A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 29

Zylah looked down as her left foot was lifted, and she had to grip one of Jabez’s horns for balance. He slipped the shoe strapping over her toes before wrapping the rest up. He did the same to the other foot, and she had to stop herself from kicking him when his fingers accidentally tickled her sole.

Despite him doing something nice for her, since she was sure she could do this on her own, his expression was firm and hard in comparison to how they’d woken up.

By the dark smudges underneath the inner corners of his eyes, she didn’t think he’d slept much.

She’d woken up snuggling him as his nails lightly brushed through the fur of her neck. When she’d peeked up at him without moving, he’d been staring off into nothingness, appearing to think deeply.

He always thought deeply.

What went on behind those eyes of his was a mystery, and after the last few days, she knew it was more complicated than she could ever fathom. The more she learned of him, his past, the hidden parts of his personality, the less she seemed to understand.

Yet, when he noticed she was awake, he’d given her a small smile and let her lie there for as long as she wanted. With her pointed snout buried against the side of his bare chest, she’d soaked up his warmth, his bergamot-and-sandalwood scent, the strength in his muscles, and the softness of his brown skin.

When he was lying down, he was more docile. He always let her touch his handsome face when the longing struck her.

A short time after they’d woken, he left to hunt. Then he took them to the small lake to wash.

They were leaving Earth.

As thrilled as she was about being able to go with him, Zylah was nervous. She had no idea what was in this other distant realm, and the hardness in his features told her he was wary. The fact he felt this way, and was taking them there, just made her wonder what they’d be coming up against.

He lacked his cloak, and from their earlier discussion, she knew he intended to leave without it. He didn’t want to wear something that was grabbable, choosing to take only a bag of food.

Jabez stood and offered his hand out to her. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and tentatively placed her palm in his.

They teleported instantly, and Zylah was thrown into brightness. Still early in the afternoon, the sun shone over the big open area he’d taken them to in the Veil.

More adjusted to his teleporting now, Zylah easily steadied her queasy stomach and wobbling legs to look around. His hand fell away as he stepped to the side, but she didn’t immediately follow.

I remember this place. Although those memories were now blurry in her mind, the rubble they were next to was unmistakable. This is where I found him.

Had it already been nearly two and a half months since then? It felt like longer.

Her orbs shifted to blue at the memory of how she’d found him. It’d mattered little to her then, but looking back on it made her heart squeeze.

Parts of his face and torso had been marred with the evidence of healing burns, which is why there was now a baldness around his right ear like a curve. One arm had been missing, as well as a leg from the knee down.

There had been no blood, but that was likely because he’d managed to rid himself of it. He’d healed himself just enough to stop her from turning on him in a hunger-filled rage and the fact that she could have eaten him... her stomach knotted.

She’d never have known about his existence. He would have just been another thing she’d eaten, and all these warm and tender emotions wouldn’t exist. She also wouldn’t be intelligent, nor have learned the things she’d come to discover. She never would have met Fayren, Goldie, or Rook, and learned that Demons weren’t all terrible.

How vastly different things could have been was startling and harrowing to realise.

“Zylah,” Jabez called.

She lifted her skull in his direction to find him standing next to a wall of shrubbery. She quickly shoved her despondent thoughts to the side and ran over to him.

Before she was even upon him and could apologise, he stated, “Don’t linger on it. Many things could have happened.”

She chittered at that, her shoulders turning inwards at how he somehow read her mind. Then again, the colour of her orbs likely gave her away, and she nipped at herself for it. I wonder if there is a way for me to suppress my orb colours.

She would like to not be so easily read.

He took her into an opening in the wall of shrubs that stood taller than even her. She believed they were hedges, and she noted those closest to where his castle once stood were bowed, bent, and missing their leaves.

The further in they went, the more shade crawled over them, as the rest of the hedges were healthier – just a little worn from some kind of wind explosion. Many of the shrubs appeared to be forming new leaves.

Within minutes, a glow up ahead stole her attention.

Yellow and cloudy, a ring of magic stood in the middle of some kind of large iron-caged dome. A giant hole had been ripped open from the inside, as if someone or something had forced their way out.

Her fur lifted the closer they got to what she assumed was the portal, and the middle of it looked like murky water. It wasn’t completely opaque, though, and she could see a blurry image of the iron cage and hedges on the other side.

“There’s no door,” Zylah commented, trying unsuccessfully to find some kind of way in or out of the dome.

“No.” He dipped his head to the side to look at her. “I purposefully made it without one.”

“How is anyone supposed to get in or out?” she asked, leaping into action when he strolled to the side where the gaping hole was.

“That’s the point; they couldn’t without my intervention.” He indicated to where they were going. “The cage was strengthened by my magic. The Demons who passed through found no issue getting out on their own once the magical reinforcement was gone. That’s why there’s a hole now.”

The dark yellow of curiosity lifted into her sight. “Why would you make it that way?”

“I assessed every Demon who crossed the portal,” he stated while carefully stepping over and around bent metal. “If they were a lesser Demon, I teleported them to the outer ring so they couldn’t instigate violence against those who live peacefully in the inner ring. To those who were near completion and intelligent, I offered guidance, explaining the way of life here, and told them about Spiral Haven. It meant everyone could be placed where they needed to be.”

Her tail wiggled lightly at that. He took on this task just to ensure the safety of those nearby.

He’d tried to make her think him evil and callous, but this was evidence that he did have goodness in him. Perhaps only for his fellow Demons, but he cared enough to take up a duty that likely would have been bothersome and annoying.

He ensured he didn’t allow total chaos under his protective watch and then even took the time to help those who needed it.

When he must have noticed her reaction, his eyes flicking in the direction of her tail, a small chuckle rumbled from him.

“I think you’re misinterpreting my actions, Zylah. I did it to keep those who would seek to eat me far away from myself.”

Liar , she thought, her tail swaying faster.

Maybe that had been his intention in some way, but she didn’t think that was truly his sole reason.

He rolled his eyes as if he could read her thoughts. “It also stopped people from attempting to dig for the mana stone that powers the portal, since it’s buried right beneath it.”

“Do you mind if I ask why you chose to come to Earth?” She was curious if he’d chosen this realm because it had humans in it.

“I just took the first stone I could find, and it led here. The fact I could even activate it was a miracle, and a total fluke.” He pushed his hand out in her direction to halt her. “Now... give me a moment. I’ll check to make sure the other side is clear, and then I’ll bring you through.”

He walked through the portal without another word. The centre of it dipped around him before giving way with a ripple like someone had thrown a rock into water.

Seconds later, half his body dipped back through, and he waved for her to come. “Alright. Let’s see if I was right that you’ll be able to access it.”

He retreated to give her space, disappearing once more.

Zylah didn’t know what she expected. She thought it would be like teleporting – darkness giving way to a disorientating new environment, while her mind was wrung like a damp cloth.

Instead, all she felt was coldness as it crept along her body, goosebumps making her fur puff. There was no disorientation, no queasiness. It was like she’d merely stepped through a threshold and into a new world shrouded by the dark of night.

The very first things Zylah noticed were how much warmer it was, and the gigantic moon that lit up the sky.

Pale bluish white, it appeared to have green streaks of gas roaming across it – although that could’ve just been the moon’s surface. Two rings made up of what she thought might be dust and rocks circled it in a cross pattern, and they sparkled in a reflection of the moon’s light.

Earth’s moon appeared tiny in comparison, barely the size of a human coin Jabez had shown her. This moon was so large she could barely see the night unless she looked way up. Thousands of stars glittered in the distance, some flickering red, others green, as celestial dust flittered all throughout.

At least the rest looked black, just like on Earth.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Jabez stated softly, drawing her gaze to find he was looking at it as well. “I’m guessing you think it’s a moon?”

Zylah chittered at that and scratched at the side of her neck awkwardly. Well, yeah. It looks like one, just massive.

“It’s actually a planet.” The mischievous smile on his face told her everything she needed to know; he was going to tease her the entire time they were here. “It’s called Otholla.”

Zylah looked around them, noticing how the portal was surrounded by trees on one side, and a vast meadow on the other. In the distance, she heard the rush of a strong stream, but couldn’t see it over the rolling hills.

Stillness surrounded them and only the very tips of the tall dark-teal grass moved in the whisper of a breeze.

Her gaze drifted up to the very tops of the tallest trees she’d ever seen. The bark itself appeared to be white, as if bleached, but the leaves were a gentle light pink or purple. They barely rustled, but she did note how large each leaf seemed to be.

It helped there was a fallen one nearby, and she tilted her head when she thought she could have laid on top of it and her toes would likely not stick out past it.

Jabez took a single step, and she shuffled back when the ground lit up momentarily. She looked down at her own feet, and each time she moved or settled her weight differently, the grass remained dark, but the dirt beneath it seemed to ooze with a bluish colour.

He must have noticed the way she lifted a foot just to step it down in a different spot, because he said, “There’s mana in almost everything around you. It’s in the dirt, reacting to the pressure of your steps, in the water, so it makes it glow when it’s moving or disturbed, and in many of the plants that absorb it.”

“I like how it looks,” Zylah said, her sight shifting to a bright yellow. “I wish Earth glowed like this.”

It would make the world less foreboding and sinister at night.

Although the pink leaf on the ground was dark, she noticed the softest, barely visible glow on the stems of each one connected to the branches above. It was like a canopy of dull light, not sharing any with the ground but enough that she could see the twists of branches or tree trunks in contrast.

“We won’t be able to walk to where we’re going, as it’s a little far to the ruined village, and doing so would be undeniably stupid. I also won’t be able to teleport us right into the middle, as that’ll likely spook the inhabitants. I’ll take us somewhere close by. There may be a lot of dematerialising and materialising involved. If you start to feel unwell, let me know.”

“Okay,” Zylah stated with a nod, agreeing just to follow whatever he thought was best.

He placed his palm on her forearm, and they teleported to a new environment once more. This one was in the very centre of the forest, and somehow, the trees appeared to be even taller and more daunting. Or perhaps that was just because she was now standing right underneath one.

The bases were around the same thickness as those in Spiral Haven, and she thought they could be close in height, if not a little taller. She noticed the bark of the trees surrounding them was a brownish red, and the leaves glowed a faint blue on their stems.

The area was fully cast in shadows, and not even Otholla, the planet she’d mistaken for a moon, could be seen through the thick canopy above. She didn’t know why, but she had this overwhelming sense that everything around her was ancient.

Even before Jabez removed his hand from her forearm, new, interesting, and strange scents flittered around her.

When her gaze dropped from the scenery above, it landed on glowing mushrooms. Those on the ground had a white glow to them, and she noticed they looked like fish tailfins, although round rather than forked. The blue ones clinging to trees looked gooey, and she watched a droplet fall from one to splatter against the ground.

“Be careful about touching any mushrooms that appear red,” Jabez told her just as she reached out to touch at the goo coming from a tree one. “Red polleshrooms and their spores can be quite nasty if they get into your bloodstream.”

“What about these ones?” Zylah asked, tilting her head at the blue ones that looked entirely like some kind of semi-transparent jelly.

He muffled a soft chuckle behind his closed lips. “Those are harmless.” He came to her side while rolling up his sleeves and reached out to take two in his hands, each the size of one of his palms. He squished them in his fists with a wet squelch. “The Elysians used them in the past for dances.”

Then, as if to demonstrate, he smeared the goop all over his hands until they both glowed brightly with a translucent whitish blue. He lifted one to her nose hole, and she sniffed it to find it had a sweetness underneath its bitter musk.

“Watch.”

The slime on his skin began to change colour, just as she felt subtle pulses of magic coming from his fingertips. Then the mushroom residue exploded off him like fire made of glowing red before twinkling into nothingness, leaving his skin clean once more.

“Why did the Elysians do this?” she asked, touching the side of her forefinger pad against the last remaining mushroom to take some of its goop. She smeared it over her fingers to play with its slippery consistency.

“It really depended on the dance. Some were just for entertainment, and others were on the day of a bonding ceremony. They even danced at funerals, utilising their magic in a profound way to celebrate anything, even if it was something such as death.” Any warmth that had been in his gaze slowly died, and he looked off to the side as he said, “I’ll be honest, I don’t have any recollection of these dances in my childhood – I only read about them. I don’t know if doing them is common anymore, as I was never invited to any such gatherings, or if it’s due to the inability to get them – or anything – from outside the city’s walls. The city has underground greenhouses, though, so I’m sure they somehow kept such an important tradition alive.”

As she watched his features fall into his usual indifferent mask, a coldness dripped into her chest.

That’s... really sad. He didn’t know something so simple due to not having gone to any events, as if he was an outcast.

“We should start moving,” he said, changing the subject of the conversation as he walked in a certain direction through the overgrown foliage. “The village is only a few minutes’ walk from here. I didn’t want to bring us too close in case we stumbled into a group of scouts.”

When Zylah drew level with him, he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

“Be mindful that the Demons in Nyl’theria are wary of all. They have been warring among themselves for a long time, so they often see everyone new as a threat or potential food.”

“How do you know that?” Zylah asked, looking around at all the different kinds of plants.

Most had a teal or pink tinge to them and appeared to consist of large leaves that made up the entirety of the plant, rather than small leafy shrubs. Nothing here appeared to be small except for the mushrooms they saw, and even they had been the size of one of her palms.

“I came to Nyl’theria often. I returned at least once a year so I could remain informed, as well as scout for potential ways to get through the city’s defences, on the chance they had started to weaken. I’ve watched this world fall deeper and deeper into despair over the last few centuries, but it was already in full chaos before I was born. The Demons were here long before they arrived on Earth, and there are no Elysians left outside the city’s protective dome.”

“Do you know how long it’s been?” she asked, hoping to keep him talking while he was so willing to share.

He didn’t often talk of himself, and he was actually a very quiet person, so hearing him speak felt like a blessing and a reward. She didn’t care if it was over something as unimportant as this foreign world and its past, not when she could hear the silky bass of his masculine voice, or watch his expression change as he spoke about it.

She could tell, in some way, he adored this place. Despite how his ears twitched constantly in alertness, there was less tension in his shoulders, as if he found the environment more comfortable to be in.

She never expected the deep laugh that came from him next.

“It’s really hard to explain it, as the time differences are vast.” His lips curled then, and he turned his face to her. “Zylah, to this world, I have only been gone twenty-one years. The Demons have been here for over a hundred Nyl’therian years, which equates to over a millennium and a half on Earth, if not two millennia. I doubt there are any elders left who witnessed the beginning, but their offspring were born into a world of fleeing and tragedy. How long ago it was that those who were unable to reach the city died is unknown to the Elysians, and to me.”

“You have lived a long time, I know that,” Zylah commented, lifting her gaze when something different began to glow up ahead. It was easy to see with the darkness, since the only light came from the muted shine above, their footsteps they left behind, and the mushrooms she saw. “Does the passage of time feel different when you’re here?”

She hadn’t noticed anything different, but she thought that could be because of what she was used to. Then again, she’d never watched time tick like she’d read about from things such as clocks or watches, so it didn’t feel tangible or truly understandable in her mind.

“If I’m being honest, it’ll feel more natural for me. Life speeds past on Earth. The sun always rose when I was never ready for it to, and it went down in the blink of an eye. Here, it all moves slower, but it matches the speed of my age, my growth, my sleep. It will be a long time before the three suns rise here, not that it matters due to the density of the forest.”

Was that why he was so desperate to return here? To return to a place that felt more familiar, rather than racing past in a way he couldn’t seem to grasp?

Would it feel the same for her being here now? Would everything appear to be moving too slowly, or would Zylah be able to adapt?

Isn’t my grandparent a demigod of this world? she thought, and paused her steps when the bright glow from earlier came into view. Does that mean I could adapt to it?

She’d like to think that was possible, rather than it be burdensome like Earth had been for him.

Zylah sniffed at the pretty aroma coming off the petals of a bright-red flower that had a glowing fuzzy yellow stem sticking out from it. The colours reminded her of a sunrise or a sunset as it cast its muted light across the horizon. Black dew clung to its five petals, and she tentatively reached out to grasp something so big she’d need to hold it in both her hands.

This smells really nice. She tried to figure out its scents from those of Earth, like that would make it easier to wrap her mind around its strangeness.

Just before she made contact with it, Jabez grabbed both her hands with his own and roughly shoved them down.

“You shouldn’t touch that,” he stated, before pulling her back by her hands to put some distance between her and it.

Reddish pink lifted into her sight, reflecting her embarrassment at attempting to touch something unknown in a foreign and unusual world.

“Is it poisonous?” she asked, wondering how something that smelt so nice it had her practically drooling could be harmful.

“No, it’s not poisonous.” She turned her gaze to him when she noticed the mirth in his tone, to find his eyes were crinkled with humour and the corners of his lips had curled. “It’s called a draflium flower.”

“Why can’t I touch it then?” White flashed in her sight at another possibility. “Wait... would it have tried to eat me?”

She’d heard about carnivorous plants in one of her herbology books. She tilted her head at it; it didn’t look very nasty though, since she probably could have ripped it to shreds had it tried to capture her.

A chuckle rumbled from him as he shook his head. “More like you’d probably try to eat me .”

That’s even worse!

At the nervous chitter she gave, his laughter only grew deeper.

“The black dew on it is a strong aphrodisiac. It’s so potent that just brushing up against it will cause intense arousal, and ingesting it will affect you twice as much.”

“Oh,” she rasped, the embarrassed hue in her sight brightening. Yes, that would have been bad, although the thought did have her insides warming against her will.

“It completely lowers one’s inhibitions, and in a place like this forest, that’s a terrible idea. A Demon could come, and I doubt you would care if you were under the effects of its dew.”

She was surprised no Demons had come already.

“Sorry,” she grumbled, pulling her hands away from his hold of them. “I probably shouldn’t be touching anything.”

“It’s fine, Zylah. You’re welcome to be curious – just ask first.” He leaned closer to sniff it before drawing away. “Luckily its scent is harmless, although inviting. It smells like orange and cinnamon.”

“It does smell good,” she stated, her tail wiggling at his reassurance. Not as nice as him, though.

“Here, come.” He grabbed her hand and began to pull her along. “I know there’s a meadow not too far from here, and it’s closer to the village. Everything there is relatively harmless, so you’re welcome to investigate to your heart’s content.”

She looked down at their entwined hands as she was dragged through the forest, not used to him doing this. It made her heart squeeze in joy. The fact that he was the one to instigate it, even if it was something as innocent as pulling her along so she couldn’t touch anything else, had her clasping his hand tightly in return.

His ears twitched in reaction, but he didn’t comment on her grip. She was thankful he didn’t try to make it awkward by teasing her.

“Shouldn’t we be heading to the village, though?” Zylah asked, unsure as to why he was deviating from their path.

“I have waited three hundred Earth years to get what I want, so taking a few minutes longer to show you something nice won’t do me any harm.” Then he finally glanced at her as he said, “This is the first time you are seeing Nyl’theria. It is prettiest at night, and your awe of it may wane the longer we are here.”

When he turned back around to see where he was going, bright yellow lifted into her sight as she looked at the back of his long hair and black tapered horns. Really? He would do that for me? Her tail tuft wiggled a little at the realisation he wanted to do something special for her, despite how much his goal meant to him.

It didn’t take them long to reach the spot Jabez wanted to show her, especially as this was all part of his design.

In reality, they weren’t actually as close to the village as he’d let on. He’d originally planned to take them within proximity of it straight away, but when he observed her curious gaze at Otholla and the trees, his urgency had waned.

He’d almost forgotten what it was like to first see the Nyl’theria wilds. It’d been many years before he’d gained the courage to come back after abandoning it, and he’d never seen the realm outside Lezekos City’s impressive walls.

As pretty as the Elven city was, it held barely a fraction of the beauty of this world. As a young adult, he’d been mesmerised upon seeing it, learning it, and investigating every new thing he came upon after returning for the first time.

In the same way, he’d been curious about everything on Earth. However, unlike that mostly colourless world, Nyl’theria had much more to offer.

Wanting to experience that awe and amazement, but vicariously through her ... well, that wasn’t quite something he was willing to miss out on. He was sure they’d have plenty of chances for her to learn about this world in the future, but there was nothing quite like being thrust into it blindly.

He’d purposefully let her have small peeks by taking her through the forest, where she could slowly adjust to the glowing flora. Draflium flowers had once been picked to near extinction, but the removal of the Elysians allowed them to flourish again in certain areas.

He couldn’t resist the potential of teasing her about them. He knew she’d likely try to touch that bloom.

In the future, he’d explain that the plants shone at night in order to rid themselves of the excess energy that came from the heat and light from the three suns. Without expending it, the world would have burned up and turned into some kind of desert realm, since it would be considered a hot and constant summer climate.

Even many of the fauna glowed due to eating the flora, although most of the animals besides small critters and insects had been eaten to extinction by the Demons.

What he was about to show her was something that only happened at night, and it would be much more enthralling if she provoked it.

The area he brought her to opened up into a tree-lined clearing, through which there was a gap that led to a much larger meadow beyond. It was far too open for his comfort, so he thought this smaller and more private environment would be safer, and intimate .

Otholla shone brightly down on the clearing, and dewdrops sparkled with reflections of its white light swirling with muted green.

As he thought, the first things that drew her attention were the shrubs just on the outskirts of the mostly unassuming, long teal grass. He released her hand so she could walk over to the closest ones, then propped his back against the trunk of a tree, folding his arms as he watched her.

Nervous about getting too close to anything now, Zylah crouched down and hugged her midsection to inspect what was before her.

Purple monstera-like leaves acted as supports for long tendrils that were about a foot in length. Glowing bright yellow all throughout, with little balls of green in their tubes, they waved any time there was the tiniest wind. From memory, he knew them to be mostly scentless, but she did lean forward a little to sniff at them.

“Touch one,” Jabez told her with a sly smile curling his lips. “Everything in this meadow is safe.”

The biggest danger was that a Demon would likely come upon them at any moment. He would be more annoyed that it’d ruin their fun than actually be a problem they needed to worry about.

She glanced at him, her snout moving ever so slightly in his direction, and he quickly hid his growing humour. She tentatively reached out to greet a thick tendril.

The moment she touched one, that particular glowing strand dimmed as it swirled to latch onto her clawed index finger. She gasped, quickly yanked her hand away, and it easily let her go to curl downwards, hiding as if it’d grown shy.

“It moved!” she squealed, before reaching out to let another one latch on to her.

The glowing green seed pods inside it quickly leaked from its tip, using her as a way to spread itself throughout the forest. She made it let go to inspect the two seeds upon her fingers, and the stickiness surrounding them ensured it was hard for her to pry them off. It would’ve eventually dried on its own, and when it did, the seeds would’ve dropped from her in hopes of sprouting roots into the ground.

Her orbs changed from the dark yellow of curiosity into the brightness of joy, then she leapt to her feet and rushed to a different shrub. He was glad she skirted the long stalks of grass, rather than walking through them, and she didn’t seem to notice what happened when she accidentally disturbed them.

She didn’t need to crouch this time as she touched orange moss clinging to the reddish bark of a tree. It reacted to her touch, likely hugging her fingertips, but was mostly lacklustre in movement and changes in its glow.

Many of the trees in Nyl’theria had orange moss growing from them, but it only specifically grew from those with reddish bark and blue leaves. The sap from those trees was spicy in scent and taste, and was a perfect nutrient for that variety of bryophyte.

Dull-green moss grew from those with bleached trunks and purple or pink leaves, but the moss itself appeared like tiny clovers. This section of forest didn’t have those trees, but most of the world was covered in them, as they were the stronger species.

The smile that had been pestering Jabez earlier grew as she turned her attention to the ground between them.

Between the stalks of grass were glowing orange bulb flowers. Even now, he could scent their citrusy aroma.

She stepped into the thigh-high grass and gasped loudly when a flurry of red glowing circles lifted up around her. Unintelligible whispers emerged from the red orbs that moved as if they were alive – which they were.

Her head twitched and cocked as she paused, listening to them. Once she stopped moving, the annoyed tiny creatures turned blue as they found new stalks to land on before ceasing their glow in their new resting spots.

All the quiet chattering died, and she lifted her skull to him, tilting it in question.

His smile grew. “The best translation for their name would be whispering wisps. They’re insects that turn red if you disturb them but glow blue when they fly. When they are at rest, you wouldn’t know they are there.” A few were still finding a place to settle around her, occasionally lifting off from the stalks that waved around her thighs from the light wind. “Many believed they held secrets of the past and would share them if you listened closely.”

He doubted that was true. Their wings just made a sound that was inconceivable even to his and Zylah’s sensitive hearing, and it was simply their minds trying to make sense of it.

Zylah took a step forward, and they lifted off once more, glowing red and whispering as they fled.

She giggled as she sprinted forward, her hands out to her sides so she could brush against the tips of the grass to disturb even more. A wave of tiny glowing red orbs sprung from everywhere she went before those furthest from her settled to blue as they looked for a new spot to rest. A spot they wouldn’t receive, as she changed direction and agitated them once more by going back through them.

His eyes crinkled with fondness as he watched her playfully run through them, his chest swelling as his gaze moved with her. The whispers grew louder, but her bubbly giggle was far brighter.

I knew she’d like them, he thought, as he covered the lower half of his face to hide the grin forming and the way his cheeks heated at her show.

He hadn’t known how she’d react, but he didn’t imagine she would have done this. He thought she may have tried to grab at them like he’d first done to inspect them in his palm.

This was much more endearing.

The swell in his chest deepened to an almost painful ache when she went to the very middle of this small section of meadow and spun. The skirt of her crimson dress flared out, just as the wisps were forced to cyclone around her due to the pressure of the wind gust she was causing.

She halted just to clamp her hands to her chest and drift her skull up to watch them spin around her, and her orbs flared into a bright pink as they did.

“Fuck. That’s too cute,” he muttered to himself, resisting the urge to cover his entire face to hide from the sight of her.

She dashed through the wisps to go to one of the orange bulbs, and she leaned forward to sniff at it, her little tail tuft wiggling as she did. The moment she gently touched the underside of one, it opened up to spray citrus-scented pollen into the air. She stepped back in surprise despite the fact that she’d already opened up many of the flowers by running through the grass.

Standing tall, she turned to him slightly. “Thank you, Jabez. This is really pretty.”

“You’re–” His words cut short when her orbs flashed white and her skull darted in the opposite direction.

Any festiveness and amusement instantly left him as he darted his ears up to listen. He heard nothing, and the strong citrus aroma in the air made it difficult to smell anyone approaching.

But he trusted her instincts and senses, as they were sharper than his own.

“Zylah,” he whispered, gaining her gaze as he waved his fingers for her to come to him. “Slowly.”

Directing her skull to where she heard movement, she slowly crept towards him. When she was almost to him, her fur puffed with alertness, and a subtle rustling of shrubbery reached his ears. It was quiet, as if those approaching were being careful of their steps.

Zylah growled beside him, just as three Demons cautiously stepped out of the tree line.

Jabez didn’t remove himself from his leaning spot, but he did slip his arm across her back to pull her to him. When he gripped the side of her hip and backside, she squeaked, and her hands flew up to her chest like she hadn’t expected his intimate hand placement.

All three Demons looked close to completion, each with varying brown skin tones and the minute Elven-grey undertone. Their Elven hue was useless, as he couldn’t sense any of the clary or sage scents of magic coming from them.

Each of them, like him, had red eyes and a different variation of horns. They all wore scraps of poorly made and revealing clothing.

Although he was annoyed they’d interrupted him and Zylah, he held not an ounce of worry. All three looked pleased, likely happy to find a food source that wasn’t each other.

“What have we found here?” the one on the right asked, his lips curling back to reveal humanoid teeth with a set of large canine fangs. “Looks like a couple of idiots playing. Are you searching for the town?”

Before they could come closer or say anything more, Jabez chuckled. He lifted his free hand to wiggle his fingers at them in a cheeky wave.

“Bye bye.”