She immediately twisted her head to him with a glare.
“No,” Katerina cut in as she grabbed him by the arm. “It’ll be more fun if she gets to watch him die first. If you like him so much, you can see me kill him for lying to me, letting me think you understood how I felt. I tried to save you.”
“It’s only saving someone if they wanted to be taken away.” She nodded her head towards Jabez. “And he’s already told me that you only brought me here to use me in getting Orpheus here. You’re nothing but a selfish bitch.”
She headed for Reia herself, who stood there without backing down. Katerina slapped her, making her head snap to the side.
She hissed in a breath. Well, that hurt a whole bunch. The entire left side of her face was stinging.
Katerina then reached up and grabbed Reia’s jaw, squishing her cheeks in with her fingers as she yanked her face closer, until they were almost nose-to-nose.
“Don’t think because you like him that you’re special. You’re nothing but my poor replacement. He has always longed for me, wanted me. He’s mine, he’s always been mine.”
Clenching her teeth, her lips twisted with a scowl as she let Katerina grip her like this. It’s not like there was anything she could do in return, and if she tried, she’d probably just anger them. As long as she was still alive, there was a chance they could escape, no matter how slim.
Anger soared, but so did intense jealousy. Reia had accepted him, he was hers.
Katerina had sex with Orpheus, was the first female he’d ever touched, and envy like she’d never known flared like a wildfire in her gut. This woman didn’t appreciate it, but Reia did, would have, and she hated that Katerina had touched him at all.
She’d felt jealous the day he’d told her he’d been with another woman after she’d stroked him to release for the first time. She’d been upset then, and she hadn’t even known that the woman had been this bitch who was beautiful on the outside, but remarkably ugly on the inside.
Katerina had given him a name and Reia wished it had been her instead. She wouldn’t change it, but she wished it had been her that had done it, that she was the first human he found. That he hadn’t had to go through all his pain and suffering because of a heinous cow.
She could feign niceness, but she’d treated Orpheus horribly. Reia found that unforgiveable.
“That would be good,” Reia said, saying her words back to her. “If it were the truth. Orpheus is mine. He is coming here for me.”
“Is that what you think?” she laughed, letting her go by throwing her head back. “He probably thinks you’ve come here willingly, like I did. You think if he was given the choice, he’d pick you over me?”
Without a single shred of doubt, Reia said, “Yes.”
“Then you’re going to get your heart broken by nothing but a filthy Duskwalker.” Her smile was cruel as she folded her arms and lifted her nose up at her. “Not only am I going to make you watch me kill him, but you’re going find out your wrong.”
“Then your face of defeat will be even funnier when you discover I’m right,” Reia retorted.
Jabez twitched all over again.
“He’s entered the castle grounds, Katerina.” His grin said he was truly entertained by watching the women fighting in front of him. Then he conjured a dagger to give to her. “What do you want me to do with her?”
Katerina spun away from them to head down the throne steps to stand in the middle. She stood facing the closed brown, timber double doors on the other side that were so tall a 12ft troll could have fit through them.
“Cloak yourselves and make her watch.”
With a nod, he reached for Reia who stepped away. She pointed her finger at him.
“Don’t touch me, freak.”
Cocking a brow, his grin grew. Then he disappeared only to materialise behind her a second later. He grabbed her and wrapped an arm around her torso to clamp her arms to her sides while placing his clawed hand around her jaw and neck.
A mist-like sheen surrounded them like a bubble as he dragged her to the side.
“She’ll be so excited with me later after all this.”
“You seem to like her a lot,” Reia sneered, wriggling in his grip but unable to get out of it.
“She is useful. Humans are better at sex than Demons.”
Oh, come on. Ew! That meant he’d been bedding Demons at some point. Then again, he was hybrid of them. She shouldn’t be so surprised.
“Why are you even helping her?” Reia asked, staring at Katerina who tucked the dagger into the sleeve of her dress to hide it before clasping her hands in front of her hips to wait.
“Because she has demanded this since the moment I took her.” He slipped his hand higher to force her jaw shut by pressing up. “And I don’t like Mavka because they will not join me. They are incredibly strong. Stronger than Demons, yet they will not help me. They even try to fight me if they find me in their territory, though I created the home in which they lurk. They kill my people, eat Demons, the army I am trying to grow. They must be eradicated, and her Mavka will be the first.”
He pressed his nose against her cheek with a chuckle.
“This will happen, human. You can scream and cry for him, but he will not be able to hear you under my cloak, nor will he be able to smell you or see you. Then, after she kills him, I will eat you, and she will enjoy watching me do it.”
Her lips twitched with disdain, growing tight as she pursed them.
“But I wish to hear what will be said with clarity so stay quiet.”
Then he covered her mouth, almost blocking her nose as well, making it difficult to breathe under his large hand.
Orpheus sprinted on all fours through the Demon King’s lands, rushing past the many unkempt hedges that appeared as though they had never been pruned. Trees, so tall that not even Orpheus could jump to the lowest branch, were situated within the stone fence walls of the castle grounds, alongside thorny, black-coloured rose shrubs. He dodged all the overgrown flora, feeling the burn in his muscles from running.
His breaths snorted out in loud huffs through his mouth, too strong and sharp to be blown through his nose hole, as his tongue constantly darted forward to help on each exhale.
He’d not rested on his way here, did not stop or slow, even for a second. His bones and joints ached, his torso was tight with exertion, but determination gave him strength.
He could fight, would fight, if it meant he had Reia back in his arms.
His head darted around to all the Demons who shrunk upon seeing him and his reddened glowing orbs.
Following the dirt path, he came to the castle’s grand steps and ran up them. The two Demons keeping guard hissed and screeched before darting off the sides of the stairs to flee him.