Page 22 of Solivagant

The sun set on blood and cinders.

II

THALIN

11

THALIN

This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. Khorli’s obsession with his human pet was supposed to be temporary. When I’d sent the somniths into the village, I’d known exactly what would happen. They’d see the creatures wearing his face and correctly assume it was because that pest had breached our arrangement.

It had all worked perfectly. And I’d barely had to lift a finger. Khorli told me not to harm his human, and I did not. His own kind did it for me.

They’d sacrificed him upon the altar. It had opened up the Bridge, and Avaran had gone over to retrieve the offering while Aerith hovered around me suspiciously. It had been all too easy to convince him to give the soul to me afterward.

I had planned to give it back to Khorli… eventually. Only after taunting him with it for a while. Such was the least I could do after he’d laid his hands on me and actually left a damned scar. On my perfect skin. A scar. Of course I’d take vengeance after that.

I’d been thrilled at how it had all turned out. Then I waited for Khorli to get back, so I could throw my revenge in his face. And I waited. And waited.

Two centuries now, I’d been waiting. And I was finally ready to admit Khorli wasn’t coming back.

I had… miscalculated. Underestimated his attachment to the fragile creature. I knew he was worth something, I’d seen that when I’d followed them, and I’d eaten one of the creatures Khorli’s pet kept as a pet, a chunky little thing that had witnessed the human sneaking out over the wall a great many times. But I still didn’t think it was that deep.

How was I supposed to know he’d been off to trade all his souls, all his power, to keep the human?

Khorli was always soft, getting attached to random lesser creatures even if he pretended not to. Once, there’d even been a bunyi he’d grown fond of instead of eating it.

When I ate it in front of him, he’d thrown me around a bit, and I’d felt his hands on me the only way he’d ever give them to me. Then he’d moved on and gone back to ignoring me.

That’s what I’d expected this time too.

I was wrong. And I was finally ready to admit that.

Khorli wasn’t coming back, and if he ever found out I was responsible for what happened to his pet, he’d see through on his threats from that day two hundred years ago.

I’d wanted to hurt him. I didn’t want to break him. Didn’t want to ruin him.

“What do you want, Thalin?” Aerith sighed as I entered the temple. “I’m busy.”

She was the only one Khorli didn’t try to kill on sight. Avaran had gone to investigate once, and so had Zyrli. Khorli had almost killed them both, despite his lack of power. It shouldn’t have been possible, but he was a beast now, and he fought like he was defending his territory. He fought like he had nothing left to lose.

After destroying the village of worshipers we’d been cultivating, he should have absorbed their souls and regained his evolved form. He hadn’t. But the souls weren’t there. No one knew what he’d done with them, but he clearly hadn’t eaten them.

Aerith had also taken him soul deer, and other creatures, in an attempt to force-feed him and bring him back to what he had once been. His true self. He didn’t claim any of them.

Khorli was determined to live as an animal. He refused to return to our side of the Bridge. He was lost.

There was an ugly feeling in my chest. Unfamiliar. Unwanted. I kept waiting for it to pass, but it wouldn’t. Every time I saw my own reflection, and the scarlet fingerprints around my neck, the feeling grew. My chest tightened. My stomach turned. I wanted to be free of it.

“I want to talk about Khorli,” I mumbled.

She heard me, halting over the ingredients she was setting out for a ritual to turn and look at me.

“What of him?”

“Is there… any improvement?”

She scoffed. “Pretending to care? Or are you finally bored of Avaran and looking for someone else to torment?”