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My vision was blurring as the lack of oxygen was starting to get to me. My legs were kicking in hopes of finding the surface, but I continued being dangled in the air and close to blackening out.
"I said, put Apollyon down!" Antonia's voice grew louder.
"Or what, little human? What will you do? And better yet, why do you care? They're nothing but disposable creatures. If they die, they can be reincarnated as new beasts and continue on with their lives."
Antonia's seethed with anger the longer I struggled to remain conscious. I shiver ran up my spine, but I wasn't in the right state to figure out what it could be. Antonia stomped closer to Orpheus.
"I won't tell you again. Let. Him. Go!" Antonia shoved him back, but when she did, a pulse of red magic rippled, catching Orpheus off guard and had him stumbling back. The shock also had him loosening his grip on my neck.
I fell to the ground, hunched over on my hands and knees as I coughed and took in a large sum of air.
"Shit, are you okay?" Antonia rushed to my side, rubbing circles along my back while I steadied my breathing.
"F-Fine," I wheezed out. Now she was the one saving me. Either she progressed farther in her magic lesson than I anticipated, or that display was unplanned. My guess was the latter.
"Well, well, well, this is a turn of events," Orpheus purred in delight, his usual stance tall and proud now that the shock value wore off. "It seems the human has a few tricks up her sleeve. And yet I can still sense your soul, which tells me you were born with it. Tell me, my dear, what is your name?"
Antonia looked like she wanted to punch him but was wisely restraining herself. "Antonia DeLuna."
"Antoniaaa." Orpheus spoke her name like a prayer, tasting the word on his tongue and seeming to like it. "And what is a born-witch like you doing in a place like this?"
"She belongs to me." We all turned to see Deimos stepping forward with Helios and Xaphan in toe, both in their hellhound forms and itching to sink their claws into our intruder. "As you can rightfully sense, she has magic in her blood and demon essence in her soul. Alive or dead, her soul is bound to me. She's mine, so I suggest you leave her alone before I decide to get serious and kill you."
Antonia's brow furrowed with questions that she didn't bother asking. Not now at least. Instead, she helped me to my feet and stepped back behind Deimos now that he was taking charge. From behind Orpheus, we could see Abaddon also shifted and was right in position to strike if given the command. The rest of the hellhound legions that were present at dinner all were in their monster forms and moved closer, essentially boxing Orpheus in. If he so much as sneezed wrong, Deimos would have us piling onto him before Orpheus would get the chance to retaliate.
"This is more fascinating than I realized. I'm sure Father would love to hear about this, but I'll keep quiet for the time being. At least until I have all my facts straight and find out what it is about this girl that makes you stake a claim on her," Orpheus said.
"Come near her again, and I will send you back to Father in pieces," Deimos snarled his final warning. "Now get out of my court before I throw you out myself."
"Touchy, touchy, big brother. You really should work on that anger problem of yours. Perhaps that's why Father felt you'd be more suited for the title of Prince of Wrath. You certainly got the wrath part down." Orpheus turned and started walking back out, the hellhounds parting down the middle to let him leave. As he exited through the open doors, he got the last word in by saying, "I'll see you again, Antonia DeLuna."
Now that the threat was gone, we were finally able to let out a sigh of relief. But we knew our troubles were just beginning.
"Everyone, clear out!" Deimos roared out his order. "I want everyone out of this dining hall immediately!"
Nobody needed to be told twice. Monsters began scattering frantically out of the room in an uproar. Several conversations were happening all at once, wondering about Orpheus and what the deal was about Antonia. Speaking of which, she was hugging herself while literally shaken up about the whole thing. Helios immediately shifted back to his human form and rushed to comfort her. Not at all taken back by his current state of undress, Antonia buried her face into his chest and choked out a sob. Helios' arms wrapped protectively around her.
"Don't worry. He won't get to you again," Helios softly assured her.
"What do we do now?" Xaphan asked. "You know Orpheus isn't going to let this go, Master Deimos."
"I know," Deimos retorted in a clipped tone. "I want you all to follow me into the throne room at once. We have a lot to discuss."
Chapter12
Antonia
It was crazy how one messy dinner shifted my mood from an all-time high, to an all-time low. I learned magic today. Not only was I able to conduct fire with my mind, but Helios wanted me to try the next spell right away, which was levitating objects. Much like with the fire, after multiple failed attempts combined with Helios' encouragement and wandering hands sending jolts of pleasure through me, I was successful at making a glass orb float in midair. Surprising to me, I felt good about myself. This was the most satisfying day I'd had in a long time.
Far too long now that I thought about it. It was hard to feel like my life had meaning or accomplishments when your husband would pay you no mind. Even the rare moments when I felt pride over a fancy dinner I cooked or finding new details on my birth family, they were quickly deflated by a few nasty remarks from Bal.
With Helios it was different. He never belittled me or made me feel terrible for struggling. Never once did he look at me with annoyance or made me feel like training me would be a waste of his time. He never complained. He would only encourage me to try again, which in turn, made me want to keep trying until I got it right.
Then there was the touching and teasing involved. How my body responded to every slow advance of his hands on my body. With every smooth caress my body tingled with electric currents of pleasure coursing through me. At first, I thought something was wrong with me for moving on from Bal so suddenly. Even if he did try to kill me, I was still married to him for five years. I would've assumed I needed more time to move on with my life before catching feelings for someone else, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I never felt this way with Bal before. I knew there was a time I did love him, but maybe that love died long before I realized it was happening.
Maybe that was why it didn't bother me more than it should when Deimos visited me in the bathtub that night.
Being Balthazar's wife was a role I'd gotten so used to being, but I wasn't in love.
