She continued to gaze outside with heavy lids, letting the warmth of his body comfort her as she woke by herself. It was odd considering he was usually awake before her, but she figured he was exhausted after the last two days of running without rest.
If I’m his bride, then what does that make him? Her groom, her husband? That concept felt odd, especially since they hadn’t and probably wouldn’t marry in the conventional way.
But she was with him for life, however long it may be, and she knew that. She was still waiting to be upset about it or feel a hint of regret, but it never came.
Despite how much his soft breaths and grunts of sleep threatened to pull her under once more, her eyes caught something resting on the windowsill from outside.
Reia frowned and lifted herself better to see.
A feather? A white one, to be exact.
As not to disturb her usually light sleeping companion, she slowly and gingerly lifted his arms from her and untangled their legs. Thankfully, his cock and all its limbs had receded back into his body since she doubted she could have moved those without waking him.
After going to her room, which housed her wardrobe, she dressed in the gown she used to sleep in before she slept naked by Orpheus’ side. It was easy to put on in comparison to everything else.
Reia went outside, not needing to be afraid if the salt circle was broken when she could turn herself ghostly at a moment’s notice. He was right, I’ll always be safe. Kind of.
As long as she was quick and smart.
When she made it to the window, she reached to pick up the feather to inspect it. This belongs to the Witch Owl. She looked around the yard for any sign of her.
Her eyes caught the starkness of white in the darkness of the forest. A human covered in a cloak of white feathers sat on a low hanging branch as she watched Reia from afar.
She’d been waiting.
Reia approached her, taking in the details of her human body that she’d never seen clearly.
Her skin was dark. A deep shade of brown that was smooth and beautiful. Her coal dark eyes pierced into Reia’s own, fanned with even darker lashes than her skin. She thought she saw tight ringlet curls underneath the cloak hood but wasn’t quite sure.
She wore no shoes, and the white dress she wore was pristine. It came to the middle of her thighs while dipping heavily down her chest to reveal her generous cleavage. It was short-sleeved, and feathers had been pinned into it around the chest and shoulders. On the hood of her feathery cloak, multiple feathers stuck up in two places to appear like ears.
The Witch Owl began kicking her crossed ankles back and forth as Reia drew close.
“Hello. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Reia said while lifting her feather that had been on the windowsill. “You keep leaving me these.”
“And, you keep following them,” she replied, her voice deep and yet completely feminine. There was strength in it, confidence and sensuality. “You’ve been a very good human in letting me guide you.”
“You’re lucky I have.” She met her humour with an upturn of her chin. “It’s only because you made the garden grow, and that Orpheus trusts in you, that I was able to follow your clues to the bookshop.”
“Perhaps it is instinctual that he trusts me.” Ah yes. A person who speaks in riddles, just my favourite thing. Not.
“Are you not going to step out of the salt circle?”
She pointed to it separating them. She would question why she wanted her to leave it, but she didn’t need to. Reia, with a confident raise of her brow, turned ghostly as she stepped over it. There was nothing the Witch Owl, or any other creature lurking in the forest, could do to her now.
She didn’t look surprised as she curled her lips into a smile.
“Did you know I was going to be taken by the Demon King? Is that why you gave me all the books?”
The Witch Owl tilted her head to the side so that all her thick and curly dark brown hair fell over that shoulder. She flashed Reia a wide grin of teeth.
“Not at all, but it wasn’t hard to guess what would happen. You wanted to learn how to wield a sword, and I gave a way to teach. History wanted to repeat itself, but it did not expect a girl to be her own knight in shining armour.”
A mocking snort of laughter burst from Reia. “I got stabbed in the back by a dagger and died, some hero I was.”
The Witch Owl turned her head to the house.
“But you were his. You killed his past and gave him a future he has always sought. How does it feel to be a Phantom?”
“Like I can escape the world.” She folded her arms across her chest and lifted a brow at the strange person before her still sitting in the tree and kicking her legs. “You knew I would become one if I gave him my soul, so why didn’t you tell him?”
“Sometimes mystery leaves us wanting more.”
“Then what of the children’s book? It was very funny where you left your feather.” She scoffed while tightening her arms. “Beauty and the Beast, really?”
The Witch Owl tilted her head the other way.
“Didn’t you enjoy reading it to him? Your story is not the same, but you still fell in love with someone which most find hideous.”
It was becoming annoying that all these different beings were watching them.
“But the beast was a dick in the beginning, Orpheus was kind to me the entire time.”
“He was also worse. You were almost eaten many times. I didn’t think you would survive, and yet here you are, speaking with me as though I have done something wrong.”
Reia inhaled deeply through her nose before letting her outward breath soften her muscles. She was feeling a little offensive for no reason.
She helped me. I have no reason to be rude.
