A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 7

Once the little human returned, Jabez placed his hands on his sides and stared up at the daunting size of the serpent Mavka before him.

“I’m going to be honest with you...” Jabez stated with his brows narrowing. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Merikh snapped at him from the side.

“I told you. I can only teleport what I can carry, and I’m guessing he’s heavy.” Jabez winced at that and glanced at his bear-skulled friend. “It might be beneficial to call for Weldir’s aid. He may be able to produce a portal for him to slither through.”

“You’re doing it, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

He hid his grimace behind a childish pout, while his mind screamed in protest. He’d love to wring Merikh’s thick neck right now. Just squeeze and squeeze until he snuffed the life out of him for being such a prick.

If you didn’t hate your daddy so much... a small, half-hearted growl left him.

“Alright, fine,” he conceded, before he waved Linh and Merikh closer. “It’ll be wiser for me to take you and her first, since you’re both lighter. It’s also best that she carries the younglings.”

Nathair quickly signed, his hands moving hastily. “I would prefer to go first, as there will be people and Mavka I’m not familiar with.”

“That’s not an option. There’s a chance I may not be able to come back for her once I’m done with you. It’s going to cost me a lot of mana to move you, and I will need to rest afterwards.”

It’s good that we decided to meet him last. He would have suggested it if he’d known how damn big he was.

Nathair let out a growl, but eventually nodded.

Jabez held his hands out, and both Merikh and Linh offered their forearms to him. He teleported them to Magnar’s ward and then quickly ignored every stupid face that looked at him as he assessed the area.

He picked a location with lots of space and no trees to get in the way before he materialised back to Nathair.

The serpent Mavka went to offer his arm, but Jabez shook his head.

“I think it’s best if I hold your middle. I don’t want to rip an arm from you by accident.”

He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders to prepare himself, then stepped forward to essentially hug his waist. Jabez attempted to teleport, but they only flickered in place.

He took a breath, stepped his right foot back as if he was trying to drag something heavy while lifting something impossible, and tried again. A roar came from him as he put all his might into the spell, and it only grew louder when they merely flickered in place, their bodies vibrating. Within seconds, his muscled gut clenched until his stomach twisted, and sweat broke across the surface of his skin.

Blood rushed to his head as it boiled in exertion, and his fingertips dug into the male’s sides as he tried to keep a good hold on him.

Come on! he thought with a feral snarl, and their flickering became incessant as he pulled. He clenched his bared fangs, closed his eyes, and pain exploded in his muscles as he managed to shift the Mavka barely an inch to the side.

They teleported.

The moment they landed within Magnar’s ward, his hold on the magic and his strength suddenly let go. Bile rose to his throat as his vision grew dark, and Jabez immediately crashed to the ground and slid across the dirt.

Fuck. His eyes watered when it felt like his nerve endings had been set alight, while lava replaced the marrow of his bones. He heaved as he clawed at the ground to get to shaking knees, his arms so weak that they felt like nothing but limp rags.

“Jabez!” Zylah called, and he heard gasps as if she’d pushed people out of the way to rush to his side.

Fuck, it hurts so much, he thought, as he struggled to get to his knees, his body constantly collapsing.

There was so much pressure in his head that he thought his thumping skull was moments from exploding, and he heaved again as sickness rolled in his gut. His heart was moments from bursting, his lungs caving in, and the nastiest stitch he’d ever felt assaulted both his sides.

An unfamiliar set of large palms went to grab his biceps and help him up, but he slapped Nathair away with the back of his hand. “Don’t touch me,” he wheezed, his gaze narrowing into a glare at the grass.

He sensed Zylah kneeling next to his pathetically crawling form, and he snarled at her too.

“Don’t,” he bit, darting his murky vision to her.

He didn’t want to be pitied, nor did he want any help from anyone. He just needed a moment, that’s all.

After a few shuddering breaths, his eyesight cleared a little and his lungs stopped trying to come up his throat. With an arm crossed over his nauseous gut, he managed to get to his feet.

The joints in his knees immediately protested, as if the heat within him had disintegrated the cartilage. The lava in his bone marrow felt like it was drying him out, and he limped by himself towards a low-cut tree stump.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed everyone watching him. He cast a foul grimace at their gawking faces, hating that they were seeing such weakness in him, and that they were shocked he’d allowed himself to be in pain for them.

As soon as he sat his arse down on the tree stump, his entire body slumped forward. Both Zylah and Merikh came to his side.

“Are you okay?” she asked, lifting her hand up like she wanted to cup his cheek in worry when she knelt between his thighs.

“That bad, huh?” Merikh stated.

Lacking his normal humour, Jabez snapped his fangs at him. “I told you he was too fucking heavy!” he roared. “I felt my body trying to split in two, you ungrateful prick.”

“You still managed to do it,” Merikh offered.

Jabez sighed as he tried to catch his breath, still his overworked heart, and calm himself. “Teleporting has its dangers. Going beyond your boundaries usually has lasting effects.”

Merikh chuckled. “We’re lucky you’re undeniably strong then, and that you’re deathless.”

Jabez opened and closed his mouth mockingly. “Compliments do nothing to soothe my anger.” Then he nodded his head towards the people staring at them. “Fuck off and go be with your family. My work here is done. Leave me be.”

Merikh placed a palm on his shoulder, and Jabez just did not have the energy right then to swat it away. “I am grateful, Jabez.”

He removed his hand and then walked off, leaving Jabez and Zylah alone.

“You look really sick,” Zylah murmured with a nervous chitter. He groaned at the warmth of her hand touching his forehead, wishing it was colder, yet he still leaned into it. “You’re sweating a lot.”

“I’m fine, Zylah,” he reassured with a cracked voice. “It’ll go away. I just need to rest. You should go be with your family.”

“I want to stay here.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I missed you.”

Lacking the strength to argue with his pretty and alluring mate, Jabez groaned and let his head fall forward until his forehead rested against hers. He took in her jasmine-and-violet scent, and just felt her against him as he held his aching stomach.

His eyes drifted closed, but he snapped them open moments later when he heard movement to his left. With his forehead still pressed against Zylah’s bony one, he tilted his head to look at who approached.

“Thank you,” Linh said, with Nathair at her side.

His first desire was to tell them to piss off and take their sympathetic gazes with them, especially as the Mavka’s usually orange orbs were darker in guilt. Instead, he sighed and brought his face forward against Zylah’s skull.

“You’re welcome. I don’t think I’ll be able to take you back, though,” he admitted. “Someone will have to ask the Witch Owl or the spirit of the void to do it.”

“If need be, we’ll travel back on our own. I already let my father know we might be gone for some time.”

Jabez nodded and sagged with relief when his gut finally stopped throbbing. He leaned back, so he didn’t look so pathetic, and sucked in cool air to battle the heat still clamouring beneath his skin.

They left to meet the other Mavka and brides.

He gazed at Zylah, who tipped her snout up to him, and asked, “How’s your family?”

She scratched at the side of her neck as she averted her skull to the left, where no one was standing. “They are nice. They’ve all been very welcoming.” Then she shifted nervously. “Delora has been hovering. I don’t know how to speak with her when I can tell she wants more from me, but I guess I do like her.”

“Just be open to it. She’s your mother. I’m sure she cares for you very deeply.”

“How do you care for someone you don’t know? I hugged her and felt strange inside.”

His lips curled into a small smile. “Humans are different to us, but even Demons have familial bonds. You left when you obtained your antlers, leaving everything behind and forgetting. It’s not her fault your kind are designed that way.”

Her orbs morphed into a reddish pink. “But even the fox-skulled Mavka follows. It feels odd having a male I don’t know chase me around.”

A laugh burst out of him, causing his eyes to crinkle hard at her. “Then stop running. He just wants to get to know his daughter.”

“But you don’t want to meet your parents!” Zylah quietly exclaimed.

Humour flooded his gaze. “That’s different. Mine have wronged me, yours haven’t.”

She let out a snorted huff as she turned her head with her arms folding. She was pouting, and it instantly made his heart swell with tenderness.

“I don’t understand why you care so much,” she grumbled. “I’d rather stay here with you.”

“Because we won’t be able to come back often, Zylah.” He lifted his face towards the large family that had gathered and was already creating a ruckus with lively conversations. “And I doubt an opportunity like this will come again without intervention. Drink it in while you can.”

“Will you come with me? I would rather you by my side.”

As much as he wanted to, Jabez shook his head. “It’s best if I stay away. I agreed that I would help Merikh, but I knew I would be ostracised once everyone was together, and rightly so. Go, enjoy yourself. Get to know those who want to meet you.” Then he gestured his chin towards Nathair. “That serpent Mavka and his bride are nice.”

Zylah let out a solemn sigh, reluctantly nodded, and stood. As if she’d needed the guidance and was happy to follow his directive, she immediately walked to Linh and Nathair. She awkwardly introduced herself, and the little human was quick to smile at her.

For a time, he watched Zylah while picking up on different strings of chatter.

Since the humans had already swarmed around the newest bride’s arrival, and how it was apparently their first time greeting her, they quickly fell into a conversation about how they all met their Duskwalker. Even Gideon had joined them, since he’d been with all the males, and he immediately commented on how big of a fucker Nathair was.

Nathair and Linh juggled having separate conversations with family members, since she translated for him in addition to participating in other conversations. The serpent Mavka finally shooed her off, so he could be a silent participant of conversation, and his bride was dragged away by the others.

He noticed Zylah appeared uncertain over which group to join. She hesitated between the male Mavka who were of her kind, and the females like her.

She eventually folded when she was called by Emerie, and she wandered to the left to join them in the sunlight provided by a gap in the trees. He wondered how she and the redhead were getting along now that they’d been introduced properly, since he knew they’d met before when Zylah lacked humanity.

Ingram and Aleron walked behind Nathair to look at his tail in blatant curiosity of his size. Aleron flared his wings to reveal their true lengths, and Jabez guessed they were about twenty-two feet long, if not longer. Orpheus asked about Merikh’s white armour-like guards, and he removed one to flex his forearm and make his dangerous echidna spines flare.

I wonder if they’re all having a pissing contest or just want to show off their differences. He knew it was the latter when most of the Mavka dared to prick the tips of their fingers on the tips of Merikh’s quills in curiosity.

“I don’t have any cool features like this,” Ingram stated with a fold of his arms and a pout in his voice.

“Neither do I,” Magnar said, scratching at his feathers.

“Although... I am the only one with a pretty beak and defensive tail,” Ingram added in.

“Well, that’s what makes each of us unique,” Orpheus commented as he rolled up his shirt sleeves to expose his forearm fins. “I think Nathair and I were both fed fish while we were young.”

Nathair brought his arm next to Orpheus’ and flared his fin purposefully. Orpheus did the same, although his were much smaller in comparison. Then Orpheus untucked his shirt to pull up the back of it and show the height of the fish fin embedded around his vertebrae. Nathair flared the set that ran down either side of his own spine. They touched each other to create one massive dorsal fin along his back before ending at what appeared to be a humanoid rump that turned into a snake tail.

Most of their orbs flared between their natural colour or dark yellow in curiosity as they inspected their kin.

I’m surprised by how calm they all seem to be. Very rarely did their orbs flare dark green in possessiveness, or red in anger.

Jabez’s gaze then landed on the humans and Zylah, who had all taken a seat on some kind of blanket that had been laid out in the dappled light.

Lehnenia was seated in Raewyn’s lap in bright sunshine, with Zylah next to her, likely for comfort. Of course Delora had taken a seat next to her, with Reia at her side. Faunus’ female had chosen to lie on her side with her elbow bent and hand under her cheek to support her head, while Emerie leaned her side against Gideon, who had his legs out and kept letting out boisterous laughs. Linh sat alone with her feet tucked to the left, but a warm smile constantly shone from her as she listened intently to everyone’s story after just sharing her own.

Multiple Mavka younglings either slept on laps or crawled around the group.

He could gauge which younglings belonged to who.

Linh kept hers close on her lap, whereas a very small one clung to the chest of Reia’s blue dress. One sat in Mayumi’s lap, while the other two belonging to her wrestled with each other on the blanket in the middle of the brides or crawled all over everyone.

He often noticed a set of eyes or orbs looking over at him, as if they wanted to check he remained where he was. Each time, the human either looked wary, or the Mavka flared red orbs at him.

Zylah did the same thing, although for an entirely different reason. Despite her being immersed in listening to them and responding when she could, her rabbit skull would often lift and search for him throughout the day. She was always checking on him, always wanting to see that he was still there and perfectly fine.

He felt for her whenever her orbs shifted blue in his direction, and he occasionally offered her a little hidden wave with his fingers to let her know he saw her too.

After a while, Gideon rose to go be with the other males and join in on their conversation. Delora also left, going inside briefly and returning with two plates of assorted fruit, vegetables, and bite-sized pastries.

Lehnenia refused to eat any of it, but she was being surprisingly obedient as she quietly ate what Raewyn pulled from her bag for her. Delora walked around the seated group to offer food, and Jabez brought his gaze back to all the Mavka.

Now they were all speaking about how they met their brides.

As if sensing she was needed by some kind of tell, Linh stood to go to Nathair’s side so she could assist him. She also rubbed his back when he let out a shudder that puffed all his scales like he was growing agitated. He often held the side of his skull as if in pain, and his orbs would flare stark white.

Jabez overheard why.

“Nathair is suffering from voices,” Linh explained with a beseeching cringe for them to understand. “He’s getting used to being around others, but lots of conversation tends to make the voices within his mind louder.” She turned to him and looked up as she asked, “Do you need to take a break? We can go somewhere and I can hum for you for a little while.”

He signed something while subtly shaking his head.

Since Jabez had been listening in, movement from the side caught his attention. His expression dulled as he saw who was, surprisingly, approaching him.

“I don’t know if you only eat meat, but are you hungry?” Delora asked as she held out her offering of what remained of the fruit and vegetables.

He eyed it cautiously before lifting his gaze to her face. When he didn’t respond for a long while, her expression turned solemn, and she began to draw the plate away. He realised he’d upset her, but he was rather suspicious as to why she was even offering to begin with.

She hated him, so he thought she’d rather see him starve.

“I eat like a human,” he stated, gingerly lifting his hand out when his stomach cramped in hunger. All his earlier mana use told him food would do him some good. “Fruit, vegetables, meat.”

She placed the plate in his palm to allow him to keep what remained. He brought a leg up to fold it across the stump he sat upon and set the dish down in his lap to free his hands. Since he figured she wanted to see him eat her offering, he picked up a slice of red apple and popped it into his mouth as she watched.

He expected her to walk away, but she remained as she fisted the skirt of her brown dress. Her eyes bowed as her lips twisted, obviously wanting to say something despite her hesitancy.

He quietly let her gain the courage.

“I wanted to thank you for today,” she eventually stated. “Although we have justified reasons for being angry with you, we all do appreciate what you’ve done to bring us all together.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank him,” Jabez said as he nodded towards Merikh. “If it wasn’t for Merikh, none of you would’ve needed to see me again. I guess that means you can also all blame him as well.”

“But we know without your magic, this would’ve been a lot harder,” she said, fisting her dress tighter. She was trying her hardest to remain calm and composed, despite whatever emotions were causing her heart to race so loudly that it sounded like a drum in his ears. “And you brought Zylah here.”

“She needs to learn who you are.” He looked up to find a number of people were staring once more, and he brought his gaze back to hers to avoid them. “I have no intention of getting in the way. When I can, I will bring her back here, so you may form a bond with her.”

Admittedly, he thought it might be easier if they were alone with her parents and Zylah could lean on him. He could help direct the conversation. Right now, he was forced to be separated from her, and it meant she wasn’t her most confident, cute self.

“When I first saw you with her, I thought you’d do everything to prevent her from knowing us, from... learning about who you really are.”

He snorted out a scoff. “Zylah knows everything. I haven’t kept anything from her relating to what I’ve done to you all.”

“I know. She’s told us everything in defence of you today.”

A singular laugh came from him as he rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that went over well.”

He could only imagine how much that annoyed Zylah.

“She cares for you very deeply.”

He met this woman’s brown eyes firmly, but kept his voice quiet as he stated, “I know.”

He watched the moment her round face twisted up and her eyes flooded with tears. She wrung the skirt of her dress so hard he thought she was moments from tearing it. Her lips shook as she licked at them.

“Do you... do you love her?” she asked in a shaky, broken voice.

He opened his mouth to snap at her, since his feelings were none of her business. He also didn’t like that she felt the need to fucking ask, as if what he’d done today, everything he’d given up, wasn’t already proof of that.

Yet he promptly shut his lips as he took in her trembling form.

She was just a mother who was showing care for her daughter. He’d long forgotten what it felt like to receive that attentive kind of parental affection.

“Yeah, I love her,” he said while looking away. “I wouldn’t have given her my soul otherwise.”

His ears drooped at having to admit that to her, his heart feeling a little too exposed than he could say he was comfortable with. His free hand curled into a fist, suddenly finding it hard to meet her teary gaze.

“That’s all I care about,” Delora stated with a trembling voice that also held a hint of relief. “All that matters to me is you treat her well and give her everything she deserves. I-I can... I’ll forgive you for the past so long as you do that.”

He glanced at her before looking down at the food she’d given him with a nod. She turned and walked away, and Magnar was quick to come to her side since he’d already been hovering.

His orbs flared red at Jabez, likely blaming him for her tears, before she mumbled, “It’s okay. They’re happy tears, Magnar. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

The Mavka’s orbs then flared dark yellow as he looked at Jabez once more. Then he crossed an arm over her back to support her as he returned her to the other females, and even sat down with her between his thighs.

Jabez placed an elbow on his bent knee so he could rest his jaw in his palm. I wasn’t expecting her to do that, he thought as he popped a strawberry in his mouth. I guess she loves Zylah very dearly.

She’d also solidified one thing today: he’d bring Zylah back here whenever she wanted, so long as the council approved it.

His ears twitched as Delora hinted at the conversation she just had with him to the puzzled humans, and his cheeks fucking heated in embarrassment. But a smile did nag at his lips, to the point he had to cover them, when it gave Zylah an opening to speak about him warmly. She explained how he often brought her gifts and went on lame long walks with her through Lezekos City.

Even though she was facing towards him with orbs bright pink, he could almost sense her tail swaying happily.

To his annoyance, a few of the males caught wind of the conversation, and they began to crowd around her and the humans.

It, apparently, gave Nathair an out, and he slithered away to sit back on his tail next to Jabez. He let out a very loud, tired sigh as Linh followed.

“Do you mind if we join you?” she asked, despite Nathair not really having given him a choice.

“Do what you want.”

At his approval, Nathair collected the female holding their younglings into his arms and sat her on his tail. He wiggled down, sinking into the folds of his long body to get comfortable, and reclined back on himself.

“Is it alright if I hum?” Linh asked. “It quietens his mind.”

“Go for it,” Jabez answered as he popped a carrot stick into his mouth.

She hummed a very soft and quiet tune, and any stiffness in Nathair’s coiled tail and body softened in relief. Jabez’s ears pricked high at the lulling aspect of her voice, which was rather pretty.

He, too, found himself relaxing as he ate and watched everyone intently.

I guess today hasn’t been so bad.