No souls came bobbling out of the darkness to settle into the lantern’s protective light, but no monsters slavered and snapped at its edges either. For the moment Jigano decided that the balance was acceptable, but he desperately needed something to go right in this darkest of weeks. Failure after failure had followed him for days now. He had failed as a friend to Amalia, Sam, and Rex. He had failed as a mate to Rory, leaving his love alone to help Kiada only to fail in that as well. He clung to the task he had begged for the right to take up, to the duty he had bound himself to at no one else’s behest but his own, desperate to prove to himself that he had something of worth to offer. Something other than criticism, judgment, and pain.
Was it a flaw in his singing that kept the souls from finding him? Ludo’s song had drawn them near last year when he had walked with Amalia. This year, though, he walked alone… was it not the song at all that had brought them to their sides, but instead the Shield of Safrin?
No. No, he buried his envy deep, refusing to acknowledge it. Perhaps the souls just couldn’t hear him properly.
Jigano did not even notice when his hand left the hilt of his sword and rose to wrap around a hank of white hair, tugging idly at first but with increasing insistence, as if to pull it out by its roots.
Was it a flaw in his singing that kept the souls from finding him? Ludo’s song had drawn them near last year when he had walked with Amalia. This year, though, he walked alone… was it not the song at all that had brought them to their sides, but instead the Shield of Safrin?
No. No, he buried his envy deep, refusing to acknowledge it. Perhaps the souls just couldn’t hear him properly.
Jigano did not even notice when his hand left the hilt of his sword and rose to wrap around a hank of white hair, tugging idly at first but with increasing insistence, as if to pull it out by its roots.
