Page 65 of A Soul to Embrace

Too much was happening too fast, and Zylah didn’t know how to react. Why did they have to leave now? Why couldn’t they bring everything? Why must they go into the Veil? It was all so sudden, but she could sense the urgency in him.

He didn’t even appear to have slept properly, and she wondered if he had at all the previous day he’d been gone. The fact he was choosing not to rest beforehand was even more alarming.

Her sight flickered with blue.Why do I feel like I did something wrong?

“We’re going to the inner ring, to be exact,” he stated. With his back to her, he reached for one of the blankets and pulled it closer. He whipped out his scissors and cut two holes in it before coming over to her. “It’s not the most suitable cloak, but it should hide your skull from a distance and should keep you warm during the night.”

He threw it around her shoulders and then tied the ends around her neck.

She fingered the thin brown material. “But I don’t feel the cold.”

His red eyes bore into her orbs as his lips flattened. “No, not usually, but I’m guessing your temperature is higher than normal. This is just a preventative measure in case the cold suddenly affects you.”

Zylah grumbled at that, wishing the cold pang in her heart would settle.See? He obviously knows about this and refuses to tell me.Why couldn’t he just explain it? She didn’t want to go see a...

Her skull jerked back in realisation. “Wait. If we are going to the Veil, does that mean you are taking me to a Demon?”

The corner of his lips quirked, and humour filled his expression. “The fact that you were able to summarise that on your own means you’re ready for this kind of journey.”

Zylah self-consciously chittered at the compliment. She tried to not be annoyed by the fact it was obviously afemaleDemon, which meant he had companions other than her. It was difficult to hide how she felt about that when her orbs flickered with dark green.

She hated that he saw it, and both his brows raised up, crinkling his forehead – he likely knew what the colour meant when she didn’t.

He backed away and handed her an empty bag.

Zylah threw her hands up. “But I don’t have anything to bring.”

“Pick one book from your current collection. You will be carrying three others I brought back for you last night.”

“You obtained more books for me?”

His lips curled higher. “Don’t I always when I go to the village?”

That was true. Despite how she currently felt – confused, wary, unsure – she was giddy at the prospect of what she could learn further.

He always brings me gifts.

The journey to the edge of the Veil’s canyon had been like most of their walks. Zylah listened as Jabez occasionally paused to show her new flora or an animal she hadn’t seen in person before. He let her deviate their path if she smelt something unusual in the distance, helping to ease how each step brought them closer to the Veil.

For the longest time, Zylah had avoided that shadowy forest due to the dangers. Jabez had been kind enough to explain that he doubted she’d be targeted, like he had some secret information regarding the Demon attacks and why he thought they’d cease. Knowing that calmed her, but it didn’t fully erase her worries.

What if I cannot protect him?He was such a weak being in comparison to her. So slow, even when they merely walked. If something went wrong, she worried she wouldn’t be able to protect him.What if I go into a rage?

What if she ended up being the one to kill him?

He was... smaller than her. Sure, by only three or so inches. Then again, he was much wider and more densely muscled, soperhaps thinking him a smaller creature wasn’t particularly true.

He’s also managed to escape me during a rage before.Bright yellow lifted into her orbs as she thought,He is a very cunning male.Even though he wasn’t as formidable as her, Jabez was agile and very capable of eluding danger.

He’d obviously been in many dangerous situations, to the point he could almost predict what would happen in the future. Would that be considered battle hardened, like in the books she read?

He didn’t like it when she referenced him as weaker. It tended to make him ramble on about how things between them would be different if he still had his magic. She kind of liked that he had this strange quirk of needing to feel big and strong. She wanted to play with him regarding it, but didn’t know if it would be taken poorly.

Her musings came to a halt when the forest cleared away and a massive rip in the earth came into view. Her fur instantly stood on end as a chill crept down her spine. Just being near this place brought on a sense of foreboding and doom, and she itched at her neck in aversion.

They couldn’t even see the other side, and nothing but an expanse of forest lay before them at least a kilometre below. Mist flittered all throughout it, some of it white, some black, and Zylah had this urge to scratch across her bony snout at the pungent odour that came from it.

Jabez calmly sat cross-legged near the edge with his hooded back turned towards the west to shield him from the dusking sun. He greedily drank from his water sack before reaching into his satchel once more. Dusting off a washed carrot, he took a bite, and the leafy end of it reminded her of her tail.

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