Chapter 39
Theo
Amaris was on the battlefield. Theo couldn’t believe it.
She’d had the nerve to run out here, unarmed no less.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, since she was the most stubborn woman he’d ever met.
His heart had been set ablaze when he kicked the Deavopan soldier off her and he saw her beautiful face.
Seeing her covered in his blood had nearly brought him to his knees. She could’ve been killed.
Theo shook his head. He couldn’t think of Amaris. He needed to find a way to break free to find Adelaide. A sword sliced through the air, but he heaved his own and matched their swing. A face poked out from behind the blade, and Theo stalled, almost dropping his guard.
“Isabel,” he whispered.
The woman with her raised sword and freckled cheeks had bright-orange hair poking out from under the bleeding black dye, but he wasn’t mistaken.
The serpents on her boots glowed against the lightning striking along the skyline.
She wore brown leather armor instead of Deavopan’s military tunics.
Isabel stood before him, but she didn’t seem fazed as she moved with feline grace.
A sharp smirk painted her lips. “Hey, big guy. Apparently, you didn’t figure out my warning.”
Isabel was one of them. The whole time she’d deceived him, or had she?
“You?” Esaias shouted over the rain. “I thought you were destined for a long drop on a short rope.”
Isabel ground her teeth as she skimmed her sword against Theo’s. “Sorry to disappoint,” she said but didn’t remove her gaze from Theo. The black dye continued to seep from her hair, dripping down her face.
Theo held his blade firm. “You knew of the attack. It’s why you stopped me on the docks.”
Isabel scoffed. “And you thought me a lonely woman from Duncaster. Some soldier you are.”
Theo allowed her taunts to roll off his back as he trained his eyes on hers, their golden hue tightening a muscle in his chest. Why did he know those eyes?
Before Theo could contemplate the origin of such a vivid color, she pulled back and pounced on Esaias.
He blocked her lunge, but her feet moved swiftly as she twirled through the rain, grabbing a fallen sword.
Her movements were fluid in the downpour, like she’d done it for years. The droplets were her fueling power.
“You can fuck off to your hovel in the Black Sea,” Esaias barked, spitting blood into the mud. A split lip trickled more down his chin as he breathed.
“But where’s the fun in that?”
Theo and Esaias circled Isabel. How had she escaped the jail? Isabel feinted a lunge and laughed as Esaias stumbled. Twirling her blades, she seemed more amused to toy with them instead of drawing blood.
“Fight us,” Theo shouted.
“Maybe I like to play with my prey before I kill it.” Her golden eyes burned bright, imprinting deeper into Theo’s mind as they flared with her smile.
“Enough of this.” Esaias slashed with his sword, but she rolled out of the way, caking herself in mud as she slid to a stop. With a growl, he charged, and the ring of their blades pierced Theo’s ears.
Theo lunged forward, hitting her other sword to spare Esaias his left flank.
“You’re no fun,” Isabel pouted.
“What do you want?” Theo gritted his teeth.
She inclined a brow, stepping back, but she held her guard with both swords trained on them. “Wealth, power, pride. Take your pick.”
“Pride in what?” Theo snapped. “Killing innocent people?”
“You call yourselves innocent?”
Caught in the shock in her voice, Theo was too slow to block her foot as she slammed it into his knee. He buckled, falling to the ground in a heap as pain and bursts of agony shot up his leg. Isabel raised her sword to end his suffering, but Esaias was there and blocked her blow.
As Theo cradled his knee, attempting to breathe through the pain, Esaias drew away her assault. He gritted his teeth, looming over her like the warrior he was. His next swing sliced her leg and split open her trousers, spilling blood.
Isabel bit her lip, containing her scream as Esaias stepped closer, going in for another attack.
Isabel parried his blow, but her footwork was off as she limped and favored her leg.
Esaias spun his sword, blocking her next few swipes as she threw whatever she had into the fray of their duel.
With a single move, Esaias disarmed her of one blade.
Theo tried to stand, forcing the pain in his knee behind what was left of his mental shields.
With a hiss, he took one step, but his leg buckled again.
He couldn’t stuff his pain down. Isabel watched his movements but regained her focus as Esaias went in for a kill shot.
Isabel ducked, but Esaias clipped the edge of a braid, slicing through her hair.
She reached for the severed end and screamed. “Godwin is falling. While the noble bastards spend their time drowning themselves in luxury, everyone else is left to fend for themselves. People are dying, and you’re too proud to see it!”
“I wouldn’t think someone from Deavopan would care what happened to the common people of Godwin,” Esaias grumbled.
“Who said I was from Deavopan?” Isabel smirked.
“You’re from Godwin?” Esaias staggered from his quest of vengeance.
“I see these countries for what they really are. They’re run by people who only care about lining their pockets.”
“If you truly cared about people dying, then why attack?”
“Casualties are a part of life. These rulers didn’t seem to care when they shipped off good people to war.”
“Did you know someone?” Theo asked, forcing his leg to hold him up, to push the swelling away as he hefted his sword up and angled the blade at her.
Isabel ground her teeth, and the knuckles around her sword burned white. “You all deserve to burn!”
Isabel slid under Esaias’s next attack, but he caught her with his leg, pinning her to the ground. Their blades struck as he pressed her into the mud. She ground her teeth against his crushing strength. Blood leaked from Esaias’s lip, dripping along her forehead.
Theo raised his sword to take the final blow.
The cold metal between his hands froze. The rain washed the remaining dye from her hair, and her bright orange shown through.
Her golden eyes widened as he approached.
Theo sucked in a breath, his feet unmoving as he took in the familiar sight, those eyes once again filled with fear before the light faded from them.
Isabel’s gaze darted between Theo and Esaias.
She took Theo’s moment of reprieve and slid her leg out from under Esaias and kicked Theo’s knee again.
His scream and collapse snapped Esaias’s head up, but it was all she needed.
She drove her legs into Esaias’s chest, grabbed her other sword, and began her stumbling retreat.
“Elizabeth!” Theo screamed after her.
She whipped around, her feet taking slow steps back as her chest heaved. “It’s Isabel now.”
“Elizabeth, as in Harwood?” Esaias gasped.
Theo didn’t know how he couldn’t see it before. That same smirk graced her lips, and those eyes, ones he saw for years and smiled and laughed with.
“Nate’s little sister,” Theo breathed, grasping his knee.
Isabel stiffened at the sound of her brother’s name. Her feet continued to carry her back, but she raised her sword and pointed it at Theo. “Don’t you dare speak his name.”
“You’ve known. You knew who I was in Duncaster,” Theo said. “Why are you with Deavopan, the Accords?”
“Your father sent him to his death!”
Theo didn’t need to stand any closer to know tears streaked her cheeks. “Elizabeth, your parents—”
“It’s Isabel,” she spat. “They lost it when Nate died. Your father destroyed my family. You have no idea what life is like outside the safety of your manor walls, and you never will.” She turned and ran.
Theo forced his body forward, limping as he attempted to chase after her. Nate’s death had driven her to treason, to desert her own people. Esaias grabbed a hold of his arm, halting him as Isabel disappeared, lost to the darkness.
“She’s a traitor!”
“It’s Nate’s sister, Esaias. I can’t leave her.”
“You will, because we have greater problems. We need to get you inside,” he said, eyeing Theo’s leg.
“I’m fine,” Theo lied, already feeling his knee swelling against his trousers. “We’re going to the beach.” Theo needed to find Adelaide first, then he’d track down Isabel.
“Adelaide,” Esaias breathed.
Theo took another limp forward, summoning whatever he had left to fight.
“Theo, what if—”
“I won’t entertain what ifs,” Theo shouted at him. “I’m going to find my sister.”
Adelaide could be fighting for her life on that beach or worse. Theo ripped the remnants of his shirt and wrapped it around his knee, biting his lip against the ache. He clawed at the fissure in his mind, begging it to restitch and hold the pain.
Esaias nodded, and they took off toward the beach, taking the empty path along the southern border.
A few duels were scattered about, but it wasn’t the chaos ensuing past the gardens.
Theo stopped upon reaching the sand, his knee threatening to buckle on the uneven terrain.
He couldn’t force it back without allowing the creature to fully infest his mind.
“Are you sure you’re able to fight?” Esaias asked, staring at Theo’s swollen knee.
“I can fight,” Theo hissed, but the swelling was already pressing against the wrap. He had to keep moving, for Adelaide.
“Is that…?” Esaias pointed to a discarded jacket.
In a mix between a shuffle and limp, Theo dropped before the jacket and grabbed the leather coat in his hands.
Adelaide. His eyes skimmed the dark surface of the beach, hoping she’d found a place to stand her ground, but all he saw were drag marks in the sand with a trail of blood leading to the water.
“Knowing Adelaide, it’s not hers,” Esaias whispered with a hand resting on Theo’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.” He sheathed his sword and ran to a longboat.
Adelaide’s jacket slipped through Theo’s trembling fingers. He couldn’t bear another loss or what Adelaide was enduring on Deavopan’s ship. It was the war all over again, his squad and now his sister. He took a ragged breath and stood.
As they rowed through the violent waves of the ocean he loved dearly, he scanned the waters for the rest of their fleet. No other ships lurked in the darkness accept the single galleon wading in the bay. They reached the hull, and Esaias grabbed the rope ladder and began to climb.
Esaias scaled the ropes, and Theo followed him, attempting to push the pain deeper with each step. Theo braced himself against the hull, taking short bursts of air through pursed lips. He hefted himself up.
“I’m a soldier,” he repeated to himself. “I fight and I live.” He wheezed as he climbed. He wanted to crumple to the ground but couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Adelaide was aboard this ship. I fight and I live.
Theo and Esaias climbed over the railing.
The emptiness set the hair along Theo’s neck to spike, and he gazed eerily around the ship.
They moved across the wooden planks, each one creaking below their steps.
Not a single soldier emerged to challenge them.
The rain pelted their skin, but maybe the roaring of the storm hid their arrival.
He spotted the opening in the floorboards leading to the lower decks.
Readying his sword and dagger, Theo moved as swiftly as he could across the open deck to avoid being spotted.
He ignored any bits of growing emotions swirling within, but they still lingered in the back of his mind.
He needed to control them or they would get them killed.
“What are you two doing here?” a woman shouted through the rain.
They whirled around, ready to fight, but it wasn’t Isabel. A warrior clad in black armor flipped her golden hair and twin braids from her face. She stood with a sword still sheathed at her back, a bow and arrow notched in hand. She drew back, her hazel eyes staring them down.