She allowed him to watch her drain the honey into jars.

His nose let out sneezing huffs at the intense sweetness he could smell, but she wouldn’t answer any of his questions about it.

She’d ignored him.

She had ignored him all day. His questions, his presence, everything. She even spoke more words to the Mavka outside who still lingered while he waited for his wounds to heal than she had to him.

Her bath had been silent. She didn’t twitch. Didn’t ask him to touch her intimately like she had every time for the past week. Once he was finished, feeling a deep well of disappointment because Orpheus liked making her feel good, he’d left.

She’d cooked her dinner and ate in her room. He knew she’d gone to sleep when she didn’t emerge, and he peeked inside to see her curled up under the furs.

He clutched his spiralling horns, a quiet whine wheezing from his chest. Why will she not be with me like before? Reia had never been this way with him, even in the beginning.

She was acting like all the other humans he’d brought here, those that didn’t want him near them. It was like she

detested him.

He touched at his chest with the tip of a claw, not understanding why he felt pain around his heart. His sight was a deep blue and had been for quite some time.

This was not how he imagined his return would be.

His pacing didn’t cease throughout the night, his mind and body restless. He wanted to go into her room and wake her, to fix her so she would be like before, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to disturb her rest.

What did I do wrong? He didn’t know what part of their conversation had made her this way.

He hoped that after she slept she would speak with him, so when she finally emerged from her room, he stood frozen in the living area and held his breath in anticipation. She would always say good morning with a little smile and ask how he’d rested.

Reia walked down the hallway with her eyes on him. When she reached the open space that was the kitchen area, she turned her chin up at him and turned to the counter before reaching for a wooden cup to press it into the bucket of fresh water so she could drink.

His heart sunk, and his breath came out a stuttering mess.

Orpheus came forward.

“Why will you not speak to me?”

She was ignoring him to the point she didn’t even reply.

She didn’t move away from him when he got closer, but that seemed much worse, like she was ignoring the very existence of him rather than scuttling to get away. She was like a ghost that was haunting him.

When she settled her finished drink down, he reached for her, wanting to cup the side of her face.

“Don’t touch me,” she bit as she smacked his hand away.

Orpheus flinched, backing down until he was crouching to be smaller and needed to place one of his hands on the ground to support himself. She’d never done that to him before, had never told him to not touch her. This wasn’t the

same woman who had only stopped him from licking at her neck the day before because he’d been tickling her.

A small whine wheezed in his chest.

“What did I do wrong, Reia?”

“You hurt my feelings,” she answered, folding her arms across her chest and giving him her side.

His gut twisted like his intestines were tying into knots. I hurt her? He felt the acidic burn of guilt in his stomach.

“Is it because I won’t help the Mavka?”

“That is part of it.” Her voice was deep and cold, slicing away at him like a blade.

“Then what else is wrong?”

He couldn’t understand what else he’d done to upset her.

“You really can’t figure it out?” She turned her head to eye him over, raising a brow with a mouth that was twisted with a sneer. She faced him fully when he shook his head to answer her. “You said you didn’t trust me, Orpheus!”

He shrunk further at her shout, this little human making him retreat.

“But I do trust you,” he quickly said.

“I promised that if you took him to the Demon village that I would stay inside, and you said that I wouldn’t!” She threw her hands forward. “When I promise something, I generally mean it.”

He took a hesitant step forward, reaching his hand out to her, but safe enough distance away that she wouldn’t smack it.

“But you will go outside, Reia. You will need to get food from the garden.”

Her brows twitched like she hadn’t thought of that.

“But we can collect all the food I need before you leave so I don’t have to.”

Orpheus shook his head. “The village is towards the heart of the Veil. It is a four day walk just to get there, even for me. Your food will rot by the time I am coming back.”

Her face paled a little, her brows drawing together. “You would be gone for eight days? It’s really that far away?”

He took another step forward, desperate to be closer to her, to smell her scent when it was just coming off her skin, to be in reaching distance so he could touch her.

“Yes. Our home is near the border of the Veil.” He managed to slip his hand under the hem of her skirt and wrap it around one of her calves, feeling a tremor of relief when she didn’t pull away from him and he was able to feel her skin. “I trust that you would stay inside, Reia, but this is a promise you cannot make. You will need to get more food and would be stuck inside for eight days, and that is only if something doesn’t go wrong on the journey.”

“Then I will only go outside to get food and come straight back.”

Orpheus slowly started to rise, slipping his hand up her leg until he was almost at her thigh, then he let her dress fall so he could hold her side.

“I will not be here to place the salt circle if it breaks. If its windy or if it rains, you won’t be able to go outside at all.”

“I-I can fix it myself, Orpheus.”

His eyes flashed bright crimson.

“Never,” he growled lightly, staring down at her. “You are to never go near the circle if it is broken.”