A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 6

By the cursed light, that is the biggest creature I’ve ever seen, Jabez thought, as he stared at the serpent Mavka who darted outside his cave entrance with fangs bared and a resounding hiss.

A set of back fins, that had to be at least three feet in height at their tallest point, had slapped together and fluttered alongside the warning sound he produced. His arm fins were also extended, and the soft frills going down his gigantically lengthy body even quivered.

Leaning on his arms, his tail waved behind him as he collected it outside of the cave opening like he wanted to make a protective wall to stop anything from entering or exiting his home. With his orbs bright red at them for entering his excessively large orange dome that shielded even the village nearby, Jabez could almost taste the hostility in the air.

Once he was done having a tantrum, and he must have realised they weren’t foe, his fangs suddenly retracted into the roof of his mouth. His bony jaw snapped shut when he tilted his head.

The serpent Mavka looked between Jabez and Merikh, and his orbs went dark yellow as if in surprise or confusion.

“Holy shit, it’s really him,” Merikh muttered quietly to himself.

Merikh’s own orbs shifted to dark yellow. His hands opened and closed nervously, or like he was subtly fidgeting to contain his emotions.

I think we may have spooked him , Jabez thought as he ran his gaze over a body that had to be over forty feet long. His torso was built and strong despite the number of extruding bones that remained present, as if all the people he’d eaten kept growing his body density without truly completing him.

That only begged the question... how much bigger would he get once he had his fill?

Jabez eyed the entrance to his home, wondering if his unusual Elvish-and-Demon scent mixing with Merikh’s unknown one had confused and alerted him. The lingering scent of a female inside fluttered from within their home, and he figured the big guy had gone into ultra protective mode due to her.

Then again, the soul flame floating above his head was a dead giveaway that he was a bonded male.

“Nathair?” Merikh croaked , braving a step ever closer.

Nathair pushed his hands up off the ground to shove himself into what Jabez would consider a standing position for a snake and backed up slightly. The fact that he shied away instantly had Merikh halting and his orbs turning deep blue.

Nathair raised his hand to stop them, or to tell them to wait – Jabez wasn’t sure – as he spun on his tail and practically dived within the cave. His entire body moved as one giant black wave.

Other than the shifting of his tail disturbing dirt and rocks, and the faintest sound of trickling water, there was a moment of utter silence.

“A Duskwalker is outside?” a soft, almost angelic voice rasped from within their home. “It’s Merikh and a Demon?”

Jabez’s brows twitched at the one-sided conversation, since Nathair didn’t utter a single word.

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

A loud huff was her answer.

Seconds later, Nathair exited the cave with a thin but busty female in tow. She was wearing a dark-blue garment that came just past her knees and had two side slits in the skirt of it. The sleeves were tight and ended above her elbows. Underneath the dress was a pair of flowy, pale-blue pants, and each step revealed a pair of black flat shoes.

Her ebony hair was woven into a set of braids that came down the sides of her neck, and the tips of them bounced just off her breasts.

Her light-brown, fawn-hued features were gentle, and she had one of the sweetest, heart-shaped faces he’d ever seen. Her eyes were a rich brown, but the moment she stepped into the sunlight, they almost appeared like molten hazel.

She offered them both a wary smile while holding a set of very tiny Mavka in her arms. Considering their size, he figured they were either very new, perhaps a few months old, or they’d never fed them to grow them.

Any aggression present in Nathair earlier had completely faded, and all his fins lay streamlined down his body rather than being exposed for intimidation. He looked aquatic despite how well he moved on land and into the sun, which caused a rainbow iridescence to shine off his body – similar to the raven-skulled Mavka’s lizard scales.

“You holding up okay?” Jabez poked at Merikh.

The grunt he received was telling. No, he wasn’t, and the spikey Mavka didn’t want him to know that.

Unfortunately for him, Jabez was so close that his ears twitched at how hard and fast Merikh’s heart was pounding.

Before anyone could speak, Nathair tilted to the woman, and she turned her gaze to his hands when they began to sign. She nodded, then brought her eyes back to them. The warmth in them battled with her uncertainty as she looked at Merikh before instantly shying away from Jabez.

Then again, he doubted she’d ever spoken to a Demon before. At least she isn’t trying to point a sword at my face.

“Hello,” she started. “My name is Linh and I’m Nathair’s bride. Due to Nathair being nonspeaking, I will translate his sign language on his behalf, but he wanted me to let you know that he is very happy you’re here, Merikh.”

Nathair gestured once more, and Jabez picked up on one sign that was very obvious. Considering he had a set of pointed ears, it wasn’t hard to guess that he’d signed the word ‘Elf.’

“He thought you were in the Elven realm,” she continued.

“I was...” Merikh said quietly, his fingers twitching. “I can’t believe you’re here. That you’re... alive. ”

A chuckle bubbled up the Mavka’s throat, and he signed once more.

Linh changed the way she addressed them to better reflect that they were his direct words. “You have Weldir to thank for that,” she translated, while watching Nathair’s hands intently. “I haven’t been alive for long. Around six months. As you can see, much has happened in that time.”

“You found a bride so soon,” Merikh grated, and his usually shitty attitude was apparently non-existent. “She seems very nice.”

The woman’s medium-brown, fawny features shuttered as her eyes darted to the side. Then a small, genuine smile grew.

“I can see you have a bride as well,” she translated. “Is it this Demon male next to you?”

“What?” Merikh choked out, turning his face to Jabez with his orbs whitening. “Fuck no. This piece of shit wishes. My bride is a beautiful Elven female named Raewyn. This idiot’s name is Jabez, and he’s just helping me out for today.”

Nathair’s head cocked, and his yellow orbs darkened.

“Jabez? As in the Demon King?” As soon as she said those words, Linh took a half step back to put more distance between them. “Isn’t he an enemy of our kind?”

Jabez folded his arms and rolled his eyes to the side. Here we go.

“That... is in the past,” Merikh stated, before slapping Jabez in the back so hard he had to stop himself from staggering at the heaviness of it. He hissed through his fangs at the pain. “He is now the bride of a Mavka himself.”

“So he is no longer hunting us?”

“No. He is now helping us.”

“Then I will allow the past to be in the past,” Nathair signed. “Just as I hope you and I can allow each other to let go of what has happened between us.”

Jabez’s ears drooped as a sense of... relief fell over him. He hadn’t expected any form of acceptance or forgiveness, even from a creature he’d had no contact with. Hell, for most of this Mavka’s return to life, he and Zylah had been in the Elven realm.

Merikh glanced at Jabez, just as surprised as he was.

An uncertain silence fell over them, as if their thoughts were so tentative and unsure that they didn’t know how to continue this long-awaited conversation.

Merikh was the one who broke it by stepping forward. With orbs flaring bright orange in guilt, he asked, “Is this my fault?” he stated with a pained rasp. “Is what I did to you... the reason you can’t talk?”

The serpent Mavka’s hands flinched before curling into loose fists near his chest. “No. I did this to myself,” he signed, his own orbs falling into a dark orange. “Please don’t think you had any part in this. While I was in Tenebris, I ate souls when I shouldn’t have, and they have rendered me incapable of speaking, among other things.”

“He says this, but it isn’t entirely true,” Linh stated, her voice brightening as she spoke for herself. “I’m part Anzúli, and we believe my voice has magical properties. I’m able to sing and hum for him and it allows him to talk, but he just doesn’t like doing it because it also allows his thoughts to be spoken aloud.”

Nathair folded his arms and opened and closed his mouth as if he was mocking her by falsely talking. The female giggled as her eyes swirled with playful mischief.

“Fuck, man,” Merikh grated, brushing a hand over the bone of his forehead. “I’m so fucking sorry. If I’d known crushing your skull would have... If we’d known what would happen...”

Nathair shoved his hand forward and shook it to silence Merikh. He signed once more, and somehow his orange orbs darkened even further.

“We couldn’t have known. It could have been the other way around. I may have crushed your skull while we were playing, and our situation would have been reversed. I know you feel guilt for it, and I was once angry, but I’ve come to accept that it was an accident.”

“But I took your life from you!” Merikh half yelled, throwing his arm to the side before baring his claws in front of his chest in frustration. “For almost three centuries, you were... dead because of me. How can you not be angry?”

“Tenebris isn’t that bad. It was peaceful and there were no Demons. By the end, I didn’t even want to return to life, but I only agreed to it so Weldir could make sure he could safely bring Aleron back to life.” Then Nathair tipped his head down to Linh, his orbs instantly flaring bright pink, and the woman smiled at him in return. “I’m glad I did, and I’m thankful for the timing. I wouldn’t have met Linh had you not killed me, and I am... happy. ”

Then he took the Mavka younglings from her arms and brought them closer. Linh followed, and she trusted his judgement so much that she didn’t fret when Nathair pushed his younglings into Merikh’s hesitant arms.

“Sorry, he’s very proud of them,” Linh said with her eyes crinkling and her voice filled with joy. “They were only born three months ago, and he likes to show them off to everyone.”

“Are they twins?” Merikh asked as he fumbled to hold the younglings in his large palms and crossed forearms.

“Yeah, they’re twins,” Linh confirmed.

Jabez leaned forward to properly glance at them, and he took in their featureless, somewhat blobby forms. They were such a dark grey that they almost appeared matte black, and their bodies took on a baby-like form when they moved before sagging when they were stationary. Their faces were semi-pointed where their little nose holes were, but other than the small ear holes on the sides of their heads, there wasn’t much else to them.

They had no eyes, nor any concave eye holes to hint at any. Their hands and feet were small, and their fingers and claws were so weak and malleable that they bent as they tried to get purchase.

One opened their mouth to reveal jagged lines as teeth, and a purple tongue curled as they silently yawned. They tried to crawl off of Merikh, both heading for their parents with deep sniffs to guide them.

Nathair took them and Jabez nearly had a fucking heart attack when the Mavka tried to shove them into his arms as well.

He lifted his hands up to avoid them. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t like children, since the idea of having one with Zylah was not out of the question. He just wasn’t confident with them being infants, no matter their species. They were soft, fragile, and he didn’t want to mess up and accidentally hurt one and anger their parents.

Nathair’s orbs reddened, and he let out a warning growl as he held his younglings out to Jabez. Not wanting to piss him off, simply because he was actually being nice to him, Jabez took them with an annoyed grumble.

They immediately hated being in his arms. He figured his lack of Mavka scent was sending them on high alert, and they both screeched in protest just as one blindly leapt out of his hold. The one remaining forced him to chase them until Nathair chuckled and took them back.

Thankful they were gone, he noted the heat they’d left all over his arms, while not leaving a single trace of scent behind.

That was... weird. Jabez scratched at the top half of his hair tied back into a bun. I’ve never properly held a Mavka youngling before. The fact that he’d been trusted to was even stranger.

Nathair gave them back to Linh so he could gesture with his hands. “Why are you here?”

“I’m rounding up the entire family,” Merikh stated. “My bride wants to meet everyone properly.”

A small chuckle rumbled from the serpent Mavka. “I’m surprised to hear that. I thought I would have to chase you into the Elven realm to see you again, since you have been such a nasty brother to the rest of our kind.”

Merikh made a chomping sound when he clipped his fangs together, then let out an irritated huff through his nose hole. “I guess Weldir has been keeping you informed.”

“You have been unfairly cruel to everyone since my death, Merikh. You shouldn’t have taken it out on Lindiwe or Weldir. It wasn’t their fault.”

The burly Mavka folded his arms with a slight growl. “I beg to differ.”

“You should have protected everyone as the eldest living Mavka,” Nathair signed with his orbs shifting to deep blue. “You should have guided everyone, not turned your back on them.”

“They wouldn’t have listened!” Merikh yelled, throwing his arms up. “We’re all a bunch of fucking idiots when we lack humanity. It’s like talking to a damn boulder.”

“At least a boulder doesn’t try to strike you,” Jabez muttered in his defence.

“Exactly! I tried to help, and then gave up when I saw it was useless. Everyone had to figure shit out on their own, just like I did.” Then Merikh pointed a claw at Nathair’s chest. “You were dead. You have no idea what it was like. I helped whenever possible and even fed information to Lindiwe, despite how much I hated looking at her. I did what I could.”

A hissing snicker came from Nathair before he dived forward. Merikh immediately stiffened when the larger male wrapped his arms around his body and squeezed so hard that Merikh went to the tips of his toes.

It took him a moment to understand what was happening.

When he did, Merikh’s orbs immediately shifted to bright yellow in happiness, and the bottoms of them wavered and shattered to produce ethereal tears. He slid his arms around his brother and returned his hug with his head angled to the side to make it even closer.

A small smile quirked at the sides of Jabez’s lips as he watched them embrace each other. The moment was wholesome and tender, and his heart swelled knowing how much his friend needed this. Nathair tightened their embrace further by flicking the tip of his tail forward and wrapping it around Merikh’s calves.

A raspy exhale came from the side, and Jabez’s gaze slipped to the little human, whose eyes had brimmed with tears. They spilled over as she watched her mate with a smile, as if she, too, knew how much Nathair likely needed this as well.

Merikh stepped back when the embrace finally ended, but the floating drops around his face were slow to dissipate and stop.

“Will you be accompanying us on the journey?” Linh translated for Nathair. “I’ll feel much better travelling such a long way with my bride and younglings if there are more of us. We were already planning to make such a journey, but we wanted to get used to our younglings and make sure the area was truly safe before leaving it.”

“No,” Merikh stated, his voice thick with emotion. He grunted to clear it before waving at Jabez. “This is where he comes in. He’s going to teleport us to the Veil instantly.”

Nathair nodded and turned to Linh to have a conversation that appeared more private.

“Yeah. That’s okay,” she answered before handing their younglings to him. “I’ll let my father know we’re leaving.”

“Your father?” Merikh asked, tilting his head.

Her expression turned coy and sheepish. “Nathair is the official protector of these mountains. It’s why his dome covers the village nearby. My father is the mayor of it.” She lifted her face up to Nathair once more. “Can you get a bag ready while I’m gone? I won’t be long.”

He nodded, and she spun towards the village and ran off. Nathair put his hand out, telling them to wait, before slowly slithering into his home to collect what they needed.

“Don’t you dare say anything,” Merikh growled quietly, jerking his bear skull towards him.

I won’t. As much as it was in Jabez’s personality to be a cheeky bastard and pick on the male, he understood this was just too important for Merikh.

He intended to say nothing, as that’s what Merikh would prefer. No sweet sentiments, no words of affirmation, nor did Jabez even think giving him a silent, comforting pat on the back would be helpful. Actually, he bet Merikh would hate it if he touched him right now.

Jabez had known for a very long time how much Nathair’s death, and Merikh’s hand in it, weighed on him. He’d always felt regret and guilt, and he’d freely shared that with Jabez during quiet and forlorn moments of trust. This wasn’t his first time seeing Merikh cry over it, but it was the first time he’d seen the male shed tears of relief and joy.

He’d had a peek into a very private and heartfelt moment that he shouldn’t have been a witness to.

He had no intention of ruining it for his friend.