A Soul to Keep

Reia takes a long bath, and the woman watches as Reia dresses. When she sees the scars from Orpheus’s magic on her abdomen, she realizes that Orpheus and Reia have had sex. The woman reveals that she has also had sex with Orpheus and that she is Katerina, Orpheus’s first companion, kept alive by Jabez’s magic. Jabez is part demon and part elf, which is shocking to Reia as she did not think elves were real. Katerina tells Reia that she hates Orpheus for stealing her from her home and that she had sex with him because she thought he’d eat her if she refused. Reia realizes that Katerina never got to know Orpheus and only viewed him as a monstrous Duskwalker, not as a being full of empathy and kindness. She lets Katerina speak negatively about Orpheus and feigns gratitude for the rescue and the food Katerina offers her. Katerina leaves and informs her servants are waiting outside the door if Reia needs anything, which hinders Reia’s ideas about escape.