A Soul to Keep

A Soul to Keep is a 2022 fantasy and paranormal romance novel by Australian author Opal Reyne. Reyne’s writing often features plot-driven romance with a variety of mythological creatures and humans from diverse backgrounds. A Soul to Keep is the first book in the Duskwalker Brides series, which contains six books about romances between the Duskwalkers/Mavka and human or elf romantic interests. Every 10 years, the Duskwalker Orpheus, a demon-like creature with a wolf skull for a face, demands a human sacrifice in exchange for protecting a local village from other demons. When Reia Salvias’s village chooses her as their offering, she expects to encounter a monster, but the lonely Orpheus is looking for a human companion, and Reia finds herself unexpectedly captivated by him even as she yearns for freedom. In addition to the Duskwalker Brides series, Reyne has written the Witch Bound series and A Pirate Romance duology.

This guide refers to the 2022 Kindle edition of A Soul to Keep. 

Content Warning: The source text includes references to sexual assault, sexual coercion, and abuse.

Plot Summary

In a world where demons lurk in the forests and hunt and eat humans, most people live in villages with spiked walls and guards to keep demons at bay. Ever since Reia Salvias’s family and a group of demonslayers were killed when she was seven, the villagers have believed Reia’s presence attracts demons. She is forced to live in a house at the edge of the village, where she is fed scraps and socially ostracized. Now, the town plans to offer the 26-year-old Reia as a sacrifice to the Duskwalker, a demon-like creature that visits once a decade to perform a protection spell in exchange for a human offering.

Orpheus, the Duskwalker, or Mavka as he is called in the Veil where he and the demons live, arrives to take Reia as his sacrifice. He does not smell fear on her, which is the scent that motivates demons and Mavka to eat humans. Orpheus and Reia begin the journey back to the Veil. They are attacked by demonslayers before they reach the Veil. One of the men uses Reia as bait for Orpheus, but Orpheus kills him and the other demonslayers before nearly eating Reia. Reia laughs when Orpheus puts his jaws over her head, which draws him out of his frenzy and lets him return to his more human personality. He sniffs Reia and licks her neck, which she finds seductive. Reia asks what she must do to become Orpheus’s bride, and he tells her that she must offer him her soul.

They make it the rest of the way to the Veil and to Orpheus’s house, which is a well-appointed log cabin in a clearing. Orpheus places a salt circle and protective trinkets around the clearing to keep demons out. He hand-bathes Reia with a magic oil to remove her human scent, which arouses her. The next day, Reia settles into the new routine of gathering vegetables to make soup, spending time outside, and helping Orpheus make protective trinkets to guard their house and clearing. Orpheus hopes that Reia will want to remain with him as his companion, as she takes an interest in learning about his magic and asking him about his past. Still, Reia is conflicted about her feelings for Orpheus. After having an erotic dream about him, she wakes to Orpheus atop her, having smelled her desire.

Reia panics about their intimate encounter and flees. The Arachnid Demon of Sorrows attacks her, and she hallucinates about her deceased family. Orpheus arrives and saves her, taking her home before collapsing from the demon's venom. Reia drags him across the salt circle barrier, disturbing the magic and allowing demons in. She attacks the demons that come after her and Orpheus with a sword. She tends to Orpheus’s wounds, seeing his body for the first time. When Orpheus wakes, he kills the demons lurking outside and remakes the protection barriers. Reia tells him about her past, her dead family, and her reputation. Orpheus tells her that she isn’t a harbinger of bad omens. He also tells her about a town ruled by a demon king; Reia wants to go, but Orpheus is unsure. 

Reia is visited by the Witch Owl, a powerful entity that brought Orpheus a protective diadem for his humans. Orpheus begins training Reia in sword fighting. They are visited by another Duskwalker who is less intelligent than Orpheus as he has eaten fewer humans. The other Duskwalker wants a human companion, and Orpheus hesitantly agrees to help him. Reia starts her period, and the smell of her blood makes Orpheus want to hunt her, so he stays outside. She wakes up to him on top of her and manages to calm him before touching him intimately. 

Orpheus leaves, and Reia makes a decorative gift with beads and bells for Orpheus to wear on his antelope horns. The other Duskwalker visits and asks her questions about humanity. He protects her after she is attacked by a flying demon. Orpheus returns, and he and Reia have a disagreement. She demands they all go to the demon village to help the other Duskwalker obtain the materials he needs to build a house. She helps Orpheus experience empathy for the lonely Duskwalker, and he finally agrees to disguise her as a Duskwalker and take her. In town, they obtain clothing, food, and building materials. The Witch Owl lures Reia to a bookstore and guides her to a book on sword fighting techniques, fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, and a book on magical creatures. 

When Orpheus and Reia return home, she gives him the gift she made him, and they have sexual intercourse. Reia and Orpheus both share the pain of their past: Reia’s abuse by her village and Orpheus’s first companion choosing to leave him for the Demon King. Orpheus offers to kill the men who hurt her. When Orpheus goes to get water, Jabez the Demon King appears and kidnaps Reia, taking her to his castle. Distraught, Orpheus journeys to save her. At the castle, Reia meets Katerina, Orpheus’s first companion, who is now Jabez’s lover. She tells Reia that she hated Orpheus and felt coerced to have sex with him as she saw him as a monster. Reia plays along while privately disagreeing, knowing how kind and caring Orpheus truly is. Jabez reveals that he is half-demon and half-elf, cast out from his world due to his hybrid status. He wants to raise a demon army to eventually destroy the elves, and he hates the Duskwalkers because they refuse to join him. Katerina tells Reia that she plans to kill Orpheus, using Reia as bait. Jabez smells Reia’s fear of losing Orpheus, revealing her true loyalties. Jabez restrains her as Orpheus arrives. 

When Orpheus reaches the castle, Katerina pretends to still want him and lies that Reia has taken her place with Jabez. Reia escapes Jabez and stabs Katerina, killing her. Jabez stabs Reia. As she dies in Orpheus’s arms, she gives him her soul. Her body fades into dust, and Orpheus thinks she died. He attacks Jabez, who confirms that Reia is dead. Orpheus returns home. Reia wakes, floating above Orpheus. She realizes she has become a phantom and can turn physical at will. When Orpheus returns to the safety of their home, Reia turns physical and comforts him, stating that she is still alive but is now a phantom anchored to him. They then have sexual intercourse and confess their love for each other. 

The next day, Reia sees the Witch Owl in her human form, who reveals that she is the mother of the Duskwalkers. Once a human, she became a phantom like Reia and mated with the void, a spirit of darkness. She warns Reia that as a phantom, it is possible for her to become pregnant with Orpheus’s child, but there is magic he can use to prevent it. Later, Orpheus is out hunting when Reia appears beside him, illustrating the strength of their anchor bond. She remains with him while he hunts and reminds him of his promise to kill the men who wronged her, especially the ringleader. She asks him to offer the man to the other Duskwalker to eat so he can become more human and intelligent.