just a yearning desperation.
Teasing? She was only being honest for once!
Yet knowing his growl was due to the frustration of needing to hold back had her nipples instantly hardening against the material of her dress. She almost wanted to arch into the sound of it, like it was a tangible thing that could erotically caress her all over.
Watching a patch of solidness move across his mouth, she waited for the perfect moment and then lunged forward. She pressed her lips to his when they were fully formed.
“Then hurry up and grow your magic so you can do something about it,” she teased.
When she pulled back, her hair waving over the sides of her face, his lips parted, and he appeared dumbfounded by her kiss and playfulness.
“Vexing little female.” He drifted away with a tsk, his mist visibly warping in and out. “You taunt me at your own peril.”
I’ll wait with anticipation for whatever that means,she thought with a mischievous smile.
A time unknown, but of peaceful contentment
With the tip of a blunted claw, Weldir stroked across her cheek and pushed a stray curl behind her little human ear.
Lindiwe’s face pinched, her mouth tightening as her closed eyes clenched further, then she burrowed her cheek against her hands. Her soft, barely noticeable snores of sleep quietened and then ceased when his claw tip followed the line of her round ear and down the arch of her neck.
She stretched into it and softly rasped,“Weldir.”
The satisfaction in that singular word, coming out on a sweet expire, was strong enough to make his mist swirl like a tornado.
He brought his knees up so he could sit cross-legged next to her sleeping form and watch her twitch and her closed lids flicker back and forth from her human dreams. Her cloak completely shielded her while she was curled up in a ball, resting so similarly to how her soul did.
Unashamedly, his gaze perused the becoming features that made up his mate.
The line of her nose, her plump lips parted ever so slightly, her pointed chin, and her sharp jaw. When another curl drifted across her arching brow, he pushed it back as well, and the end cut across her high cheekbone. Her hair was currently being a nuisance as it fluttered all around her in his weightlessness, tickling her and disturbing her rest, but it was as glossy as ever.
She took great pride in maintaining it while within his realm.
He didn’t know if she was aware that he watched with rapt interest as she combed silkening oil through her curls to reduce any frizz. The loose, coiling patterns never seemed to be the same, each one unique and charming, and highlighting that herhair wasn’t just brunette, but had these varying tones that only enriched her.
Weldir was unsure when he stopped seeing her as just a blob of base features, such as a human face, a woman’s body, brown skin, brunette hair, arms and legs. When had each one of those facets deepened in his mind to where he saw the depths of them? At what point did he notice that her hair wasn’t just a dark brown? It was also chestnut, cinnamon, and dark copper, among an array of other colours he didn’t know how to define.
He did know it had started with her expressive eyes.
The pooling, rich depths of mahogany had begun to feel like they could consume his shadows if he looked long enough. It was only when he’d noticed the flecks of golden amber that more about her slowly came into focus.
Now he couldn’t imaginenotnoticing all the unique beauty that made up his mate. But he still didn’t know how he’d gotten to where he’d rather stare at her while she slept than do anything else.
She’s changed,he thought, taking in the calming, rhythmic pattern of her heartbeat and quiet breaths.I’m unsure as to why.
Somewhere in the last sixty-seven years, Lindiwe’s demeanour had shifted, and it had been noticeable from the very moment he’d woken up five years ago. She was still his passionate female, all fire and vengeance, all cutting glares and lethal venom. But... the smouldering flames quickly sputtered out with him.
She no longer held onto any anger towards him, and any annoyance was often overshadowed by an odd playfulness and a wry smirk. There were teasing words and jabs that often left him a little puzzled and unsure how to proceed.
