Page 90 of To Free a Soul
“You have some hide coming here,” Merikh said in an unnervingly quiet tone. “Then again, I should have expected it.”
Lindiwe peeked inside, and his back was to her. He looked over his meaty shoulder to regard her with one red orb, and it flared bright in anger when their gazes met. His back, forearm,and calf spines flared, a warning of lethal danger should she approach any further.
He snorted out a puff again and then finished placing a slab of cut stone atop a rectangular base of rock. He readjusted it until it was centre, then seemed to stare down at it.
Without drawing his sight from the bench he’d made, he snapped out, “What do you want?”
“To see how you are.”
“To find out why I am alone, no doubt.”
Her shoulders rotated inwards at the truth of his assumption. She brought her hands together to pick at the ridges of skin around her nails, unsure of what to say now that she was here and he hadn’t immediately forced her away. She fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
Merikh placed a meaty hand upon the bench, and his sharp claws clicked against the stone. “How right you were.” He tapped his middle claw repeatedly. “But you were wrong about one thing. It’smeshe drives up the fucking wall.”
“Katerina?” Lindiwe asked, perhaps a little too hopefully.
“We thought her hatred of Mavka would be limited to Orpheus, but no. She hates us all, hates the Demons too. She only seems to tolerate Jabez, but even then...” His bear skull shifted to the side a little and faced her just that tiny bit. “She’s... frustrating. How Orpheus did not kill her is a miracle. I would have torn her head from her body the moment she tried to speak to me the way she does.”
“She was good at hiding it, I think.”
He let out a soft growl and shoved away from the bench with a swipe of his claws. Then he crouched next to one of the many bags lying around, and his bull tail tapped the ground silently, the furry tuft on the end making little stones roll away.
“We see it.” He stood with two items in his hands. “He sees it. He just does not care. Finds it funny – only because she is smart enough not to do it to him.”
Her lids lowered into a glare. “He doesn’t care how she treats you?”
The snarl that burst from him shook her bones, and the chomp of his fangs that followed it had her gulping.
“Of course he does! There is just no way to appease her, and I have tired of it. She lies, and then cries when no one believes her, especially when her accusations about me are ridiculous.” Then, as he placed a board and a handful of fleshing and skinning knives upon the bench, he grumbled, “She’s more at risk of me clawing her than anything.Thosethreats are true. He knows it. He does not care about that either. Finds that funny too.”
It sounded like Jabez was staying out of the middle of it, probably hoping they’d resolve it themselves.
But if our relationship is anything to go by, when Merikh hates, he hates forever.He held onto his grudges just as passionately as his mother.
He turned from the bench. “Have you come to gloat? That will piss me off.”
You’re already pissed off.His movements were jerky and strained, proving he was a dangerous spark just waiting to ignite.
“No. I only came to talk to you, since I’ve never been able to before.”
When he dropped to crouch again, this time he hung his arms over his knees, and stayed there. “I do not want to talk to you.”
“Merikh, what happened back then–” Lindiwe bit her lips shut when he let out a snarl so foul, it thickened the air. The tiny hairs on her arms lifted, warning her of the imminent danger.
He swiped the half-emptied bag up, stood, and spun to the bench. He carelessly tossed it onto the hard surface, followedby thecrackof something ceramic breaking inside. A sweet-smelling liquid perfumed the air as it saturated the bag.
His echidna spines raised, and even seemed to tremble, as a continuous growl reverberated within his cave. His orbs darkened to crimson, and he placed his big hands upon the bench as his bull tail flicked to the side.
Once more, he tapped his right middle claw against the stone.
“How... did I do it?” Merikh asked in a low voice. “You said it was not you, but me who killed the serpent one. How? We played many times, both dying and returning.”
“I... can’t tell you that,” Lindiwe answered.
“Why the fuck not?!” he roared, turning to her. “You must know! All I remember is you collecting his skull. Everything else is... murky.”
She took in a steeling breath. “Because if you share that information with Jabez, he could use it for the wrong reasons.”
