Chapter 11
Eleven
DEMITRIA
W armth.
Demitria didn’t know when the cavern had gotten so warm. The night had grown cold rather quickly, almost to the point of freezing, as if a layer of frost had swept over the cavern, turning her core to ice. She’d curled up as close to the burning embers of the fire as she could last night, watching as the flames danced across the walls. Willing the heat to envelope her in its warm embrace until she’d drifted off into a deep sleep, and it had still barely been enough to keep her from shivering.
Her eyes wouldn’t open. Reveling in the heat that now radiated through her. Reminding her of the community back home. The warmth of her bed, curling up with the quilt that Jace had Stella make for her birthday a few years ago. It had been mostly cotton, made up of an array of greens, purples, and blue fabric. He’d spent months slowly gathering the supplies needed for it, acquiring most from the traders, but others he’d gotten from their trips beyond the walls. The trips that she hadn’t been able to go on with him. Demitria remembered the crippling anxiety waiting for him to return. That feeling of complete helplessness as she spent each day pacing the streets wondering if he’d come home. She couldn’t think about the community any more. Going home wasn’t an option now, not with the price on her head. Unless she found some way to get out and figure all this shit out, she wouldn’t see them again. Wouldn’t see Jace again, and she didn’t know what unnerved her more. The realization of never seeing his smile again, or her impending death at the hands of the Horseman.
Stretching the aches from her limbs from several nights of sleeping on a cold, hard surface, Demitria froze. Breath catching in her throat as the solid wall of muscle behind her stirred, ripping her from the sleep induced grogginess. It took a heartbeat for that fogginess to pass before she was pulling the dagger from the sheath around her thigh. The Horseman hadn’t taken her blade back last night, but from what she’d gathered, it was nothing more than him being cocky. Knowing he was invincible. That she couldn’t touch him. She’d show him.
Demitria turned around in haste, rolling her body so she was face to face with the wall of heat.
“Get your filthy hands off me before I end your life right here, right now.” Dagger pressed hard to his chest, her every word laced with venom.
The Horseman’s laugh reverberated throughout her entire body and she fought every bone that threatened to shiver at its warmth.
“This again? You couldn’t kill me if you tried.” He grinned. “You humans are so fickle. You should be thanking me for keeping you alive. You were pale and cold as ice when I looked over.” Every breath he took seemed to feather over her skin and she cringed at the closeness. “Had I not moved over when I did, I doubt you would have woken from that sleep.”
She’d like to think he’d been so generous as to keep her from perishing in the night, but she knew better. Knew he wanted something from her, but that didn’t negate the fact that he’d saved her life… again.
“You should have left me to die. Wasn’t that why we’re here? What’s ending my life that bit sooner?”
“So quick to forfeit your life, are we? Contrary to what you might think, I’m not the bloodthirsty monster you’ve conjured up in your mind. My purpose is balance, and I want to know why the council really wants you dead.”
It hadn’t taken much for him to give up his real reasoning behind keeping her alive, and the admission surprised her.
“Killing you now won’t give me the answers that I seek.”
“You are exactly what I think you are and nothing more. War, bringer of destruction.” Demitria meant for her words to bite, she could only hope they did. All of them were nothing more than monsters. She didn’t care what any of these beings said, it didn’t change how she felt.
“Kellan,” He said, “My name is Kellan. My siblings and I are the four Horsemen, but not in the sense that you humans think. I bring destruction when it is needed, but keeping the balance is what I live by.”
“Ok Kellan ,” She emphasized his name for show. “You are nothing more than those fucking creatures that attacked my home. Remember that.”
“A thank you would suffice?”
“I have nothing to thank you for.” Sheathing her dagger, Demitria rolled her body away faster than needed before scrambling to her feet and brushing herself off.
“You have everything to thank me for.” Azure eyes brightened as he followed suit, getting to his feet far more casually than she had with that unearthly grace of all beings like him. She hated that he was right. That he’d kept her alive when he shouldn’t have.
“Thank you.” She bit out, hands curling into fists at her side. Some sick, twisted part of her felt as if she owed him something, and she hated that too.
“Was that so hard?” He laughed, turning his back to her as if he didn’t view her as a threat before sheathing the weapons that had been tossed haphazardly to the side of the small fire he’d built the night before.
She found herself angry once more.
“You are unbelievable…” Demitria clenched her jaw tight, feeling the pressure ache in her teeth as her features contorted with rage. “We should get going.” Not daring to turn even a glance at him, she pulled the cloak tight around her body before wandering to the mounts at the back.
Atlas let out a soft nicker at her approach. A smile stretched across her face. Without being able to return home, he was her rock. Her only ties to Solis. Her arms found their way around his neck as the sigh left her lips.
“What are we going to do, boy?” She said, no more than a whisper, but she knew Kellan had heard. She didn’t care. If it made her look weak, so be it. She’d lost her home—again—the day he found her. Watched it get torn away as he picked her off Atlas, pinning her to the ground. She could see it in his eyes. She’d known she wouldn’t be returning home right then and there, despite her protests. Her fighting.
Letting loose one last sigh she made quick work on readying Atlas. He stood patiently as she slipped the bridle over his large head, taking the bit with ease. The worn leather buckled easily at his cheek. Craning his neck, he looked at her expectantly, nudging her with the soft velvet of his nose. Demitria couldn’t help but stare into his soft, large brown eyes. They were kind. Soulful. She couldn’t even begin to think about the destruction he’d most likely seen. The worlds he had been to. His master had been cruel from the moment she’d set eyes upon him. The way the angel discarded him as if his life was worthless. Like he’d been nothing but a tool, despite the loyalty the horse had probably shown him.
It wasn’t her that grounded him. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to forgive herself if it was. The man who had, did not live to see his next day, an angel having slaughtered him moments later. It was brutal and gruesome when Atlas fell. His cry as he hit the ground, wings torn away as he bled out on the ground beyond Solis, was something Demitria didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget. The sound was haunting.
He was the one creature she’d ever cared for. The one being she couldn’t bring herself to hate. She wanted to hate everything about the beings and creatures that had taken over her home, yet one look into his wounded eyes had shown her everything. She knew he didn’t like the fighting any more than she did. Here, horses were peaceful creatures. Majestic. She could only assume that his kind was similar. The wings had been the biggest difference, his brain a close second. Atlas was one of the smartest creatures she had ever known. Attuned to the world around him. He acted as if he understood the words they’d speak. Sometimes she swore he even knew what she was thinking.
The day something should happen to him would be the day another little piece of her died. Demitria didn’t have much left. He and Jace were it. She was already losing Jace. Losing them both would probably kill her.