Page 88 of A Soul to Embrace

“We spoke of you,” she stated quietly.

Shit.This conversation wasn’t going how he wanted.

“If things are successful in Spiral Haven, there is a good chance I can allow us to both walk through the village,” he said, deflecting from whatever potential topic she was trying to broach. “I’ll be able to glamour us both and hide our scents. Perhaps you’ll find a Demon who might pique your interests. Many are Elf-eating who have passed over to this realm, andthey are all rather tall and strong. Some even have wings and tails, so perhaps something will draw your eye.”

There. Hopefully he made her realise there were males other than him.

Her head reared back. “Another... Demon?”

Yes. Other than me.Because he wasn’t a suitable choice in the grand scheme of things.If she shows interest in someone else, my attraction to her will diminish.Not because he was a jealous person, as many Demons were non-monogamous, but due to her attention being elsewhere.

He wouldn’t feel the pressure of her constant focus.

Adding more strength to their duo could actually be a gain.Although, if she chooses a mate, that may complicate things.She’d be less inclined to leave them behind.Unless Phantoms of any nature are able to pass through Weldir’s ward?

That presented an unknown. Could a Demon become a Mavka’s mate, and therefore turn into a Phantom at all?

What I could do with the power to turn intangible...He wouldn’t need her, or anyone. His ability to teleport was excellent, but it came with weaknesses. It depleted his magic significantly, and he could be trapped by something as silly as his hair.

He hated how such a simple thing could be used against him. But it was a powered link, like a tether to their essences, and the white in it was a side-effect of the toxicity of magic running rampant throughout their bodies and stealing their natural hair colours. Even the grey in their skin was a byproduct of magic use, as it hardened their veins with a coating that allowed mana flow.

Currently, that coating felt like he had stone just beneath his skin – despite its usual softness.

Due to his deep musings, he hadn’t realised Zylah had stopped walking beside him. He turned to find her still clutching herarm, although now her feet appeared stuck and her snout turned towards the ground.

Once more, blue had lifted into her orbs.

“Zylah,” he stated with a sigh, hoping to coax her back into walking.

“I don’t understand. Why would you say this? Other than Fayren... you have not spoken fondly of other Demons.”

“I speak lowly of lesser Demons,” he told her. “Those within the inner ring are different. They’ve either completed their evolution like Fayren or aren’t far from doing so. They’re no different to me.”

“But you are special to me.”

Jabez raised his eyes to the sky, calling to no one, as there were no deities who would ever listen to his pleas.

“Let’s not speak of this anymore,” he said, bringing his gaze back down to her. He turned, giving her his back – something he’d never been truly comfortable doing with anyone until her. “I just wanted to apologise for my earlier behaviour, and how it may have upset you. There’s still a lot of distance between us and Spiral Haven.”

The fact that he’d even apologised was a foreign concept to him.What’s happening to me?Saying sorry? What. The. Fuck?

Annoyed with everything right then, Jabez resumed the journey in frustration. Zylah thankfully followed.

Even before they broke through the thinning border of the forest, the bright-red sunlight before them revealed dusk painted across the sky. Fiery glitters between the swaying treetops cast dappled light across the dirt, and she took in its tranquillity after missing the light within the Veil’s shadows.

At her side, Jabez hissed in pain when it got brighter. He squinted as though he found it blinding and almost ran into her to deviate from it.

He forced them to the left to escape its harshness, when she found it rather... mesmerising. Just beyond the tree line, she’d been able to see the reds of dusk casting flaming light against the white clouds and giving their shadows a darker hue as the sky morphed to purple.

Dusk and dawn were Zylah’s two favourite times of the day.

The beautiful way colours would splash across the world, each time different to the one before, left her breathless. It felt like the sky was always chasing itself – especially the sun and the moon.

It was a saddening thought that she and Jabez would never be able to share such a serene moment together. Since the sunburned his flesh, he couldn’t sit in the last of the day’s heat and soak in the colourfulness of the world. Instead, he hid from it like a creature of shadow, a being of darkness.

Perhaps that is why he can be so... bleak.He couldn’t nibble at the beauty of life in the way she could. Zylah, on the other hand, longed to run to its warmth and revel in the enthralling colours.

Instead, she manoeuvred until her body shielded him from the fiery light. Although it was hard to tell with his hood up, she knew he’d looked at her from the corner of his eye.

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