A Soul to Guide

A Soul to Guide Duskwalker BridesBook Four Opal Reyne Copyright © 2023 by Opal Reyne All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-6458301-0-1 This book is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover art: Sam Griffin Editor 1: The fiction and friction Editor 2/ proofreader: Messenger’s Memos Trigger Warning Major spoiler below Please only read further if you have triggers, otherwise you will seriously spoil the book for yourself. Firstly, I will list what triggers AREN’T in the book so you can stop reading in order not to spoil it: No rape, non-con, purposeful harm done to the FMC by the MMC, torture, suicide/self-harm, death or detailed grieving over death, ow/om drama, abortion, pregnancy, mental/emotion abuse, incest, drug/alcohol abuse, or child harm. Please consider stopping here if your trigger has been detailed above as the rest are spoilers. This book doesn’t have many triggers. There are some depictions of depression and mental health. Childhood trauma. As always, my books have gore. Author’s note on language I’m from AUSTRALIA. My English is not the same as American English. I love my American English spoken readers to bits. You’re cute, you all make me giggle, and I just wanna give you a big ‘ol hug. However, there are many of you who don’t seem to realise that your English was born from British English, which is what I use (although a bastardised version since Australians like to take all language and strangle it until it’s a ruined carcass of slang, missing letters, and randomly added o’s). We don’t seem to like the letter z. We write colour instead of color. Recognise instead of recognize. Travelling instead of traveling. Skilful instead of skillfull. Mum instead of mom. Smelt is a past participle of smell. We omit the full-stop in Mr. Name, so it’s Mr Name. Aussies cradle the word cunt like it’s a sweet little puppy, rather than an insult to be launched at your face. Anyway, happy reading! Pronunciation guide People: Merikh – Merr-ick Raewyn – Ray-wen Daefaren – Day-far-in Cykran – Cy-kran Aurea – Aur-ea Ulair – Ul-lair Mericato – Merry-cato Jabez – Ja-bez Weldir – Wel-dur Lindiwe – Lind-di-we Races: Elysian – E-lee-see-an Anzúli – An-zoo-li Bansu – Ban-zu Taihee – Ta-he Places: Nyl’theria – Nyl-ther-ria Lezekos – Lee-zee-key-os Anzúla – An-zoo-la Other: Synedrus – Sa-ni-drius Draflium – Dra-flume To all the MonsterFuckers out there that love a good grumpy/sunshine trope, this book is for you. We like ‘em mean, we like ‘em keen, and we like confusing the fuck out of the grump. It’s even better when we can flit around them like a pretty fairy, dazzling them with our charm. I would like to give a big shoutout to the wonderful sensitivity readers who helped to make this book a safe place for those I am trying to positively represent. As you all know, representation is a big part of what I want to do, but I want to do so in a way that isn’t harmful. Thank you Diamond, Erin, Geornesha, and Nicole for your contribution towards POC sensitivity. Thank you Anica, and Trev for your contribution towards POC and disability sensitivity.Thank you Joanna, Kristin, Pearl, and Vanessa for your contribution towards disability sensitivity. I would also like to give a special thank you to Crystal for your contribution towards POC, disability, and overall sensitivity. I appreciate all the time and effort you put into helping me with this book. You will forever have a place in my heart. If one had eyes that could see, they would probably note the mess in this high-ceilinged, spacious laboratory. How the walls and ceiling were made of white tree branches, while black obsidian glittered on the ground. They would note the gold ore that filled in the gaps between branches and helped to support the glass in the roof. They would see that every wall in this octagonal, nearly circular room, either had a writing board or a gold and black marble bench against it. They would try to figure out what ingredients the cupboards, windowsills, and benches were covered in, since there were glass beakers, tubes, and metal jars from one end of the room to the other. Some contained ground-up dust, others whole items such as plant roots, flowers, and leaves. There were a few that held liquids of different colours. A person might even gape at the lovely round white light that looked like an exploding star hanging from the very centre of this triangular roof, and marvel at how it was powered by magic. Or stare in awe at the little red, blue, green, and silver orbs that hung from the ceiling and changed locations to mimic their current astronomical points in the sky. She knew, without a doubt, they would be scratching their heads at the mathematical equations written on every surface available. For Raewyn, who could not see, she knew the state of her precious laboratory by what she could smell, by what she could feel, and by what she could hear – like the papers loosely fluttering on their clipped stacks from the wind gently pushing in. “Cykran, could you please close the window for me?” she murmured as she frowned at the paper in her right hand, too distracted to raise her voice. She brushed her fingers over the bumps etched into the paper to read what was there. Cykran said nothing, but her pointed ear twitched at his light footsteps heading towards the only open window in her spacious laboratory. Despite his general quietness, Raewyn could hear where he was by his deep breaths, and lately, she’d even