He lifted a hand and opened the double doors.
Reia’s scent was strong in here, like she’d only moments before been inside it, but he knew upon first glance she wasn’t there. Neither was the Demon King.
Instead, his gaze fell on Katerina who was standing alone at the top of the throne podium’s steps.
In his crouched position, one of his hands pressed against the ground stepped backwards as if the urge to retreat pushed him back. Her hair was as black as he remembered it, her skin still shiny with that light glow in it like it’d been darkened by the sun. Her blue eyes, that had always appeared like frost, were still as cold as ever.
And yet she smiled to him, her wide, puffy lips curling.
Orpheus tilted his head. He couldn’t remember if she’d ever smiled at him before.
He looked around while forcing himself to step forward.
He needed to know Reia was alive, that she was safe, and find out where she was so he could take her home. He needed her to be sheltered once more in the safety of his salt circle, his trinkets, by his body as they lie on top of the furs because she told him he made being under them too hot when they cuddled.
“Orpheus,” she greeted almost warmly.
Her smile deepened to the point her eyes crinkled the corner of her eyelids.
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.
