A Soul to Keep

After a restless night, Reia has an awkward brunch with Katerina and Jabez. She talks with Jabez about his past: He came to this world through a portal from his home world that was inhabited by elves and demons. He was the result of a non-consensual encounter between an elf and a demon. As the only hybrid, he was reviled, so he left and brought demons to this world with him. He created the Veil to eventually return and destroy the elves. He returns to his home world to frequently eat elves and grow stronger. He hates the Mavka/Duskwalkers because they refuse to join in his fight against the elves. 

Jabez senses Orpheus arriving in his territory, and Katerina reveals her plan: She’s going to kill Orpheus by crushing his skull, a solution she discovered after torturing another Mavka nearly to death. Reia starts to smell like fear, and Jabez realizes she cares for Orpheus. Reia reveals that she does care for Orpheus and wanted to be intimate with him. Katerina berates her for wanting to be with someone she considers a monster and argues that Orpheus would choose her over Reia. Reia disagrees, but Katerina makes Jabez grab Reia. She tells Reia that she must watch Orpheus choose her over Reia and then die. Then, Jabez will eat Reia.

Orpheus arrives at the castle and encounters Katerina in the throne room. She tells him that she never wanted to leave him and that Jabez tricked her into leaving. She says Reia has taken her place with Jabez so Katerina can return to Orpheus. Orpheus continues to ask about Reia and realizes that even if Katerina wants him again, he does not want her, especially after she breaks one of the bells off the antlers that Reia made him. He turns to see Reia running at him, looking angry. Reia tackles Katerina, who had been holding a dagger over Orpheus’s head. Reia bit Jabez’s hand and elbowed him in the groin to escape. Orpheus realizes that Katerina lied and intervenes in the fight between her and Reia.

Jabez starts to fight Orpheus while Reia and Katerina sword fight. While Jabez is distracted fighting Orpheus, Reia stabs and kills Katerina. In a rage, Jabez attacks Reia, stabbing her with a dagger. Orpheus uses magic to defend them, conjuring a symbol he has never seen before that covers them in a protective dome, magic stemming from Reia’s blood. Jabez, unable to enter the dome, removes the scent-cloaking spell so the smell of Reia’s blood will tempt Orpheus to eat her. As she starts to die, Orpheus grieves, saying he does not want another human or to lose Reia. Reia then gives him her soul, realizing she does want to spend eternity with him. She tells him that she loves him and falls unconscious.

Orpheus watches as Reia’s body disintegrates in his arms. Thinking she’s gone, he attacks Jabez, demanding her back. Jabez says that he does not have her and that she is dead. Orpheus returns home to search for her but still cannot find her. He grieves her loss and smells her in their home. He plans to search until he finds her, even if it takes eternity. As he roars in grief, he thinks he hears her voice.

Reia wakes in the forest, unsure of why she has no physical body. She floats above the forest and looks down to see Orpheus, who has a flame between his antlers and seems unable to hear her. She wonders if she’s a ghost as her hand goes through him when she tries to touch him. After thinking that she wants her body back, she sinks into the ground and becomes physical. A demon tackles her and eats her.

When she wakes again, she is no longer physical. She appears before Orpheus to try to explain her situation, but he thinks she isn’t real. She encourages him to go home so she can safely turn physical again. As Orpheus returns home, she realizes she’s a phantom, a spirit capable of being physical or nonphysical that is anchored to someone. Reia realizes she is anchored to Orpheus, and the flame atop his head is her soul. When they get to their home, Reia becomes physical and explains that she is real and has become a phantom. She makes Orpheus hunt and chase her before they have passionate intercourse. Afterward, Orpheus asks Reia to make him a new bell for his antlers.

Reia and Orpheus have sexual intercourse again. Afterward, Reia asks Orpheus if he loves her, as he did not say it back when she said it as she gave him her soul. Orpheus says he does not know since he’s never been in love. Reia tells him that she thinks he does love her, and when Orpheus describes how he feels about her, she agrees she feels the same. He then tells her that he loves her.

Reia wakes up and sees the Witch Owl outside in her human form. She approaches the Witch Owl, who shares the truth of the Mavka with her: They are her children. The Witch Owl used to be human but now is a phantom like Reia, and she mated with the void, a spirit of darkness. When Mavka are born, they are not fully conscious until they eat a human, and the gender of the first human they eat determines their gender. The Witch Owl confesses she helped Orpheus find love but warns Reia to be careful to not become pregnant as she is now part-human and part-spirit like Orpheus, so they are biologically compatible. Orpheus must learn the magic to keep her from conceiving a child. When the Witch Owl leaves, Reia returns to the house and shares the new information with Orpheus. She tells him that she will not have sex with him until he figures out the magic to prevent pregnancy. She then gives Orpheus the new bell decoration she made for him.

Orpheus hunts for a deer for Reia. He misses her even though he’s only been gone for a day. It only took him a week to figure out the pregnancy prevention magic, and they were intimate again soon after. As Orpheus thinks about bringing Reia flowers, she appears behind him, apparently summoned by their anchor bond. She accompanies him as they hunt and then reminds him of his promise to kill the people who tormented her in her village. He redirects toward her town, and Reia asks him to only kill Chad, the man who spearheaded her torment, and feed him to the other Duskwalker so he can gain more humanity. Orpheus agrees and plans to use his next protection spell on their home instead of the human village. As Reia smiles at him, he thinks she is perfect.