Page 9 of Solivagant

Whatever effect he was going for, he missed it entirely. For the last hundred or so years, Thalin had actively been trying to seduce me, but it hadn’t worked then, and it wouldn’t work now.

“You bore me, Thalin. Disturb someone else with your antics, lest you rile up Avaran again and make it my problem.”

He rolled his rose-hued eyes. “I apologized for that. How was I supposed to know he’d get jealous and try to tear your arms off?”

“You knew exactly what you were doing, and your apology means nothing to me.”

“Hmm.” Thalin pouted, eyes tracking over my biceps, at the shame forever etched into my skin. “Didn’t think you were close enough to scar from it. Tell me, Khorli, would you scar if I betrayed you?”

Souls healed all wounds on the body, but scars to the soul would always remain. I’d trusted Avaran enough for his attack to permanently mark me. I blamed him for that, as well as Thalin for provoking him. But mostly, I blamed myself.

“You overestimate your significance in my life,” I sneered.

“I bet I could scar you if I truly wanted to.”

“Leave me alone, Thalin.”

“If I took your pet, would that scar you?”

A flash of ice speared through my chest.

“Don’t deny it. I saw you.”

I knew I’d sensed something by the creek last night, some presence large enough for my instincts to warn me.

“See?” He smiled. “We do have secrets.”

Instinct compelled me to tear his throat from his body to silence him permanently, before he could tell anyone else about Jem or ever act upon his knowledge of him.

His body was smaller than mine, and it was easy for me to thrust him into the stone wall at his back, hard enough to crack it, as my hand wrapped entirely around his neck.

His flowers flickered, then ignited, rapidly repairing damage before glowing further. Mine did the same, until the light that emanated from both of us grew too bright to see.

In a battle between two beings that could heal through souls, it wasn’t necessarily the strongest who survived, rather the one with the most soul supply to support them. From our displays, it was clear to see we were a fairly even match.

“You would kill me for a human?” he choked out as I squeezed tighter.

“No. I’d kill you for less.”

Bones cracked under my fingers. “Ki-killing me… k-kills… him.”

I released him. Thalin fell to his knees, his head flopping to the side before he caught it, gasping as flowers blinked out over his horns to repair the damage.

“And I thought Avaran had a temper,” he rasped. A smile tugged at his lips again. But I could see it already. The bruises my fingers had left on his neck remained, even after all damage had been repaired.

“Explain yourself,” I threatened.

“It’s simple, really.” He cleared his throat as he stood. “There are somniths I’ve convinced to eat up your precious human if you were to kill me. Soul and all.”

My jaw ached as I clenched it. I hadn’t been fast enough in ensuring Jem was protected, and now he was in more danger than he even knew.

“If you harm him⁠—”

“You’ll kill me. Yes, message received.” Thalin took his braid in his hands again, tidying it in an attempt to cover his hurt.

He couldn’t yet see the markings on his neck. His body and skin had been flawless, without a single scar, and he’d always taken great pride in that. He was going to be furious when he saw that was no longer true. And Thalin was dangerous enough purely out of boredom.

“Well, whatever. Your pet lives what? Like a week or so? When you’re done being entirely ridiculous about this, we’ll speak again. Until then, I can’t trust you to be rational, apparently. Don’t try to speak with me, Khorli, unless you have souls to present in apology.”