“Reia?”
He turned to watch her, beginning to stand to follow. He flinched back when she stared at him straight in his glowing orbs, and then slammed the door shut.
Is she upset with me? He felt like she was upset with him.
He swiftly turned his head to the Mavka and snapped his jaws at him to make a sharp clipping sound.
“This is your fault.”
“What did I do wrong? I am not the one who said no.” He titled his head at him. “I already asked her to come to the Demon village with me.”
“You did what?!” he roared with his orbs flashing red.
With the sound of crackling from the remaining embers of the fire that had been lit to warm Reia, Orpheus paced in the living room area. The dull light did little to illuminate the house since most of the candles had been extinguished.
She was asleep now, bathed, fed, safe, but Orpheus was restless.
She will not speak to me. Ever since she’d stormed inside earlier, Reia refused to talk to him unless absolutely necessary.
When he came inside to place the deer on the table for her, she didn’t thank him, didn’t smile, didn’t even look towards him. All she said was that she’d throw what she didn’t want outside for them to eat when she was done.
Then she’d grabbed a blade, and Orpheus had left to make sure he and the Mavka were far enough away inside the salt circle that the scent of its blood wasn’t too overwhelming.
He’d had to distract the Mavka, whose snout kept turning towards the house, by grabbing him around his nose so all he could smell was him. Orpheus had better control over his will power as long as he wasn’t too close to the source.
Orpheus told him to hold his breath when the door was opening and to wait until she was finished dumping what she didn’t want. She needed to leave the protections of the
house, and he’d been worried she would come to harm if he hadn’t been able to control him.
Then Orpheus let him have it all. He didn’t need it like the injured Mavka did.
When everything was eaten and the Mavka had calmed from his eating frenzy – Orpheus watched him attack the barrier for Reia but did nothing because he knew she was protected within, although it did make his hackles rise – he’d called out to her about the beehive.
She told him to place it on the table inside like he had with the deer. He’d begun to grow concerned because she was glaring at him, her lips thinned, and her eyebrows drawn together tightly. Reia hadn’t glared at him since the beginning.
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.
