Page 143 of A Soul to Steal

“We were each other’s home. There was never a need for us to find shelter anywhere else.”

“That’s kind of sweet.” Gideon bravely peeked over the side to look at the ground. In Aleron’s peripheral, he noticed him chew at his bottom lip; he didn’t do it often, so Aleron found it odd. Gideon’s tone was low, his words slow, as he grumbled, “We’re in the east, right?”

“Yes.” He nodded his head to gesture forward. “I am unsure if your measly human eyes can see it, but the southland wall is that way.”

He rolled his eyes, like Aleron knew he would. “Look, I ate all my carrots as a kid.”

“Then you should have eaten more,” Aleron answered with a chuckle, despite not understanding what that meant or knowing what a carrot was.

He was thankful to be able to say these light-hearted things once more with his bride. They warmed him, made him feel closer to Gideon, and Aleron hoped it was the same for him.

A small silence fell on them as they both thought.

In the meantime, the blue sky morphed to have a hint of orange when the sun dipped to the edge of the horizon. Aleron turned, preferring to double-check the north before going south.

If need be, he’d go in circle after circle over this land.I will find them, no matter how long it takes.He’d just rather it be sooner than later.

“W-wait,” Gideon yelled, grabbing the fur of his chest. “I have a favour to ask of you.”

“Of course, anything.” He truly meant this. He would give or do anything for Gideon if it would make him content.

“Could we go south?” Then, with a small voice and looking down at his arms crossed over his stomach, he added, “To Fishket.”

Aleron momentarily lost height when his entire body stiffened. His sight flashed white as worry pierced his gut.

“Why do you wish to go there?” he asked nervously.

Just seconds before, he’d meant what he’d said about giving Gideon anything, but he never thought he’d ask to take him...home. Aleron feared if he took them there, he would never want to leave it again.

Sure, that would mean Aleron would be forced to take him from it after a day when Gideon returned to his side as a Phantom, but he didn’t wish to see the disappointment upon his face. He didn’t wish to be the cause of it.

He didn’t want Gideon to have to plead and beg for Aleron to take him back there every day. To create a cycle of longing, Gideon clawing to return, as Aleron clawed to keep him by his side.

Aleron feared losing him, and whatever progress they’d made. Just the idea of it stung him all the way to his core.

Back in the cave, Gideon had reached his hand out to him.

It may not have been offered in affection, but Aleron missed the roughness of this human’s hand. He craved to feel the strength of it, and how it was so little within his own. So he’d let the solace of it brand his very soul, prolonging it in a game of tug-o-war, unsure of when he’d be able to feel it again.

“I just want to see for my own eyes that it’s... different,” he uttered so quietly, that Aleron doubted anything but a Duskwalker would have heard it. “That it’sgone.”

Aleron shook his head and subconsciously flapped them further from it. “But it is not gone,” Aleron rebutted, resisting this request.

“That it’s gone to me.” Gideon sighed, tightened his arms across his stomach, and then... leaned the side of his head against the fur of his chest. “Please?I know what I’m asking for is unfair, but I just can’t see it as anything but my home.”

Already he pleaded to go back, and Aleron’s heart couldn’t take it.

Despite his misgivings, Aleron banked to the left to spin around, and headed towards the south. Each whoosh of his wings tightened the invisible chains wrapped around his torso until it felt constrained. His lungs shuddered, squeezed by the anxiety that filled him.

“Thank you,” Gideon whispered.

“I do not know where it is. You will have to direct me,” Aleron told him, trying to minimise the dark, solemn note of his tone. “First, we will rest somewhere safe.”

It was an excuse to be with Gideon a little longer, in case he reverted to the pale, hollow version of himself.

Gideon’s heart fluttered nervously when they quietly flew above Fishket.

They’d reached it in the mid-afternoon, but he’d suggested waiting until nightfall for them to get closer. Hidden in the forest, his whole chest had burned during the agonising wait.

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