Page 107 of A Soul to Steal

I ruined her life.

She’d been the reason for the loss of his own.

He could never blame her, would never dare to.

I’m so sorry, Beau.

Sitting on the ground, Aleron stared down at his bride’s tiny soul in the rough crease of his palm. Despite his hesitancy to reach for it in case he did something wrong, he’d been unable to deny the longing to peer at it in Gideon’s absence.

When he’d first held it, his heart had swelled and his orbs had flared bright pink when it stood and appeared to look up at him.It looks exactly like him.From his physique, the bit of hair that curled like someone had licked it out of place, the dimples when he smiled, to his funny, confident stance.

He’d tickled it with the back of his foreknuckles, making it silently chuckle. He’d been surprised by how animated and alert it was, even when it sat in his palm to look up at his skull.

At least his soul wants to be with me.

He hoped that meant his Gideon wasn’t completely lost to him.

However, as the day ended and night fell, and the sun eventually shone once more, the whimpers that echoed from him reverberated within the dense forest.

Gideon’s soul, which had been bright and fully alight, slowly withered until it looked like charcoal. With only the head still flaming, most of it extinguished. It collapsed to its knees, only to lie down as if...weak. No amount of nudging it could stir it to life, no matter how he tried.

By the transformation of his soul, he knew something had happened to his human – he knew it. Aleron wanted to stand and bolt into the nameless town. He wanted to go to Gideon more than anything.

His instincts demanded it, shaking at the cage of his thoughts like a feral beast. Frenzied, snarling for escape.

Aleron couldn’t. The humans would attack him, and he worried he’d succumbed to a rage if he was harmed, or if he saw Gideon hurt.

His patience won, and Gideon eventually materialised just beyond his feet as a transparent Ghost. Now that he was by his side, Aleron placed his soul where it belonged: between the security of his horns. Only once it floated freely, their bonding strings attaching to it and his horns, did he let go.

Without moving, he waited for Gideon to wake, giving him space in case he needed it.

He didn’t do so swiftly.

Even when he turned physical and opened his eyes, lids fluttering, his gaze was dazed and listless. The loud, boisterous,and agitated male had disappeared. Instead, he lay as lifeless as his soul. When he eventually sat up, he stared at the ground with his legs straight out in front of him. With the backs of his hands lying on the ground between them, Aleron noted the injured one was now healed.

Unable to cope with the way his bride appeared, and the way it burned a cold ache in his chest, he hesitantly reached out. He brushed the backs of his claws against his cool cheek. He didn’t flinch or even seem to notice the touch.

But, in a quiet whisper, he rasped, “You were right. It has been eight years.”

Is this the reason he is in this state?Was it that... harrowing to Gideon that so long had passed?

“My whole life is gone,” he continued. “There will be no one waiting for me at home if Emerie isn’t there. My adopted parents are probably dead, since they were old. My boyfriend probably moved on – if he didn’t do something stupid. My dog probably isn’t alive anymore either. There is nothing left for me.”

Much of what he said was lost to Aleron. It also brought to light that he... didn’t know all this. Gideon had chosen not to share much of his past, even if Aleron asked him of it. Was it due to not being able to, or because he hadn’t trusted him with his pain?

“But you still have Emerie and me,” Aleron offered, palming his own chest. “She is with my kindred, and we can all be together.”

Aleron didn’t know what hurt more, his hauntingly pale and blank face, or the tears that fell from slowly blinking eyes. Where was the lively person he knew?

“I don’t want to go to Emerie. She has her own life – one I am no longer part of. She’s probably changed so much, while I’m still the same person as the day I died and left her behind.” Then, so quietly, with his voice raspy and croaked, he whispered,“I should have been a better brother. I should have done more to keep her safe.”

“It is not your fault,” Aleron reassured, gently nudging Gideon’s forehead with the back of his hand so he would look up.

When that didn’t work, he placed the foreknuckle of his index finger under Gideon’s chin to forcibly lift it. Even though his green eyes were directed at him, it was obvious he wasn’t truly seeing him.

“I do not know how to help.” He wished he did. He didn’t like that Gideon blamed himself for his own death, when Aleron knew the selfless sacrifice he’d made for Emerie.

He shouldn’t feel terrible for such a noble act.

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