Page 50 of A Soul to Embrace

Jabez never removed his sight from the human woman before him, nor the Mavka who’s orbs had taken on an angry crimson hue. A snarl echoed from him, while his collar of feathers puffed in aggression until they threatened to spike around the back of his fox skull.

Let’s see how much she can learn of my actions before she turns on me.A rather dangerous thought, considering he could find himself alone against three potential enemies by the end of this conversation.

Yet, in a corner of his untrusting mind, he had... faith in Zylah. Strange – he didn’t believe in anyone other than himself.

“Zylah, come away from him,” Delora whispered as she beckoned Zylah closer by curling her outreaching fingers. “He’s dangerous.”

Zylah stepped forward and put her shoulder in front of him protectively. He moved out of her shield to show they were on even footing, despite that he lacked his magic. They didn’t know that – they knew him to be a great being of unimaginable power.

A cold-hearted, villainous killer who cackled on his mountain of metaphorical corpses like the psychopath he’d ledallto believe him to be.

A lie, of course. A mere ruse to incite fear.

“No,”Zylah snarled back, her hackles rising.

“Calm,” Jabez stated as he stroked her back, never taking his eyes from those before them. He cracked a large grin, flashing his shark-like fangs purposefully. “I’m sure you have questions.”

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Delora blurted out, stamping her foot forward in outrage. “Y-your castle, it was destroyed!”

“And here I stand,” Jabez answered, waving at the ground with both hands. “You have Zylah to thank for that.”

“What?” she rasped, her horrified gaze slipping to Zylah.

“That nasty little bomb did quite a lot of damage to me. Without Zylah healing me through it, my chances of survival were exceptionally low. Had she come even a day later, I’d likely be dead.” He spared Zylah the briefest glance to show that he lacked any fear of the two people before him. “She’s remarkably adept with her healing magic.”

“What do you want with her?” Magnar rumbled with a growl, lowering himself into an offensive stance. He pushed his shoulder before Delora, who leaned into his side like it was natural for her.

Jabez tilted his head at him, and his grin grew more malicious. “You know... I never would’ve guessed that you Mavka could hold such protective instincts towards your children.”

“Children?”Zylah asked softly, despite the graininess in her voice due to her monstrous form. She turned to him ever so slightly and tugged on his cloak with an inquisitiveness he found rather cute.

Dropping his malice, as he didn’t wish to shine that upon her, he nodded his head towards the pair. “These are your parents.”

Her orbs shifted to an unusually bright yellow.“They are?”

The tension in her shoulders eased slightly, and he figured it was out of curiosity and awe, rather than truly becoming relaxed in their presence.

“Yes,” Delora rasped, her bottom lip shaking as tears welled in her eyes. “I’m your mum, and Magnar is your dad. That’s why we’ve been searching for you.”

Zylah placed both her palms against her chest.“But you don’t look like me. You are not Mavka.”

“I told you,” Jabez stated without a shred of arrogance in his tone, “your kind are born from a human turned Phantom.”

Zylah tilted her head.“You knew who my parents were this entire time?”

Jabez offered a benign, false smile. “I always intended to explain this to you, and who they were, where they were.”

Delora’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Who do you think gave her more humanity? Taught her how to speak?” Jabez deflected. “To read, write, count? Of course things have been slow, since she needed to learn all that before we could have complex conversations, but I know much about Mavka and the history from the origin of their birthing. All this was planned to be shared in due time. I couldn’t explain any of it when the only language she understood was her own chitters.”

“Butwhywould you help her?” Delora pushed.

“Consider it payment for saving my life.” Jabez no longer knew if that was a lie or not.

Sure, in the beginning his intentions had been rather self-serving, but... in the months of learning who Zylah was, he’d begun just simply wanting to aid her.

Much of her future could be filled with violence, and the threat of her life was solely his responsibility. He’d shared the secret to the Mavka’s demise with the Demons, and although he couldn’t care less about the others, he did feel indebted to Zylah. If he could right that wrong with at least the person who allowed him to take another breath, it was a small atonement for that mistake.

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