He’d bathed Reia like he needed to, but his hands had been more rushed than usual. He’d been excited to do this with her again after what the last one had led to, hoping she may want him to touch her so intimately again. It had brought him great enjoyment to watch her supple body twitch, contort, and tense due to his fingers. To have her shiver with his tongue on her neck. To hear the little cries, her pants. To feel inside her warm cunt and have it ripple around his digits while she came for him, because of him.
He liked that word, liked how abrupt it was, and liked that she’d given him permission to wield it.
Every ounce of his control had been tested. His cock had been hard, fully engorged, and near-bursting with deep throbs. He’d wanted to feel it again, to be that filled with desire that he was a thread away from losing control while being able to tell her what he wanted to do with her. To have her moan in reaction rather than be terrified that Orpheus desired her.
The pain he’d endured was worth it.
He wanted to know if it would happen again.
Despite his excitement for it, he couldn’t stay and linger. He was thankful she hadn’t asked him to as he knew he would have been torn in wanting to touch her and wanting to protect her.
Currently, outside was dangerous.
Rain was pouring in hard drops, and he knew one or two of his trinkets would fall apart under their force. If that happened, if they all fell, Demons would be able to break inside with ease.
He didn’t know if his rushed touch had elicited desire within her, but he told her he had to be quick in order to return to his duty of protecting her and the house.
It had happened before in the past. Orpheus had lost a human due to a storm and vowed it would never happen again.
Since he hadn’t had time, had forgotten due to his interest in her cooking, he asked if she would make him spare trinkets while he patrolled. The fact he could ask this of her because she’d been willing to learn and could aid him made him feel pride in her when he’d checked them and saw they were suitable.
It was only when the early hours of morning crept in that the clouds ceased their angry tears and started to clear away.
The ground was soaked and muddied. He worried how Reia would react when he told her she couldn’t leave the safety of the house by herself to sit in the garden until the dirt dried so he could carve a new circle and fill it with salt.
But, when she did awaken, Orpheus took her outside, under his intense and watchful gaze, so he could show her something quickly.
Her beaming smile sent a shudder through him. It wasn’t for him, so it didn’t send desire through him strong enough to change his vision, but it still brought him great contentment at seeing it.
“The garden is full!” she squealed, running forward despite his earlier warning to stay with him.
She started touching the leaves of the strawberry bush that had almost been picked clean, which was now full and much larger than it had originally been. The raspberry bush that she loved, but had been destroyed, was just as large and bore ripe and fresh berries.
Even all the vegetables she’d taken had resprouted, and he saw there was a small tree with yellow oval pieces on it. He’d never seen that tree before, and he didn’t know what fruit or vegetable it sprouted.
Everything smelt clean, ripe, and fresh. Water droplets clung to leaves and their meat, glistening in the light that was trying to shine through the remaining clouds.
“What happened?” she asked, walking over to the strange new tree and pulled a yellow oval piece from it. “The lemon tree wasn’t here before.”
He followed her like a shadow.
“The Witch Owl conjured it.”
He’d seen her dancing around the garden through the night, flapping her wings upwards into the air in a motion that was like she was pulling something while bouncing on her bird legs. He’d been curious as to what she was doing, but since she wasn’t causing any harm, he let her be.
It was also best that he didn’t attack her. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to harm her since she was overflowing with strange, dark magic. She smelt foul of it, a sourly, stomach-churning scent.
She’d also helped him. During the time he had his first human, the one he’d built this home for, the Witch Owl had come to him. She was the one who told him of the salt circle and the protection charm trinkets. She was the one that informed him if she willingly gave him her soul – since it could not be taken – then his human would live with him always, safe even in the Veil without his protection.
“This is wonderful. If you go hunting, this will all last so much longer. I was worried that I would have little to eat but there’s even more here than before.” She pointed to the new leaves that hid vegetables below the ground. “It’s as if she knew what I liked and made extra grow for me.”