Page 69 of To Trap a Soul

Other than her eyes growing wide, Lindi stilled. She froze to the point that she thought even her hair wisping through this floating realm halted. “What... did you just say?”

“This was never meant to be a lone burden,” Weldir continued, his tone as nondescript and emotionless as ever, like he spoke of nothing more than the weather.

Lindi stared at him, gobsmacked. Surely the words he’d just uttered were a joke! But in the small silence that followed, he didn’t say he was jesting, and the reality sunk in.

“Y-you plan to have other wives, mates?”

Oddly enough, his coalescing form chalked around his face in time for her to see his brow pinched together. “Why do you sound so surprised? I have told you that we deities, and even many Elves, have synergistic bonds. I would have had many fathers and mothers, had they not all been eradicated.”

Lindivaguelyremembered such a topic, but she hadn’t knownshewas pulled into that type of bond!

She didn’t understand why her chest felt like it’d been lashed with a whip of betrayal, but it branded her all the same. Anger and hurt mingled together until it all rolled around in her stomach like a sickening wave.

“Then no,” she bit out spitefully. “I won’t do it.”

“What do you mean, you won’t do it? This is what we agreed upon.”

“Marriage to me is valued differently. Under my beliefs, under the god I grew up with, only two people could be married.”

“But that is not how it is done–”

“I don’t care!” she yelled, clenching her eyes shut and fisting her hands. “I wouldn’t have agreed to any of this had I known! If that is what you plan to do, then I don’t want any more involvement. I will not live a second life bonded to someone who has many others. I’d rather go to hell, or disappear forever, or whateverfuckinghappens afterwards.”

“Lindiwe, this was always what was planned. You were merely meant to be the first, especially now that there are many lands that my mist, and therefore servants, can occupy.”

“I was the first, but I don’t have to keep doing this if I don’t want to.” Lindi turned physical so he couldn’t touch her even if he wanted to, then gave him a glare so foul she wished it would burn him to smithereens. “And you can’t make me, even if you try.”

His tone darkened as he said, “I can leave you by yourself forever.”

“I’m always alone because of you! I’ve lived in solitude for the last twenty-one years, and not once did you care enough to fill the void. I’d rather rot here and go mad than let you touch me while you have other women.”

She hated that tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn’t stem them even if she tried. Her bottom lip trembled as her sinuses tingled, and she had to hold back a shuddering sob when the dam of her emotions threatened to give way.

She was tired and already felt hollow inside. His ‘plan’ just made her feel all the worse.

“I don’t care that you’re a demi-god from a different realm, or if it’s done differently there. I don’t want this anymore. This life, this power, you can have it back. I’d rather you kill me than be subjugated to a pain I know I cannot handle, even if your absent presence already leaves me with sorrow.”

I’ve already sacrificed so much.Years, in fact, for a selfish Elven god that likely didn’t even know how his words could hurt.

She was thankful he wasn’t physical. It allowed a barrier between them where Lindi had the control over her body, her will, and there wasnothingWeldir could do about it. All of this, even if it left her annoyed or irritable, washerchoice.

Lindi didn’t have to keep doing this anymore.

The suffering, dying, wandering, and sadness. She didn’t need to hold onto such a pitiful life.

She hadn’t realised she had such power, such control, until this very moment. That, in reality, she really did have a choice, just one she’d never wielded before, nor cared to. Somewhere in her heart and in the back of her mind, she’d always been okay with their shaky companionship and her duties, but she was also fine without it all, even if it meant her eventual true death.

I hope when he truly eats my soul, he stares at it with regret.

The dark world around her rumbled, wobbling and warping as if shadows of light just beyond her periphery had alwaysbeen present and could be skewed. A growl reverberated from everywhere, and it spread across her skin like the tickling threat of razor claws.

It washisgrowl.

A snarl, a warning, so terrifying it could spread the ice of fear into one’s veins. Something that demanded wordlessly that one should bow their head and obey.

Lindi, on the other hand, sneered. He could bark as much as he wanted to, but he’d never be able to bite.

Within the span of a heartbeat, Weldir disappeared into thin air and materialised in front of her. Lindi gasped in surprise and reared her head back, especially as he’d blinked into the space less than an inch from her nose.

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