Page 60 of Souls We Rip

At one point, in her sleep, she started talking, pleading for help.

I knew she would have a hard time, and despite all my thoughts, she handled it better than I had imagined. Arriving later, my eyes followed every step of hers, admiring her strength.

Her eyes had a swarm of feelings, fighting to get out. Anger, awe, fear, surprise. Her defiance towards the Elk made me feel proud again. Oh, how I wanted to follow her steps. To speak up in front of him, to hold my stance.

I couldn’t believe what my mind could rattle, the envy I felt for her and the worry that troubled me.

In the moment the stag skull was placed on her head, I witnessed a wonder. Her form was more majestic than the stag itself.

The ghost visited me a couple of times during the night, unable to sit still. He placed her Souls’ Mirror on my table, its size demeaning for her.

The reason why I couldn’t participate in her baptism, besides daydreaming about my future life, was that I acquired a house.

A lair for me to live as a human.

But everything paled once I saw her almost naked body and her trying to cover it up.

I had the cloak prepared for her once she returned, so I summoned it with just a thought. The shame she felt overwhelmed me, and the need to whisk her from there and keep her safe drowned me.

Their laughter infuriated me to the point that I wanted to torture each and every one of them. It enraged me to see their smug skulls turned upwards as if she were less than them.

She was so much more.

And still…

I had a plan to follow.

A loud gasp tore me from my thoughts.

“You are awake,” I murmured, my eyes tracking her hands.

She stood up from the bed, a little lost, looking left to right.

Hiding from her, I placed a dark cloak over my body.

“We are in my chamber. You slept all night here. Your skull is in your room alongside the complimentary scythe.” I rendered the facts, hoping she would not panic.

Her long hair brushed the carpet, her toes dipping in it. She fixed her white eyes on me, a small smile appearing on her lips. “Thank you, Goat Man. For taking me out of there.”

I could only nod, the words stuck in my throat.

“I assume today is the day I get to take my first soul,” she mouthed, wrapping her arms around her, a slight tremor passing through her body.

Her eyes were locked on her feet, her muscles rigid. A beat went through my veins, a hint of shame snaking around my bones.

I stood up, towering over her, dread filling her beautiful face. “Yes,” I breathed, my nose scrunching up behind the hood.

“Then…I,” she babbled, focusing her eyes on my Mirror. “I have to look into it, and I will know, right?”

“Yes,” I repeated. With my mind, I conjured her Souls’ Mirror, placing it in her quivering hands.

One tap of her finger and the glass brightened. I stepped behind her and watched how an image of a man, his skin a warm beige, appeared. He was stepping into a river, studying two young women bathing, doing obscene gestures, making the women run for their lives.

“Is this the present?” she asked, her lower lip wobbling.

How I longed to soothe that trembling lip.

“Yes,” I said again. Did I know any other word anymore?