She giggled in response, and the Mavka’s eyes turned a dark green, signalling his jealousy. Orpheus chuckled, feeling much, much better at seeing it. She is my human, Mavka. She trusts me. And he was proving it.
Even when she pushed his snout away to stop him after he did it again, his elevated mood didn’t dissipate.
“Reia, I have brought you a deer. You will have to cut it yourself since I cannot be near its blood, but I have brought you meat.”
“If I take what I need from it, will you both be able to eat it?”
His head cocked to the side as did the Mavka’s.
“You wish to share your food with me?” the Mavka asked.
“I got it for you, Reia.”
“But I won’t be able to eat that much before it goes bad. I don’t know how to dry meat.” She shrugged as though she didn’t see any issue with this. “Plus, he is our guest. We should feed him if we have food to share, and you should eat as well.”
But nothing will satisfy our hunger. No matter how much they ate, no matter how much they tried, they would always be hungry. It never ended, never let up, and no Mavka knew how to fix this problem they all faced.
“He is leaving soon,” Orpheus told them, making sure they both understood he wouldn’t allow another to linger near his home.
“About that,” Reia said with a little pout. Every time her bottom lip stuck forward, Orpheus had an overwhelming urge to lick it back into place. “He has something he wants to ask you. A favour.”
Orpheus tilted his head at him in question, and he stood to come a little closer.
“I want to do what you both have told me.” Then he gestured to them. “I want this. My own human.”
“And I told you how to do that. Where you must begin.”
He turned his eyes to Reia, making Orpheus follow his gaze. “But she has told me that I need to build a hut because humans will not like my cave. There are things I need.”
“What is it you are asking for?”
Hadn’t Orpheus done enough to help this Mavka? He’d given him salt, the seeds to grow dill, had given him advice.
“I have never been to the Demon village. I do not know what I am supposed to do there.”
“And you want me to take you?”
“Yes. You have been there.”
“No,” he bit, placing his hands around Reia and bringing her closer to be firmer between his spread thighs. “I will not leave her for that long.”
He wouldn’t have considered it before this day, and he definitely wouldn’t now after knowing she’d been attacked by a Demon within the circle. She was brave, too brave. She was a threat to herself, and Orpheus refused to leave her here by herself for days just to help this Mavka.
“Then take me with you,” Reia suggested, staring down at him since he was seated lower than her in her standing position.
“We are not ready for that.” In actuality, he wasn’t ready for that. He needed to make sure she would be safe since he’d been foolish with the last human he’d taken there. There was only one way to guarantee her safety and she wasn’t ready for it. “It’s too dangerous.”
She gave him a small smile.
“But wouldn’t it be safer if both of you were there to protect me?” She quickly turned her head to the Mavka. “You’ve already done it once. You would do it again, wouldn’t you?”
He held her a little tighter. She is mine to protect.
“Yes, I will help protect Reia human person.”
“He speaks your name?” He nearly growled, his eyes swirling with red, before green, and then back to remain crimson.
Anger. Possessiveness. Jealousy. All these emotions were unpleasant and unwanted.
“The point, Orpheus.” She grabbed one of his horns and started shaking his head. It was the first time she’d ever touched them and he wished she’d do it more often. “Wouldn’t it be the safest if you had someone else looking out for me? It’s two birds, one stone. I get to see the Demon village, and you get to help him.”
“But I don’t want to help him.”
He was rather angry he was here.
“That’s not very nice.”
“I am Mavka,” he chuckled mockingly. “When have we been known to be nice?”
“You are usually,” she argued, shoving at his chest to get away from his arms. “I thought you wanted to make me happy.”
“Yes, always, but I will not take you there yet.”
“But you took the other human there.”