Page 85 of To Trap a Soul

She had her own problems to contend with. Some human, some otherworldly.

Lindi swished her arms to swim towards her floating pants and turned physical to grab them. Once donned, she shoved a boot on, then the other. The sole of the left snapped, and her toes peeked out from the ruined tip.

“Curse these infernal things. Why can’t a good boot last more than a few years?” she whined, pulling it off to check the damage. She came to the conclusion that it was irreparable. She ripped off a strip of her tunic in order to tie it together until she obtained new ones. Then she smacked the rounded toe. “And slippers are far worse.”

With his hands clasped behind his back, Weldir looked down at her from a distance. “You could always forgo them, like the Elvish.”

Her nose scrunched as she darted her gaze to the right to look at him. “Why would I do that?”

“Well, the Elysians do so in order to feel the ground beneath their feet. They feel the vibrations of magic and must be touching the earth in order to wield it.”

Lindi lowered her eyelids in false annoyance. “You forget, Weldir, that I’m not an Elf. There are all manner of dangerous things to step upon when treading through Austrális. Doing so barefooted is just asking for your death.”

Did she seriously need to remind him of the time she almost died due to a snake’s bite?And let’s not talk about the spiders.She almost shuddered in reaction.

“Says a deathless being to another deathless being.”

With one finger raised and her mouth open to refute him, she paused. Then she narrowed her gaze before her brows cocked upwards as she looked away.

“I just prefer to wear shoes.” She thumbed the tied cloth, sighed, and then slipped the repaired boot on. “I’ll have to buy some more. I can’t even count how many I’ve owned now.”

“The new land you will be going to may have something more long-lasting.”

Lindi’s head perked up at that, and she turned to him with suspicion. “What do you mean ‘new land’? I’m not leaving Austrális.”

Weldir, with his arms still behind his back, hadn’t moved an inch. Only his constantly shifting form and shroud of mist – both as minimal as they’d always been – had changed. His solid form was spottier than usual, rather than a ribbon coalescing around his body like it was struggling to contain him.

With his tone dull, the sinful cadence of his voice couldn’t battle back how his next words caused her skin to prickle in fear.

“Austrális already has two of our offspring. I would like to extend their reach by having this one roam another land of Earth. I already have the destination in mind.”

Her brows drew together. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I saw no reason to until we had confirmed your pregnancy. What does it matter if I told you earlier or now?”

Lindi opened her mouth to argue, but promptly shut it with her heart tightening in her chest. Wringing her hands in front of her twisting stomach, she looked down at the nothingness.

“Am I allowed to refute?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t. When I spoke of other mates, I had intended to obtain one from each continent of Earth.” Then he pulled an arm forward to shrug with it. “Like I said, this responsibility now lies completely on your shoulders. Austrális is the most impacted, and it’s also one of the largest continents on its own. We can keep most of them here, but I would like many servants collecting souls all over the world.”

The sinking feeling in Lindi’s chest grew more cavernous, like the fall was never-ending.

Lindi didn’t know how she felt about the idea of her children being so spread out across the world. It was a struggle just to travel to them across Austrális. Only with Weldir’s help, by having him call her to his realm and then back to his mist, was she able to cross great distances quickly.

On foot, it took gruelling and tiring weeks. By horseback would have been better, but the distance was just too great, and now too deadly with the Demons that travelled at night. Horses spooked easily, and she didn’t have the time nor skills to train them into not bucking her off if a Demon chased after them.

Thankfully Nathair remained within the Veil at his lake, returning to it whenever the summer passed. She could easilyreach him in very little time because he was, essentially, in Weldir’s mist now. Orson, on the other hand, went wherever they wanted. They came back to Nathair’s territory during the winter, as if sensing they had a safe place to rest during the frosty months, but they and Nathair fought a lot while there.

Nathair was prickly about having an adult sibling in close proximity, and his venom put him at an advantage, as did his strong, mobile tail.

It was only after the fact that Weldir had told her Nathair had removed Orson’s head from their shoulders. She’d cried into her hands for only as long as it took for Weldir to inform her that they were still alive, their soul connected to their skull and still living. Twenty-four hours later, they emerged again, their body re-formed and entirely healed in a show of gooey black sand.

It had been one of the hardest days of her life, and there had been many.

Orson had been a little warier of Nathair after that, but still remained until the winter passed. Then they’d left again... only to gain their male gender by hunting down a poor, unsuspecting group of humans who didn’t believe there were any Demons roaming the world.

The rumours of them were spreading faster and faster, and humankind was growing more afraid with each passing year. Not enough to fully move into towns, though; many people still chose to remain in the quaint, small villages all over Austrális. Sometimes information was slow to trickle throughout the country.

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