“Yeah, and I told you not to sit on my throne,” he sighed, lifting a single hand up as though to struggle. “I am King. I can do what I want, and you should do as you’re told.”
“When have I ever done what I’m told?” she sneered, scrunching her cute nose up at him.
“All the time,” he winked, wiping a reddish-purple tongue over his lips. “Especially when you’re on top of me.”
Her irritation faded at his wide grin, and she rolled her eyes in return. Well, that plainly explained their relationship.
Reia’s lips thinned as her nose crinkled. She sleeps with him? Sure, he was pretty in an odd sort of way, but he was a Demon. King or not, human-looking or not, he was still one of those creatures.
She may have befriended the cat Demon in the bookstore, but that was as far as she’d go with anything like them.
Then again, Orpheus is not much different, and I care for him. And Jabez was obviously intelligent. He wasn’t like the ferocious ones that lurked around her home.
“Can you not be crude?” She sighed loudly while shaking her head at him. “We have a human guest, and I’m sure she’s rather frightened at the moment.”
Kneeling next to Reia to check her wellbeing, she tucked her hair behind her ear adorned with gold jewellery that had red rubies dangling from them.
Reia immediately shuffled backwards on her arse when she reached out to touch her shoulder, putting space between herself and the two others in the room.
“She is not afraid,” Jabez stated as he gestured to her. “There is no smell of fear in her scent.”
The woman looked up at him, before turning her gaze back to Reia. She smiled brightly.
“No wonder you’ve survived so long, then.”
“You’re a human,” Reia gasped.
What is a human doing in the Demon King’s castle? Why was this woman in the Veil at all?
“Please, don’t be surprised,” she said, her welcoming gaze deepening. “You’re not the only one that was taken and hidden in the Veil.”
Even though she had a warm expression, her voice had been laden with something. It was almost like she was implying that Reia wasn’t special and shouldn’t pretend she was.
“What’s your name?”
“Reia,” she answered swiftly, unable to stop her eyes from raking over her in confusion.
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Reia.”
She gestured her hand out to Jabez who was standing off to the side with his arms folded as though that was what he did when he was being idle. He looked at her palm, and then cocked his brow at it.
It seemed as though she was about to introduce herself in return, but instead she bit out, “Oh, just help me up for goodness sakes.”
She wiggled her fingers expectantly at Jabez.
With a chuckle, he grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet.
Reia stared at the woman’s hand when she then offered it to help her up as well. Blinking at it, she wasn’t sure what to make of this.
She is being… nice to me. When Reia was taken, she had expected to be terrorized by a heartless maniac. To be threatened to be eaten or something horrible like that. She expected danger and trouble, not for a human woman to greet her welcomingly.
As much as she wanted to smack it away, she didn’t.
She did get to her feet by herself, though.
“What do you want from me?”
What was their plan and how could Reia get herself from being no longer involved in it? I don’t have the amulet. If she tried to run through the Veil back to Orpheus, she wouldn’t be able to do it safely. It’s why he probably took it from me.
She had her sword, but she couldn’t survive an attack from multiple Demons at once. And say she could leave and get through the Veil safely – she still had no way to navigate it.
Will Orpheus come for me? She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Jabez obviously wanted to harm him, and she already didn’t trust this woman simply because she was here with him.
“You got me,” the woman laughed, clapping her hands together with glee. “I want to get you home, that’s all.”
She raised her brow at her with doubt, her shoulders rolling back defiantly.
“Why would you want to help me at all?” Then her upper lip began to lift, and she had to stem the growing want to sneer. Reia hoped her inability to keep her emotions off her face didn’t cause her trouble. “Who said I even wanted help to begin with?”
“Ooo, I like you. You’ve got fight in you, just like me.” She gestured to Reia’s sword on the ground. “I see you know how to wield a sword. Have you been learning so you can kill Orpheus yourself?”