Page 168 of A Soul to Keep

His eyes whitened. He was afraid to go that way.

Not because of the Demon King who could possibly be sitting inside it, but because the last time he’d entered that room he’d faced Katerina two centuries ago.

Two hundred years ago he’d entered that very room to find her sitting on his lap, telling Orpheus to leave and that she hated him. That she didn’t want to be by his side.

He feared he would be greeted with the same scene.

Reia is not Katerina.

He pushed forward slowly, warily, hesitantly, on all fours in his morphed form to make his way across the entrance room.

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 athimbefore.

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.

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