Page 35 of To Free a Soul
It fell when she brought her gaze back to Orpheus, who was back outside, wasting salt as he sprinkled more into the carving Lindiwe had made. His orbs were dark yellow, and he even scratched at the groove to deepen it in places out of curiosity.
Weldir was sure he’d come to understand the significance of the magic when night and Demons came. Which brought on a question he’d had since his mate left Orpheus’ home.
He regarded the item enclosed in her fist. “You took back the diadem?”
With one hand on top of the other, she opened the top one to reveal the diadem with a pale-blue mana stone. The teardrop gem dangled from the centre of the silver circlet, where there was a delicate vee that would point down to the wearer’s brows.
As Lindiwe thumbed the stone, it clinked against the metal. “I don’t want it to be lost because she refuses to take it. Maybe another one of our children will seek a companion and need protection from the Demons.”
“The human is rather...” He trailed off, unsure of how to describe her. He thought her rejection of Lindiwe’s aid had been quite foolish.
“Things didn’t go as I thought they would,” Lindiwe said, folding her legs to the side. “I didn’t expect her to be hateful towards me. But... I understand it. She has every right to feel the way she does, to believe what she wants.”
“She believes in the god of your past.”
“Hmm.” She brought her hands, and the diadem, into her lap. “It’s why I get where she is coming from. It’s hard to shake that mindset. I know I struggled with it. Even now I can still feel the foundations inside my mind and heart, can still hear my parents whispering to me the teachings. Faith that strong just doesn’t disappear.”
Weldir tilted his head at that, and at her fidgeting hands. “But she will let it go, as did you.”
“What if she doesn’t?” She looked down at her lap before curling her hands tighter around the jewellery. “Why does this feel so... wrong, Weldir? Why do I feel like we’re doing the wrong thing?”
“Wrong?” Weldir asked, his tone rather perplexed. He waved his hand towards Orpheus. “I only see this as a benefit. He will have a companion, or she will gift him more humanity. She is already further expanding his vocabulary and teaching him, even if it is accidental. All I see is his growth.”
Her brows pinched with an emotion he couldn’t decipher. “But how is that fair on her?” She turned her face to him with a beseeching expression. “How are we any better than the occultists who sacrificed women to the Veil? She has no other choice but to stay there or die, just as I was given no other choice but to...”
She averted her gaze to the side, and her jaw clenched tight enough that the muscles in it ticked. A shadow of emotion seemed to fall over her, tensing her shoulders and back.
“Sometimes one must be sacrificed for the greater good. It is how we learn, and we can pass this knowledge and help on to our other offspring should they need it. It’s selfishness at the cost of one life.”
“How is this good?” She waved at the viewing disc. “Every life matters. No one should be sacrificed. It’s... it’s cruel.”
“And yet we have allowed our offspring to cease many hearts.”
“I’ve never been pleased about that,” she grumbled curtly. “The right thing to do would be to take her home, but I think... I think he would hate me for taking away his friend. I don’t want to lose his trust in a way that he may never forgive me. He needs me too much to grow hateful of my presence if no one else will be there for him.” The hurt on her face worsened and tears dotted her lashes. “Even if she makes him hate me, so long as she survives and he has someone, I think that’ll be okay.”
Weldir leaned forward, even if it was only in her periphery. “Is this why you flew for so many hours?”
“Yes. My heart was telling me to do one thing and my mind another. I want him to be happy, but at the same time, I’mriddled with all this guilt that I just don’t know how to process. I feel so out of my depth with this.”
Seeing she needed comfort, Weldir tentatively slipped his fingers into a clenched fist, so he could gently hold her hand. “And you settled on not interfering, other than offering aid to our offspring.”
“I picked Orpheus. I decided to pick a future in which he can be happy.” She looked down and clasped his hand in return. “I’m hoping that she just needs time to accept and care for him. If Merikh’s friendship with Jabez has shown me anything, it’s that our offspring can form bonds. That they can emulate human affection.”
“Will you be upset if he eats her?”
“Yes, but... really, it would be long overdue. He should have done so when he first met her. I’m surprised she’s lasted this long. Thatanyhuman has.”
Weldir considered her words as they both stared at the viewing disc.
The little female was sparking her tinderbox so she could light her lantern before darkness truly settled upon the world. Once done, she shuffled back against the wall with a blanket and then pouted with her arms folded on top of her knees.
Orpheus was outside scouting the area to make sure it was safe, completely and blissfully unaware of her negative emotions towards him and his existence.
“Perhaps they are more like me than we considered,” Weldir said quietly, inspecting his wolf-skulled offspring intently.
“What do you mean?”
“They are incomplete creatures that seek companionship, even if the means are not always fair. They are going against their nature, and they will likely stumble, as I often have. I hope that doesn’t make us any less deserving of affection, even if we aren’t always able to properly reciprocate it.”
