Page 172 of To Free a Soul
But she’d never feel that same relief.
They were gone, Nathair and Aleron. Their breaths had ceased, and they’d left behind those who cared about them deeply. Merikh, too, was beyond reach.
She was slowly losing them.
She feared for Ingram too. That she’d lose him one day if he continued on this path of vengeance. To kill the Demon King? It seemed impossible, even for Lindiwe to achieve.
She feared where he was going when their direction made itself apparent. Ingram was walking across the surface world towards one of the most dangerous Demonslayer guilds she knew of.This will not end well.Zagros Fortress had always been known to be rigid and harsh.
A training facility situated in the barren mountains made any person hard. The inhabitants destroyed anything that was a monster, and that included monstrous humans. Their leader was known for being cold and unfeeling – even more so than the one who recently died at Hawthorne Keep, killed by Mayumi, Faunus’ bride.
Lindiwe landed in front of Ingram and thrust her wings out to block his path.Go back. These people will not listen to you.His growl, with his orbs shifting from the blue of loss to the red of rage, warned her to move.
She conceded, flying off before he could charge her.
I don’t know what to do.
“Lindiwe,”Weldir called, and she answered with a hoot as she flew after Ingram.“I know you wish to stay with Ingram, but we have a problem.”
Oh god. What now?!
Lindiwe transformed into a human, landed on a branch, and balanced herself on her feet and a hand. “What is it?”
Her chest seemed to burn more at his voice. Her heart hadn’t stopped sprinting since Aleron and Ingram first started running, and she worried nothing would ever be able to settle it again. That it would always ache in loss, the pain of it as scorching as it was cold.
Those few months of cheer, she’d known they’d come back to bite with horrible little fangs. This was worse than she’d imagined.
“Sayrn has left Earth.”
Dread gripped her around the throat as she jumped to a new branch to follow Ingram. “What do you mean he’s left Earth?”
“We knew this day would come. That one of our offspring would go through one of the portals.”
Terror suffused her so tightly she struggled to get through her next panted breath. “No,” she rasped, her widened gaze pulling away from Ingram to stare at the autumn leaves. “He went to the Elven realm?”
Sayrn, once known as Ari, was exceptionally intelligent. He was also a massive pain in the butt, and violent in a way that differed from Merikh. He wasn’t angry; he was just ruthless. He liked to kill, liked to eat, and his diet consisted entirely of Demons now that he’d grown enough humanity.
“I was checking on all our offspring and noticed his environment was different. It glowed, and only Nyl’theria does this.”
Lindiwe’s eyes bowed in anguish, and her breaths came out more rapidly. Her vision shook as panic clutched her so deep, she was frozen. Within seconds, her lips shook as she let out a sharp sob. “Why?! Why now?”
She was so close to giving up. For a moment, she considered just letting Weldir take her to his realm and forcibly put her tosleep if he could. To let her escape because she didn’t know if she had the will to protect her children, who kept making stupid choices!
But she couldn’t. No matter how much she wanted to escape responsibility, her heart, her burning, breaking heart, justcouldn’t.
Her stubbornness wouldn’t let her. Her painful resilience refused it.
I have to choose – again.
Between Ingram, who was about to face off against thousands of humans, or Sayrn, who would be in a world filled with Demons. Both were in danger.
Only one was at risk of death.
Lindiwe managed to shove down the next sob, even if she couldn’t cease her tears. “Do you know which portal he went through?”
“No. Only that he is there.”
There were two portals in Zafrikaan.He’s usually southward, where there are more forests.Where there were more Demons to prey upon.
