Page 33 of To Free a Soul
Weldir chuckled when Lindiwe cut the female a rather lethal glare. “He isn’t a monster.”
“No human,”Orpheus cut in, pointing at his mother.“Is Phantom bird thing.”
Perhaps their past encounters allowed Orpheus to accept Lindiwe at a distance, but he was remarkably calm about her presence now that they were talking. Weldir wondered if this meant he would eventually welcome a proper relationship with her in the future.
Much in the same way Weldir and Nathair had grown a bond due to constant exposure to each other. He’d whittled down Nathair’s aversion to his strangeness.
Lindiwe didn’t have as much endless time, nor was it in her best interest to annoy their offspring too deeply or they’d attack. Weldir, on the other hand, was impervious to harm, and was much more forceful because he had the freedom to be that way.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Katerina muttered lowly. “What’s a Phantom bird?”
“I’m able to change forms into a snowy owl.” Lindiwe cleared her throat, and it was something she only ever did when she was out of her depth with someone or something. “I was once ahuman, but I have bonded with a demi-god, and he has turned me into a Phantom. It allows me to turn incorporeal, like a spirit. He doesn’t quite understand that I can be many things.”
“That’s witchcraft,” the female whispered, horrified.
“Witchcraft and witches are outdated terms. I’m no different to the temple acolytes that protect towns.”
“Except you’re not one.” Katerina levelled an untrusting glower at her. “And they’re no better. Anyone who follows the temple will be condemned and will greet the gates of damnation. My family refused to live under their evil curses and spells.”
She believes in the faith that Lindiwe once had.Weldir never understood this mindset about faith. There were other gods, other religions, other customs that brought goodness to the world, and yet they were so vehemently renounced.
Weldir had never met this god, who didn’t even have the care nor decency to share his name, only his teachings. And his followers condemned the Anzúli when they were here to save them, leaving themselves open to Demon attacks because of it.
Apparently going to heaven by being eaten was preferable to them than the idea of allowing others of a different faith to help them.
But, like many religions across Earth, most were giving up their faiths. They prayed to the temples, not to their god, because they offered food, water, medicine, shelter, and spells that helped them. They placed their worship in tangible assistance, rather than in fears of the unknown.
This female and her family were apparently too strong-willed to falter like the rest of humankind.
“And yet here you are, in the Veil, because you chose not to be protected. Where is your god now?” Lindiwe answered, surprising Weldir.
Then again, he probably shouldn’t have been shocked by her rather cold words. She belonged to him, and over the years, herideologies regarding faith had been warped and twisted by him. She prayed to no one, sought faith in no one but herself, because she had no need for any other deity except him.
She was aware of the other Elven gods, but she cared so little about them that she likely didn’t spare them a second thought.
“He is here, as he always has been. This was his will, and he’s merely testing me as one of his mortal children.” Katerina folded her arms and rolled her shoulders back rather self-righteously. “You’re a witch, a master of a Duskwalker. You won’t help me, and you can apparently gallivant through the Veil. Sounds like trickery and evil to me.”
“I’m a master of no one, least of all a Duskwalker who can think for themselves. And like I said, it’s not my place to interfere with his wants,” Lindiwe answered in a closed-off tone. She gestured to the burlap sack on her hip. “I’ve brought blessed salt that can be used as a barrier to stop Demons from entering his home. I also brought some food and water, as well as an enchanted diadem that should–”
“Why should I take anything from you?” Katerina sneered, and the blue of her eyes seemed colder than before. “Anything you give me is likely cursed. I won’t touch something that could be impure and taint my soul.”
Lindiwe’s cheek twitched and her jaw muscles pulsed. “So you would rather be eaten or starve?”
“I’d rather go home!” Katerina yelled, causing Orpheus to step forward and snarl at Lindiwe. “Either help me do so or leave!”
“I already said–”
Katerina threw her hands into the air and went deeper into the cave. “Then I refuse to speak to a vile witch. I’ll figure out how to escape on my own.”
Orpheus, with dark-yellow orbs, tilted his head, seeming bemused at her willingness to go into his home. It was obvioushe didn’t quite understand what had happened, or what had been said.
Lindiwe’s lips parted in disbelief, and she shook her head, causing her ponytail to sway.
“Fine, I’ll show you, Orpheus,” she stated with a sigh.
“You’ve been watching us!” Katerina yelled from within the cave, likely due to Lindiwe saying his new name he was gifted the day before. “You spy on us like an evil spirit!”
Lindiwe took one step closer, just one, and it snagged Orpheus’ attention. He leapt forward with a roar, Lindiwe too close to him, his new female, and the entrance to his home.
