Page 37 of A Soul to Embrace

“I know Mavka. You’re not the first of your kind I’ve befriended.” Jabez cupped his jaw and rubbed it, then tapped the side of it. “Actually, I believe Merikh would be your uncle. I doubt you’d know him, but he has a bear skull and bull horns. I met him when he was a little more advanced than you, but it took me years to bring him to your level of humanity.” His voice filled with mirth, his cheeks crinkling along with it, as he said, “If I’m being honest, you are quite remarkable, Zylah. You may be the most intelligent Mavka to walk this world, and I believe it’s because you’re further away in your relation to your grandfather than the others.”

Throwing a hand in his direction, she grumbled, “My grandfather?” What evenwasthat? Like a father, but further? “See? You know more than I do about me.”

“You’re the grandchild of a demigod, whose full godhood is restrained. His name is Weldir, and he’s...” Jabez stopped mid-sentence as he looked off into the forest. “It doesn’t matter. Weldir is a contradiction. He’s powerful, and yet undeniably weak. He requiresothersto do his bidding on Earth, as he’s unable to touch it. All Elysians are brought up learning about his history and how it is intertwined with Demons.”

“Is he good?”

“Hmm. That is entirely based on perspective. I don’t know how to answer that for you, as my opinion is unlikely the one your kind shares.”

Ugh! What an entirely cryptic answer!

She hated it when he did that, and it often made her want to smack him – albeit lightly.

A strong breeze pulled her gaze forward when it crested over the water, making it slosh harder against the pebbled shore. Her orbs shifted to a deep blue.

“What... is my purpose?” she muttered quietly.

Could Jabez answer that question for her? She wanted to believe she was here to heal, yet she hadn’t truly saved anyone except for this male. Everything else she’d longed to help had been ruined by her claws and fangs in the end.

My hands are covered in so much blood.

“Your purpose is whatever you wish it to be,” he stated confidently. “Weldir created his children to ferry souls to him, but you have your own free will. You may do what you want.”

I can make my own purpose?Why did that instil so much hope inside Zylah and instantly make her chest swell? She wanted to be a good force within the world. Someone kind andprotective. That’s what her heart told her, and she placed her hand over the organ when a strange tenderness caressed it.

Perhaps he misunderstood why she’d dug her claws into her chest, because Jabez stated, “If it helps, I don’t know what my purpose is either. None of what I hoped to achieve has been possible, and for a long time, I’ve wondered if there was even a point to it. I know why I was born, what my purpose wasmeantto be. Despite knowing the answer to what my mother sought, I refused to accept such a future for myself.”

Zylah brought her skull back to Jabez and tilted it. “What was it your mother sought?”

Again, his eyes narrowed, and his lips flattened along with them, making him appear disgruntled.

“I can’t tell you that,” he stated darkly.

Zylah tilted her head the other way with her sight turning deep yellow. “Why not? If you know the answer...”

“Because that is a secret I’ve never shared with another. It’s something that would put my life at risk should the wrong people hear of it.”

“But I would not share yoursecret.” She patted at her chest to show him the truth of that. “You can trust me. I would not do something that could hurt you.”

His ears drooped as he shook his head. “There are certain things you should never share beyond yourself, no matter what. You don’t know who you can trust, and just because someone is your friend now, doesn’t mean they always will be.”

“But I do not have any secrets,” she snapped, her maw chomping at the air in irritation. “There is nothing I would not share with you. I trust you.”

Jabez slapped a hand over his face, and a muffled sigh escaped from behind it. “That’s because I already know all your secrets. I know your kind, your bloodline, your strengths and weaknesses.”

“I do not have any weaknesses.” She wiggled her head confidently as she pushed her shoulders back. “I-I’m strong, and I heal within a day.”

“That’s not true. You just don’t know of your own weakness, and now that Demons know of it, your vulnerability is a glaring one. You may be immortal, but you can still be killed.”

“But I always heal,” she said stubbornly, despite momentarily losing her confidence. Zylah wrung her hands in her lap, then attempted to soothe herself by pushing out the wrinkles in her dress. “Much... much has been done to hurt me. Demons have tried, humans have tried.Ialways win. I always... return.”

“If someone was to break your skull, you wouldn’t return.” His hand darted up to rub at his nape before he lowered it to his own lap. “That isn’t a wound a Mavka can heal from. It is permanent.”

Zylah chittered in unease as she raked her claws down her bony snout. “My skull? Is that why Demons have tried...?”

Whenever she’d fought against them, they always climbed onto her back and tried to touch her skull. They’d grip her antlers and try to separate them, as if... to split her face in half, but she’d always thought it was stupid of them, as her skull was one of the strongest parts of her body. Her leg could be broken, but her skull... she’d thought it was indestructible.

Was I wrong? If so...She caressed it with a cold pang radiating behind her sternum and her gut tightening.

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