Page 87 of Souls We Rip

That summed it up.

I could feel the blood rise to my face, and I smiled as widely as I could.

Tiberius tilted his head, his gaze moving between the boy and me. My hands clasped in prayer over my chest.

“If the child brings this agonising smile on your face, he can stay,” Tiberius said, arching his eyebrows.

I cheered and kissed the boy on his scalp, urging him to go out and help Andrei with collecting the walnuts from the trees.

Goat took a seat at the small table after the boy pranced from the room. He poured a glass of cold water from the fountain in the village, which was collected that morning by Eugen.

Tiberius glanced once at the food, his nose scrunching.

“You do not like eggplant salad?” I asked, pulling the bowl towards me.

“I cannot stomach anything. Andrei tried making me, but everything tasted like ash.”

“I have to apologise for not believing you.” I fretted with the apron, but my gaze was steady on him.

“What else would you have thought?” He tried to smile, but his lips weren’t moving much.

I stood next to him, fiddling with my fingers. Questions about his time spent with the Elk crossed my mind, but I felt as if I would intrude. But the Goat Man knew me better.

“Ask away, Ana.”

I took a seat at the table, clearing my throat. “And you’d better offer me some answers! I had to take the soul of a priest and a mother for you to get back to me.”

His eyes snapped, knowing well what that meant for me. My love for God and the wish I have had in my heart since I became a woman. I gave that to him. More remorse, because I was mistaken. I accused Tiberius of killing his family when, in reality, the Elk did that.

“You heard what he said then. He took the lives of our parents. Afterwards, he took the ones of our siblings. For nothing else than a piece of land.” He swallowed, his eyes burning mine. “And the fact that he turned me into this being, which cannot feel completely, is the vilest of all.” His hands twitched on the table, drawing my eyes to them. “He made me kill people for his bidding. Just as I did with you.”

My eyebrows knitted. “You are a decent being, now,” I said, watching as a smile spread over his lips. “Is there no chance for him to turn around?”

He shook his head. “No. The Elk is way beyond repair.” I noticed how he didn’t use the word brother.

“What happened there after I left?” I asked. My fingers dabbed on the table, not knowing what else to do with them.

Tiberius sighed, taking the ceramic mug of water. “He did nothing more than what I expected the moment I entered the cave. That is why I told you to stay behind.” He took another loud breath, his shoulders shaking. “After you left, he took me into a chamber that was so bright, I thought I was blind. He held me suspended by the ceiling and,” he gulped, “used a saw to cut my skin. Slowly.” Tiberius drank more water as my hair’s ends raised. “Lastly, he turned his words into whips, and you can imagine further.”

I closed my eyes, my pulse quickening. “Why would he do that?”

“To remind me that I am beneath him.” Pain was embedded on his face, his eyes falling to his hands. “The Elk still has the idea that I am after his heirloom, when my only wish is to feel.”

I placed my hand over his. The touch froze me and warmed me at the same time. I was sure of what I felt for the man who got tortured for wanting a heart. “You’re not beneath him, Tiberius.” I felt his muscles twitch against my skin.

“I love how the sound of my name falls from your lips.”

My cheeks burned. I was not used to being talked to as such, but the last months showed me that I wasn’t a prude anymore. As soon as I saw him on the kitchen’s threshold, something missing was finally glued in my soul.

“You’re blushing.”

His statement made me avert my eyes. “Yes, well, ahm,” I mumbled, getting away from the table. I was not yet prepared to relinquish myself from the light of God. But then again, was the Goat Man as dark as his story said?

I wasn’t thinking about the one mothers used to tell their naughty children. Or the one I was frightened of, before starting to care for him.

Because I did. So much that I stayed fused to his bed after he arrived from the Elk’s lair. So much that my pulse travelled wildly.

Turning my back on him, I tried to make myself busy with the pickled jars. “What do we do now?”