His head lowered as he shrunk under the power of her soft voice. He was approaching her, but he didn’t know if he should. She will know where she is. She had to know where the Demon King would have taken her.

The fact he wasn’t here with her while they must have known Orpheus was approaching, and was now inside the castle, worried him.

Where is Jabez? he thought, crawling his way up the stairs to stand in front of Katerina while keeping himself low.

The smell of the perfume she wore did little to hide her cinnamon spice and sage scent from him, as well as the smell of the metal placed over her. She’d always liked the pretty things the humans wore. She’d demanded lots of it when she’d been with him and he’d taken her to the village.

The only thing that eased him was that he could smell Reia had been here recently, which meant she was still alive.

It had taken him nearly a full night and day getting here, and his muscles, although still tense and very much aching, relaxed just a little at the knowledge that she might be safe.

“Where is Reia?” he asked her slowly.

Katerina’s smile dropped instantly, and her eyes narrowed as her lips tightened. He’d always fretted when she looked angered.

“She is gone, Orpheus.”

He noticed her hands curl like she wanted to fist them, but stopped herself.

“But I can smell she was just here.”

He crossed his hand in front of the other, stepping to the side and in the direction Reia’s scent smelt the freshest. He wanted to follow it, knowing at the end of that trail would be his little doe.

“She is with the Demon King.”

She followed his step, standing in front of him as though to stop him from moving forward. A chill ran down his spine at her words, making his fur ruffle and his fins lift.

“Is he hurting her?”

He noticed Katerina took in a deep breath through her nose and closed her eyes for a moment, before releasing it and opening them once more. Her face gentled, the barest smile present.

“She has taken my place.”

She raised her hand as though she intended to cup his snout.

He backed up, unsure why she was reaching for him when she never had before. She was being... different.

“Taken your place?”

He tried to step around her again, his sight darting in the direction he wished to go – not that she would be able to notice him doing so.

“I was tricked, Orpheus.” She gave him a face of pain, the corners of her eyelids crinkling as her lips parted. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you. I can come back to you now.”

His eyes turned a dark yellow in curiosity. She didn’t mean to leave me?

“But you told me you did not want to be by my side, Katerina.”

Spirit of the void help him, he had not said her name in eons. He hadn’t even braved uttering it to Reia.

“I had to,” she quickly said, reaching again and managing to cup his snout, holding it with undeniable with care. “He forced me to, said I had to. He tricked me into having to be with him and abandon you, or else I die.”

His heart ached. Orpheus had always wanted this, had always longed for this. For Katerina to come back to him, to want him as he always did her. To be in his embrace in the home he built for her, decorated for her, spent his time creating a place she would be comfortable and happy in.

Everything he had done, he’d done for her.

“But why now?” Why was this happening now, when he had finally found a human that wanted to be with him?

He felt torn between his past and his present. Katerina was not Reia, and Reia was not Katerina. They were different, but they were important to him.

He’d been with her for five years, and Orpheus had cared deeply about her. For those few short years, Katerina had been his everything. His friend, his lover, his warmth, his light, the person who fought against his loneliness and made him feel undeniably whole.

She had been his bride, even though she hadn’t given him her soul.

He hadn’t minded her wanting and taking from him, because Orpheus had wanted to give. Her smiles, even though had never been directed at him, had been his goal, and they brought him pleasure in a way that didn’t touch his body, but his soul instead, his heart.

And yet, her touch now felt foreign to him. Her hands were just as soft and warm as Reia’s, they felt the same against

the bone of his skull, but it forced the waft of her scent into nostrils.

Her spicy scent wasn’t gentle like that of elderberries and red roses.

“Reia offered to take my place so that I don’t have to be with him anymore. She’s very nice.” Katerina gave him another smile. “She said that if I wanted to be back with you so much, that she would be with Jabez.”

Orpheus felt his heart sinking so deep it was like it was moving through his chest to sit painfully in his stomach.

She offered herself to Jabez? He felt the familiar crawl of betrayal beneath his flesh, but it was much worse than what Katerina had done this to him.

He didn’t want to believe this, that Reia would leave him.

She said she wanted to stay with me.

A quiet whine rattled his lungs.

“Where is Reia, Katerina?” he asked, wanting to talk to her, to speak with her, for her to tell him herself so he could remember the truth of this just as painfully as he had with Katerina.

It would help him turn away. It would help him leave.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed while her lips thinned tightly.

“Forget about her,” she demanded, pulling his head forward when it was obvious he was trying to search for her.

“She is not going with you.” Then she reached for one of his horns to grab a bell dangling from it. “Did she make this for you? How tacky.”

Katerina yanked it, ripping it from his horn so she could stare down at it in her palm.

“She put bells on you like a cat.”

Orpheus’ sight glowed to red, and he stepped back sharply from her as a light growl emitted from his chest. She broke my gift! Reia had told him she would be upset if he lost or broke them!