“And that portal led to here,” Reia finished for him, placing her fingers over her mouth in thought.

“Exactly.” He put his hand back behind his head. “And then I brought the Demons here so they could eat and we may one day go back and destroy the Elves.”

“You brought them here to make an army? Like for a war?”

He nodded, his lips thinning. His dark brown eyes seemed to wander as they dazed over.

“The Demons let me be a king because I can do things for them, make life easy for them, gave them a place where they can hunt freely. They are steadily growing smarter and stronger so that one day we can go back and kill the Elves.”

His voice was laced with hate while he bared his Demon fangs with a sneer. She figured he despised the Elves for hunting him. “They were slowly dying from being hunted into extinction, I have allowed them to grow.”

“Have Elves been here then?”

He shrugged.

“If your kind know of them, then most likely, but that was probably before I created the portal and made the shade of the Veil.”

So, it’s all his fault we’ve lived in fear for almost three hundred years. She lowered her gaze to her food before he could see she was glaring.

“You made the Veil?”

“Took me many years to grow the trees, it wasn’t an easy task, but the sunlight has always burned them. The Demons needed a safe place to live. This canyon that spans one fourth of this world was the perfect place for my portal to appear in. I did make it a little bigger, though.”

Katerina remained quiet, seeming to understand why Reia was curious about this.

When I get out of here, should I go back to my kind and tell them all this? Maybe she and Orpheus could tell the world the truth so they could figure out a way to drive the

Demons back into their home world. Then the Elves could deal with them once more.

“I go back frequently so I can grow my magic by consuming more Elves. They are still too strong for me in their numbers.”

Something made his entire body twitch, and he lowered his hands so he could twirl them.

“Is something wrong?” Katerina asked him while lowering her eating utensils.

Eventually a smaller ball of liquid silver than the day before began to form. He threw it in the air, and it flattened in front of his face. Reia couldn’t see anything as the back of it reflected her own face like a mirror.

“The Mavka has entered my territory. He will be here shortly.”

The dark smirk on Katerina’s face was instant, and it made Reia’s hackles rise. A deep breath of tension left her, sighing out of her heavily. He’s almost here.

“So... you said I was a pawn,” she started, eyeing them both warily. Reia needed her answers, needed to plan for when Orpheus arrived. “What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing.” Katerina waved her hand up and down at her dismissively. “I can do the rest by myself. I just needed to bring you here so he’d follow. He probably thinks he can take you back, but don’t worry, we won’t let him. You’re perfectly safe.”

Reia frowned, lowering her own utensils when they both started to rise like they wanted to get moving. She was thankful this uncomfortable meal had ended.

“Then what are you going to do to him?” she asked when they were starting to walk out of the massive, but mostly barren, dining room.

“I’m going to kill him,” Katerina said with glee, almost skipping down the hallway they had entered.

Her face paled as a spike of dread sent a cold rush through her entire body. So cold, in fact, that her skin rose

with goosebumps. It froze her on the spot.

“What?” she almost squeaked out, before clearing her throat. “You’re planning to kill him?”

Jabez pushed her back to shove her forward so she’d keep walking.

“Took us a long time to figure out how to kill him,” Jabez said as he led them into the throne room. “Mavka are extremely hard to kill. She’s been lying to you, by the way.

The only reason she saved you is because it was only recently that we learned how to kill them. Any human could have been in your shoes.” He tapped behind his ears when they were standing in the middle of the throne room, as if this was where they were planning on committing this villainous crime. “I like to listen in on everything in my castle, even when I’m not present.”

Katerina’s lips thinned in irritation, placing her hands on her hips as she gave him a glare. She didn’t deny it.

“You can’t stab them, that only enrages them,” he continued, coming forward to put his arm around Katerina’s shoulders. His pointed ears flickered in annoyance when a few strands of his hair tickled over them. “Stabbing them in the heart doesn’t work, and it’s near impossible to break through their outer ribcage. Cutting off their head doesn’t work either. You can’t even scoop out their brains. Within a day, no matter how large or small the wound is, even if the skull is without a body, they grow back.”

Katerina shuddered under his arm.

“So unnatural. At least if I cut off your head, you’d die.”

“Got to get to it first,” he chuckled, swiping his entire hand across her face like he was attempting to pet it. “It took me many tries with the ram-horned Mavka I caught recently. No matter what I did, he just wouldn’t die.”

I don’t know the ram-horned Duskwalker. But it didn’t matter, they’d tortured one. A creature with feelings and sentient thoughts. Both Orpheus and the Mavka had already

shown Reia they didn’t like pain, and yet they had gone out of their way to hurt one just to discover how to kill them.

“Then, how?” Reia asked, eyeing the room with uncertainty. How were they planning to kill him?

She frowned when she saw her sword still lying on the ground. Yeah, that was not an endeavour she saw working out for her. Like a dog with a stick tied to its neck and piece of meat hanging off the other end, she knew she’d never reach it, no matter how hard she tried.

He leaned up and tapped his knuckles against the top of his head.

“I didn’t get the chance to try because the Witch Owl stole him from me – she’s a pesky little thing, always getting in the way. But, when I mentioned breaking his skull, his eyes turned white for the first time. That’s when I realised that if I cut off anything, it didn’t matter if their skull was still intact.”

I will crack your skull. Orpheus had threatened those words to the Mavka. I will shatter it. He’d threatened to kill him, and he’s eyes had gone white with fear.

What they were saying was true, and now she knew what they were planning to do.

Her gaze turned to Katerina who had a scheming look upon her grinning face, her teeth bared to show how large it was.

She hated Orpheus so much she wanted to kill him, and with the Demon King helping her, Reia didn’t see how he’d survive.

Shit, Orpheus. Turn back.

She had wanted him to come here and bring her home, but now that she knew they were planning to kill him, that they knew how to, dread settled in her gut like a heavy weighted ball. Her heart started racing in her veins, wondering how the hell they were supposed to survive this.

I can’t fight Jabez, he’d kill me within a second.