Soul Master

14. Asha

Anything.

That word whirled in my head continuously, her voice saying it so determined every single time. She really didn't remember any of what had happened to her. Even just now as he stood before her, she was helplessly drawn to him. As though he were a flame and she were a moth. My moth.

What could I have done, tell her the truth and risk her breaking down the way she had when she summoned me to her dream. With everyone in that bedroom knowing something so private about her that she herself had been forced to forget in some sick ritual. I couldn't bare it.

The way she spoke of him after he had left. That look in her eyes, even when baring his bruising, that I alone was seeing clearly, looked at him in a way that was reserved for lovers in private. She had never experienced love. Not from him, he didn't deserve to be the receiver of her affections. Neither did I. I thought sharply. I had probably caused her more emotional grief than Blitzen ever had, even if his actions were more severe.

How had it come to pass that the spirit I had put the fear of death into so long ago had overpowered me, outsmarted me and turned my world upside down in the space of hours.

A biting wind, I zipped my parka coat up fully and lifted the hood. I sat on a steel bench just outside the woodlands, where that stupid fairytale cottage that we played happy families in resided. How could I go back and face her?

I reached in my pocket and pulled out a cigarette, sparking it up and leaning forward my elbows resting on my knees. With the spell undone, I finally felt for the first time in years, like myself, to have back my wisdom, and natural form for as long as I wanted. To feel my soul warm each finger tip and toe as though no longer crammed in a to small jar. This is what I wanted. But not at the cost of Amii. I sniffed, the cold air making my nose leak.

'Tissue?' A hand offered me, and I shook my head, my nose catching his scent before my brain processed his voice. I didn't wait, I threw my fist into where he was seconds ago sitting but now stood behind me.

'A simple no would have sufficed.' Blitzen said.

'It didn't for Amèlie.' I replied.

'She's a different matter.' He replied. 'And also none of your business any more.'

I stood, all six foot two of me meeting his eyes level with mine, almost nose to nose. 'Not to me she isn't, and she will always be my business.'

'Did you really think that threat so long ago would go unchallenged, wolf boy?' He stepped away and put his hands behind his back. 'You must have known in all these years that passed I would have been preparing for her special day.' He took a moment to pull tight his trench coat from the chill. 'Was you that naïve to think you could hold me back after years of neglecting who you are?'

'I could kill you right now.' My threat was empty. I hadn't been able to move.

'Well yes,' Blitzen admitted. 'Probably, if you could remember how to counter my powers, as it stands though, you can't even reconnect to the girl who brought you here without my assistance.' He eyed me coolly, lifting his fingers and showing me a slight glow of blue dance between them before flickering away. 'You're no threat to me.' He stared at me unaffected by my words.

'What do you want with Amèlie?'

He glowered. 'I must say, I'm not particularly keen on you using her name.' Then, 'do you remember what you said to me?'

'When?'

His eyes bore into me, studying my features. 'About a deal... a trade as it were.'

A memory of my offer flitted to my mind.