Page 100 of The Souls Harvest
…Roden’s daughter.
…I always asked you to stop before you could find the way…
Galen’s mouth moves, then stops. He stares intently at me before talking again—words with no sounds.
“Shut up,” I blurt out, overwhelmed. “I don’t want to hear any more. Please!” I beg him, pressing my palms to my temples, looking down to blink away my tears, without Galen noticing, but achieving the opposite result.
He steps closer and gently brushes my wet cheek with his knuckles. “Sof, I wanted to tell you. But they wouldn’t let me. I…”
“Don’t call me that…” I can’t hold back a sob.
I can’t even remember why I hate that name.
With one swift motion, he hugs me so tight that the world remains trapped outside our embrace. The swarm in my head melts into a soft hum that tastes like Libera’s meadows—sweet and reassuring.
“Why did you stay? Why didn’t you flee Libera and remain with Kris to protect him from…people like me?”
Sometimes we have to play parts we don’t resonate with, Popplewish’svoice echoes in my mind.
Pressed against his chest, I can barely breathe, and I cling to his shirt like my sanity depends on it.
He props his chin onto my head and chuckles softly, “Believe me, my brother doesn’t need protection. Besides,” he releases me just enough to take my face in his hands, “When I accepted to be part of all this, I wasn’t aware of how addictive you are.”
I wince and open my mouth to say something. But when I reopen it, for once, I’m left without words.
Something in Galen’s eyes makes me believe I could ask a million questions and still be miles from the truth.
“How many times have I tried ending your—hang on?” I wriggle my head free from his hands. “Kris? Is your brother?”
Galen’s eyes narrow. “Non-identical twin. But I’m the good-looking one. Did I not mention he’sfamily?”
I feel stupid the moment he says it.
“I thought you meant ‘family’, as in a close friend or a long-lost cousin. A…” I study him, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “Your brother? If you two share the same blood, why does his power—Oh, my head hurts.”
Galen throws his head back, laughing and throwing me into an unexpected pool of embarrassment.
“Not even Roden knows, but that’s why he decided to separate us,” he says, catching his breath and holding his side.
There isn’t any sense of pride or relief in admitting that; it’s just a simple statement. “Our father’s only sin was not sharing the sameidea of the future Roden had, but our mother didn’t care when she fell in love with him,” - he flicks my forehead when he notices my lips dropping with sadness - “Kris is just a lucky bastard, the one that got to live for years without Roden’s cold breath on his neck.”
I study the palms of my hands, tracing the lines of one with my index finger as if recalling past events. When nothing magically appears on my skin to help me understand my messy situation, I start pacing back and forth until I find my words again.
I look at Galen as he patiently waits for my doubts to subside. “When I met the Chapter, Roden told me that this dangerous Rogue,” I wince as the word rolls off my tongue like a drop of venom, “I mean Kris—Roden told me that Kris was just a rebel that didn’t want to joinhispeople—us.”
Galen nods. “Roden wasn’ttechnicallylying. But that’s because of the words our mother left for him before she died. The truth about his father, me and hisotherpeople. I think Roden wants him gone for good because he’s finally realised he will never be able to tame him.”
The more I look at Galen, the more his features seem to change, blurring into a face that both belongs to him and to a stranger—a stranger who is teasing me with tantalising secrets but also holding back crucial details.
“But he can’t be the only one. There must be others like him. Why does Roden want me to go only after him? I mean, how many Herionos and Harvesters have fallen in love and had children before he forbade that kind of relationship?”
I start fanning my face when a rivulet of sweat drips down my neck.How long have we been out here?When I scan the sky, the sun is so bright that it doesn’t feel real. There is not a cloud in the sky. Not even a bird.
Galen is also starting to feel the rising temperature, and he suddenly gestures toward a canopy of trees that offers enough shade for both of us.
We walk in silence for a bit, side by side, until Galen decides to answer my question. “Hundreds. Thousands, maybe, but Roden put an end to them before their souls had the chance to grow stronger inside their mothers. We were lucky, in a sense, because our mother gave birth to us in Libera. Yet, Roden sensed something within Kristyon, something different, and gave her a choice. Heaskedher to pick one of us, and doom the other to spend whatever shitty years he had left on Horigos.” He gives me a moment to think and put the pieces together.
He’s never shared much about his family, and I stopped asking years ago when I realised his voice would always drop and his eyes darken while reliving the past.
