Page 135 of To Free a Soul
Lindiwe waved her hand back towards the village behind her. “I know you care about Spiral Haven. Let me do this. Let me rid it of the spirits of dead humans. The haunted ones.”
“Why? So you can empower Weldir? I won’t aid him by allowing it.”
“Because it disrupts the peace here,” she explained calmly. “You and I both know their screams upset the people. Sure, it may empower Weldir, but I will keep coming back here to do it, no matter how you try to stop me. You will just make that process slower and will incidentally be the reason visitors stop returning when it’s entirely riddled with Ghosts.”
Jabez lowered his eyelids in annoyance and placed his arms behind his back superiorly. “They will adjust. They’re easy enough to ignore once you’re used to them.”
“What about those who can’t? Or the children who are easily frightened by them?”
Surprisingly, his right ear twitched when she mentioned the young, and his red eyes narrowed. They quickly dulled.
“Haven’t we destroyed enough buildings that need repairing? Or almost harmed the innocent in our fighting?”
“It’s barely considered fighting when all you do is run like a coward.”
“I’m the only one who can rid you of this problem, as no living thing can remove or touch them. The cost of that is I take themand give them to Weldir, but what’s a few extra souls when he already collects thousands?”
He regarded her suspiciously, and he brought his arms forward so he could cup his jaw.
“You’re speaking of creating a balance. Payment, essentially.” His gaze softened as he looked over the village, and he tapped his lips as he thought. “You want this place to be a location of truce. Where we don’t fight, even if we are in proximity of each other.”
That wasn’t what she intended, but... “Yes, that would be beneficial. I have no ill-will towards Spiral Haven, as you have seen. Why not let this be neutral ground?”
“Because I hate seeing your fucking face?”
Lindiwe couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “The feeling is mutual, Jabez. You’re literally so self-involved that it’s utterly sickening.”
“You’d be surprised by just how wrong you are about that,” he murmured, still tapping his face. His red eyes darted to the side at her, and his lips thinned. “What else do I get out of it? I already let your abominations meander through it safely.”
Seeing as they were having a relatively safe conversation, she needed to show she was trustworthy by being vulnerable.
“What do you want?” she offered, turning tangible.
His brow cocked in surprise, but he stayed right where he was. “What you’re asking for goes against the very thing I’m trying to do. It has to be something good.”
He continued to think, but the exaggerated manner in which he looked up at the spiralling, branched ceiling informed her he already knew what he wanted. He just made her stand there in anticipation.
Lindiwe was officially bored with his antics.
Finally he placed his hands behind his back, leaned forward a little, and had the audacity to demand, “Kneel.”
Tipping her head forward to look up at him through her eyelashes in irritation, she sneered. “You’re joking, right?”
“I think I would find it quite entertaining. I am a king and therefore should be knelt before.
“I kneel for no one,” she retorted. “Least of all you.”
“Not even Weldir? Considering all your offspring, I’d think you’d be used to kneeling for a male.”
She shuddered. “You’re still disgusting.”
Jabez threw his head back and gave a deep, boisterous laugh. He brought his right hand forward and waved it dismissively.
“I’m fucking joking, you uptight prude. You’re just as easy to make squirm as you were all those years ago.”
Gosh! I want to kick him in the shin!
He gestured with his clawed fingers towards the village. “Bring a trade, something that is difficult to get but would be invaluable to the merchants, even if it’s low in value for a human. Iron, dyes, silk cloth, even books. Benefit Spiral Haven. The payment of souls is nothing but to your benefit. Do more beyond self-gain to aid the people here who want to improve the lives of others. That will be your price of entry.”
