Page 52 of Souls We Rip

His head snapped, the cloak’s fabric dangling. “No.” He took a deep breath. “I do not like to repeat myself.”

I sighed. “Well, you think I am stupid; therefore, I have to ask countless times until your words register.”

The brush fell to the ground with a loud sound.

My arms were gripped by strong fingers, and my body was pushed against the wooden pole. The grip lessened, leaving me room to step away. But I couldn’t. Not when I was transfixed by the Goat Man’s chin.

What was happening to me that a piece of skin was keeping me grounded?

“I told you already, I do not consider you stupid. No one in the Order could stand against the Elk. Even if your belief in God is fiction, no one dares to even utter a word against my master.”

I swallowed, trying to see beyond the fabric. My belief in God was what drove me further into this wretched mission.

His words hit me. “I won’t let your world ruin mine.”

“What is my world, Ana?” he whispered, too close to me. His fingers disappeared from my hands, leaving iciness in their wake. Even if he didn’t hold me anymore, I stood there, staring at a patch of skin.

“Death. And mine is life.”

He took a step back, pulling his hood better on his face. “Soon, it will be yours too.” The Goat Man turned around, resuming brushing the horse.

“I won’t let your darkness swallow my light. My love for God is bigger than whatever lurks here.” My hands fretted. I was slowly waking up from the daze this creature had on me.

He snorted. “You’ll see, Ana, that darkness’s claws are larger and sharper than those of light.”

I stepped away from the horse, taking the empty basket. “Perhaps. But it will be worth fighting it.”

“With what? You won’t have a heart.”

His words made me stand straighter. “Why?”

“If your love,” he drawled, mocking the word, “is so strong for your god, then you will feel it without a heart.”

The sky descended on me in that moment. Without thinking, I placed my hand over his chest. The touch stilled both of us. But I was trying to find his pulse, whereas he was a statue under my fingertips.

“There’s no movement,” I whispered.

Instead of taking my hand away from his cloak, the Goat Man took my fingers and wrapped them around his wrist.

There was a pulse. His words from a few weeks ago came to me. And you’ll never feel your heart beating in your chest. I couldn’t pay attention then, due to my thoughts and high emotions.

When I moved my eyes away from our linked hands to his chin, I realised we were too close. It became too warm and too loud.

And with that, I left him alone with the horse.

The Goat Man

Never in my eternity had I been defied like this. And never in my life had I felt so close to erupting from a mere touch.

Despite that, the woman had fire in her blood, which I didn’t want to extinguish. No, I wanted to see it erupt and watch it wreck everything. And the fact that I respected her unnerved me more than her attitude.

My wretched servant, who was staring at me with a mug of wine in his hands, annoyed me more than the day I saved his death.

“What?” I roared, the furniture rattling on the ground.

His body floated to me, the wine sloshing on my pristine rug, making me groan inside.

“Master, if you start treating her as a human rather than a dog, she will be more compliant,” he advised, and I felt like chucking the mug in his head.