Page 127 of To Trap a Soul

“And it may not,” Weldir retorted.

“No, but there could be a path to that answer. I have no moral compass to abide by, and I would be willing to shed the blood from my own veins if it meant your release. I would leave no option unturned, no matter how depraved it may seem to others.”

What Jabez offered seemed rather promising.

No matter how many souls Lindiwe found him, or servants they produced to assist her, there was nothing Weldir could personally do to alter his predicament. He was what he was, how he was. He could grow his power indefinitely, but it would never give him a true physical form.

He’d never be able to smell the world, interact with it, or merely touch the satin petals of a flower and know what that felt like.This, what he was doing now, was all he could do.

He was unsure if his mother, the Gilded Maiden, could ever help him achieve a physical change. Or if she ever would.

Yet he was starkly aware that no such gift came without a price.

“What do you want in exchange?” Weldir asked, his tone dull to hide his potential interest even from her.

“Remove your wards from the portals you have over the world,” Jabez stated. “The Demons and I want to use them to move between the two worlds freely.”

Lindiwe told him of the other portals.

Weldir didn’t mind, as it mattered little. Jabez could go back and forth through any portals for all he cared. If Weldir were to block the Elven side of this male from passing through, he’d have to stopallElves. And, considering communication was all but null, they wouldn’t be able to ask him to lower it. He could control whatkindof spirit was permitted to pass or not.

Then again, Weldir liked the idea of torturing Jabez a little. The other world was in reach, but only for him.

The Elysians also, in their own way, wanted him to be able to return to their city one day.

“Is that all?” Weldir asked, surprised he asked for so little.

It took Weldir a while to notice that Jabez’s legs were wide and that his stance was firm. The youth in his features was hardened by someone who was learning to take up the mantle of command. It was only now that he saw it.

Which meant he was becoming dangerous.

“No,” he declared. “I’ve gathered through different kinds of intelligence that, due to your lack of physical form, you are incapable of touching any world but your own metaphysical one. If I help you break free of that constraint, you would offer me your assistance in destroying Lezekos. You’d lower your wards to show good faith, as well as reveal your alliance to us.”

“So you believe you need the power of a god in order to succeed?”

“Demi-god,” Jabez rudely pointed out, with a sly grin pulling the edges of his mouth upwards. “I don’tneedanything, but it would surely make things much faster.”

Floating, his body subtly moved up and down as his mist coiled tighter, only to release, and Weldir let a pause hang over them.

But he already knew the answer.

“I have no desire to destroy the Elysians, nor the humans. Death and slaughter is for those living. I am merely what comes after life has been stolen.”

Jabez’s grin soured, and he tipped his head forward with a dangerous gaze. “You are currently in the way, Weldir. Whether you assist or not, if you continue to keep up your ward, then there will always be a bone of contention between us. We will always war.”

Weldir laughed at that, which made Lindiwe’s blank expression narrow. “You wish to fight an untouchable being?”

“But you’re not untouchable anymore, are you? You’ve given yourself a vulnerability.” Jabez placed his hands behind his back once more and straightened. Then his features turned cold and expressionless. “She even stands right before me.”

Lindiwe’s lips parted as she took half a step back in surprise, as well as defensively, and turned incorporeal to make sure she and their unborn child growing within her were out of harm’s reach. She shook her head, as if she didn’t understand exactly what he’d known all along.

Weldir didn’t even need to retort; the male continued on without care that she was right before him as he spoke mercilessly.

“I like her, I really do. I see no reason why she should need to be dragged into a battle that has nothing to do with her.”

Lindiwe was slow to respond on his behalf, her mouth opening and closing as she fisted her hands. “Weldir said it has nothing to do with him either. He’s doing what is asked of him, that is all.”

With no reward in sight, either.

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