Page 198 of To Free a Soul
I should tell her.His mate would like to learn about these new events.I don’t want to, though.He wanted to keep it his little secret for a while longer.
He is currently harmless, as his mana has been depleted.He could see the cracks of lava in Jabez’s green-and-blue soul, the evidence of the ookmanik.Which explains why he is climbing down the side of the Veil, rather than teleporting.
A few days wasn’t much, if it meant he kept Lindiwe all to himself.I’ve grown selfish in my embodiment.
Except... it took him too long to notice the breaths behind him, and how they grew more frantic with each second. Or the quickening heartbeat that mirrored them.
His pointed ears flattening and darting back, he turned slightly to find Lindiwe behind him. He’d considered ending the scrying spell but knew there was no point. The deeply crinkled expression of worry on her face as she bit her lips together revealed she’d already seen it.
“He survived,” she rasped with fear. “He is also with Fyodor, which is why I couldn’t see her.”
She drifted a little closer, her troubled expression growing hopeless, and he snatched his naked female. He brought her sideways across his lap, ignoring the way his cock instantly grew erect again upon looking at her alluring body, and hugged her.
“Lindiwe, there is no point lingering on this. He is currently powerless without his mana, and she is safest at his side, like how Merikh was.”
“But everything we went through, the horrible things I had to do, they were...pointless.”She wrapped her arms around his neck, while her sharp little nails dug into the backs of hisshoulders. “I just wanted this to finally end.” She glanced over at the disc, its edges swirling with black smoke and glitter. “If he’s powerless, now is the time to go after him.”
“And enrage his companion? We both know that if she’s attached to him, she’ll fight you, and he is still a dangerous force even without his abilities. If we intervene, he may turn on her instead in revenge.”
She covered her face with her hands. He thought she was about to cry, but she drew them down while doing her best impression of a growl. “Ugh! So frustrating! I hope she eats him!”
“That would be humorous justice,” Weldir said with genuine mirth.
Lindiwe reclined in his arms, her lovely backside resting in his lap, and gave a solemn sigh. Then she brought her hands to her middle and picked at the sides of her fingers nervously. Her eyelids lowered slightly as she looked up at him, her expression assessing.
“Did you try to hide this from me? Is that why you moved away?”
He winced, but he really would have preferred he hadn’t. Controlling his expressions was more difficult than he’d ever imagined.
“Perhaps,” he answered coyly. Then, trying to subdue her possible ire before she could lash it at him, he pulled his lips back into a fanged grin. “Can you blame me? I have an exquisite female trapped in my realm, and I’m not quite finished having my way with her.”
Her bottom lip pouted forward, and she pointed up at his nose. “Compliments will get you nowhere, spirit of the void.”
He hummed out a warm chuckle. “Not quite a spirit anymore.”
She rolled her spellbinding brown eyes flecked with amber. “Demi-god, then.”
He leaned down to nibble at the side of her neck, a sensitive spot right below her ear. “Not quite that either,” he stated while lowering his voice so it was huskier.
Elation thrummed through him when she shivered in reaction, her body easy to play with to get what he wanted. Then she wriggled on his lap, on top of his aching erection, and she was so fucking lucky he didn’t retaliate by spreading her legs around his hips right there and then.
“What do you mean?”
“I may not be completely formed still, but Idohave a physical form. I’m now a fully fledged god, even if my power is limited. That will only grow.”
He wasn’t stuck in some half-death; he was able to live. In that, his abilities would shift in some ways, and he was excited to discover how.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Does this mean you’re going to get a big ego?”
“Only if yours dances with mine.”
I doubt she understands that I’m at her mercy.
She had a god of shadows, of darkness and spirit, wrapped around her finger, and he was quite content to knot himself up further. She could be his puppeteer and guide him in this new life – he really didn’t mind.
Day still unknown, probably early August 2024
The first time crossing from Weldir’s realm to Earthtogetherkind of felt odd. Convincing him to leave was a whole other story.
