Page 147 of To Free a Soul
Orpheus has never gone after a taken offering before.If they were taken, he knew they were lost.For him to go after her...
It meant she was special to him, and he trusted that she’d want to be returned to him. History wasn’t repeating itself.
Would they be too late? Was Reia already dead?For once, can luck just be on my side?But what use would Katerina and Jabez have... for keeping her alive?
Hope was slipping through her fingers.
Trying her best not to be seen, Lindiwe landed on the pathway between two tall, thorny hedges and turned into a human. She didn’t remove her feathered hood as she brought her hand up to create a murky viewing disc, everything grey and indistinguishable.
He’s already here,Lindiwe thought, lifting her gaze to the ominous castle.
Closing her hand to undo the scrying spell, she then shifted into her Phantom form. Darting forward through the neatly trimmed hedges, she shoved her intangible, ghostly body through the outer wall.
Landing in a random hallway, she then headed straight for the throne room.If he went anywhere, it would be there.A place where all his sadness and grief started.It worries me that he’s here after what happened with Leonidas.Orpheus had already suffered so much emotional turmoil, he didn’t need to be physically tortured as well.
And she imagined if Katerina got her hands on him, she’d make it far crueller. There would be no end; she’d probably get off on it too. No doubt teasing him, brutalising him, and digging into his mind just as sharply as any blade she’d wield at the same time.
Passing through the wall, Lindiwe poked her head inside and only saw two of them. The fact that Katerina was facing Orpheus alone wasn’t a good sign.
Where’s Reia?And more importantly,Where’s Jabez?Orpheus didn’t even seem to understand the significance of that.
In his monstrous form, he stepped to the side to go around Katerina, who was standing at the top of a set of podium stairs.
“I’m telling you that I want to go with you,” Katerina said, her brows creasing. “I told you where she is. She is with the Demon King. Why do you keep asking about her when you have me?”
Confusion laced Lindiwe’s mind.Why would she say that? She hates him.
Lindiwe knew Katerina and Jabez’s relationship was a mixture of like and hate, and stemmed from transactions rather than true affection. A way to appease his loneliness while providing her protection, his desire for companionship in exchange for indulging her need for revenge. Broken trust meeting broken trust.
Neither cared about the toxicity, so long as they obtained what they sought. Filling the void of desolation was hard, so finding someone to rely on, even if it was barren of emotion, was better than being utterly alone.
It was why she doubted Katerina would’ve had a change of heart.She’s up to something.The question was: what?
Lindiwe could only imagine how confused Orpheus must be to be presented with someone he once thought of fondly. She was offering herself up, but Lindiwe knew... it wouldn’t matter.
The pain in Orpheus no doubt stopped him from wanting this woman back, but she represented the very first ease of companionship. He likely didn’t miss her, but the space she’d filled, and had never truly understood why it was taken from him. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, when his actions had never contained malicious intent. He wanted to fall in love and didn’t know how, and no one cared to show him.
He’d acted on instinct. Because instinct didn’t need a reason; all it said was to protect, provide, and nurture in every form it took.
And he wanted someone to reciprocate that base instinct.
Lindiwe didn’t need to hear his next words; she knew what his decision would be.
It would be the woman who reached out to him first, with a smile and adoration in her green eyes. Someone who invited him in rather than pushed him out. Who, even if she seemed surly at times, often thought of his best interests and knew the hidden kindness in his heart existed.
Enough to teach him how to be compassionate, even to a strange Duskwalker with a fox skull and antlers.
“Because I don’t want you. I want to find Reia.”
He’s... facing his past and choosing his future.Not just because it filled the lonely void, but because it filled it with utter warmth. If he wanted to appease it, he would take just anyone offering themselves.
He would’ve taken this callous woman.
“You will regret that, Orpheus,” Katerina sneered, and her hands tightened behind her... around a dagger.
Has she truly gone fucking mad?Stabbing him would do nothing but enrage him.She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t be so stupid.Katerina was a fool in many senses, but she cared about her life above the cost of anything else.So what kind of trap has been laid?
Where was Jabez hiding, and when would he reveal himself?
