Page 251 of A Soul to Embrace

“I was...” Merikh said quietly, his fingers twitching. “I can’t believe you’re here. That you’re...alive.”

A chuckle bubbled up the Mavka’s throat, and he signed once more.

Linh changed the way she addressed them to better reflect that they were his direct words. “You have Weldir to thank for that,” she translated, while watching Nathair’s hands intently. “I haven’t been alive for long. Around six months. As you can see, much has happened in that time.”

“You found a bride so soon,” Merikh grated, and his usually shitty attitude was apparently non-existent. “She seems very nice.”

The woman’s medium-brown, fawny features shuttered as her eyes darted to the side. Then a small, genuine smile grew.

“I can see you have a bride as well,” she translated. “Is it this Demon male next to you?”

“What?” Merikh choked out, turning his face to Jabez with his orbs whitening. “Fuck no. This piece of shit wishes. My bride is a beautiful Elven female named Raewyn. This idiot’s name is Jabez, and he’s just helping me out for today.”

Nathair’s head cocked, and his yellow orbs darkened.

“Jabez? As in the Demon King?” As soon as she said those words, Linh took a half step back to put more distance between them. “Isn’t he an enemy of our kind?”

Jabez folded his arms and rolled his eyes to the side.Here we go.

“That... is in the past,” Merikh stated, before slapping Jabez in the back so hard he had to stop himself from staggering at the heaviness of it. He hissed through his fangs at the pain. “He is now the bride of a Mavka himself.”

“So he is no longer hunting us?”

“No. He is now helping us.”

“Then I will allow the past to be in the past,” Nathair signed. “Just as I hope you and I can allow each other to let go of what has happened between us.”

Jabez’s ears drooped as a sense of...relieffell over him. He hadn’t expected any form of acceptance or forgiveness, even from a creature he’d had no contact with. Hell, for most of this Mavka’s return to life, he and Zylah had been in the Elven realm.

Merikh glanced at Jabez, just as surprised as he was.

An uncertain silence fell over them, as if their thoughts were so tentative and unsure that they didn’t know how to continue this long-awaited conversation.

Merikh was the one who broke it by stepping forward. With orbs flaring bright orange in guilt, he asked, “Is this my fault?” he stated with a pained rasp. “Is what I did to you... the reason you can’t talk?”

The serpent Mavka’s hands flinched before curling into loose fists near his chest. “No. I did this to myself,” he signed, his ownorbs falling into a dark orange. “Please don’t think you had any part in this. While I was in Tenebris, I ate souls when I shouldn’t have, and they have rendered me incapable of speaking, among other things.”

“He says this, but it isn’t entirely true,” Linh stated, her voice brightening as she spoke for herself. “I’m part Anzúli, and we believe my voice has magical properties. I’m able to sing and hum for him and it allows him to talk, but he just doesn’t like doing it because it also allows his thoughts to be spoken aloud.”

Nathair folded his arms and opened and closed his mouth as if he was mocking her by falsely talking. The female giggled as her eyes swirled with playful mischief.

“Fuck, man,” Merikh grated, brushing a hand over the bone of his forehead. “I’m so fucking sorry. If I’d known crushing your skull would have... If we’d known what would happen...”

Nathair shoved his hand forward and shook it to silence Merikh. He signed once more, and somehow his orange orbs darkened even further.

“We couldn’t have known. It could have been the other way around. I may have crushed your skull while we were playing, and our situation would have been reversed. I know you feel guilt for it, and I was once angry, but I’ve come to accept that it was an accident.”

“But I took your life from you!” Merikh half yelled, throwing his arm to the side before baring his claws in front of his chest in frustration. “For almost three centuries, you were...deadbecause of me. How can you not be angry?”

“Tenebris isn’t that bad. It was peaceful and there were no Demons. By the end, I didn’t even want to return to life, but I only agreed to it so Weldir could make sure he could safely bring Aleron back to life.” Then Nathair tipped his head down to Linh, his orbs instantly flaring bright pink, and the woman smiled at him in return. “I’m glad I did, and I’m thankful for the timing.I wouldn’t have met Linh had you not killed me, and I am...happy.”

Then he took the Mavka younglings from her arms and brought them closer. Linh followed, and she trusted his judgement so much that she didn’t fret when Nathair pushed his younglings into Merikh’s hesitant arms.

“Sorry, he’s very proud of them,” Linh said with her eyes crinkling and her voice filled with joy. “They were only born three months ago, and he likes to show them off to everyone.”

“Are they twins?” Merikh asked as he fumbled to hold the younglings in his large palms and crossed forearms.

“Yeah, they’re twins,” Linh confirmed.

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