Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Theo watched her jaw drop as she found the sea of glowworms above. Her face was like every newcomer’s when they first set foot in here, wonderstruck. The Azure Chasm was the epicenter of Elkron Fortress, his underground stronghold.
Everyone in his company surrounding the dim, viridescent fire looked only at her. Callum and Manos occupied the same bench. Fee, a slender little thing, more feline than female, lifted her head off Breyer’s shoulder to get a better look.
Theo had sensed Helaina the moment she had awakened.
That tether between them gave a slight tug of acknowledgment.
Her room had been carefully selected, closest to his own, to ensure she didn’t do anything stupid.
Having her so close had made it very difficult to rest, not that he slept much anyway.
Her presence here, in the same room, was even more vexatious. Theo’s mind was raging from that internal pull. He couldn’t think straight. And although he appeared unfazed on the outside, the sight of that gaunt body made him furious.
“Who the fuck is this?” Breyer, one of the eldest in his company, pointed her clawlike nails in Helaina’s direction.
Her scarlet hair was pulled tight atop her head, allowing her pointed ears to show.
Small braids decorated with various beads were woven into her scalp.
He always liked that about Breyer, always dressed and ready for battle.
No one answered her, but Helaina’s attention shot to them, letting her sharp look of distaste speak for itself.
“A new pet, perhaps?” Breyer mused. The word pet made Helaina’s lips curl. “A scrawny stray you found wandering in the forest?” Breyer eyed the new recruit up and down as the girl stared right back, not balking, not backing up an inch.
Theo realized he should have communicated his plans before now. Usually when he brought in a new recruit, it was well known within the ranks. Helaina was an unexpected outsider, and no matter how weak and harmless she appeared, she was anything but.
He should have allowed those outside the Troika to understand where they were going and who they were hunting.
He knew that if this girl was who he suspected, bringing her here meant he was putting everyone in unquestionable danger.
But as commander he didn’t feel like subjecting himself to scrutiny.
On the other hand, if his plan was to work . . . if he could mold her . . .
“She is a guest.” Theo sat forward, adjusting his leather gauntlets.
The muscles in his arms felt strained when she was near.
He thought perhaps loosening the ties might ease the tension.
Most soldiers here wore fur-lined leathers to protect them from the chilled mountain air.
Theo never got cold, not even in the most dreadful of winters.
His leather cuirass was thin and airy with two wide slits placed at his shoulder blades.
Callum and Manos shared a sharp glance before returning to their copper mugs of ale.
They had purposely taken days to get back, searching the open roads for any sign of the undead.
Manos had held her mind in unconscious suspension until they arrived.
They had no additional encounters, much to Callum’s chagrin.
Throughout the journey, Callum’s annoyance with her was more than clear. He held a lot of resentment toward royals in general. They never had to sleep in the dirt, wondering where their next meal would come from. Callum and his brother, Aaron, knew that life all too well.
His lieutenant rarely talked about his mortal years.
When he did, Callum spoke of days without food or clean water.
Sometimes the scraps they gathered were only enough for one mouth.
Callum was the eldest and made sure whatever they had went to Aaron.
They had begged until they were old enough to steal.
Theo had sensed godly blood coursing through their veins as they entered adulthood. The old gifts of the world were quite rare, but sometimes it was like that, both siblings displaying the signs. These days it was usually only one in a family’s generation that possessed what he needed.
Callum had made him feel like a savior back then.
Taking them in after years of surviving on the streets.
It didn’t matter that Theo had the most intolerable temper and gave them no sympathy during their training.
It didn’t matter that the asking price was an eternity of killing.
In fact, he was certain Callum adored that part of his position.
What did matter was the fact that Theo had given them something they never had—a home.
At this moment, the sight of that scar across Helaina’s throat made Theo forget all of that.
It made him want to blacken one of Callum’s eyes, although he wasn’t sure why.
He had many females in his army, and they fought just the same as everyone else, earning similar wounds.
That scar had come from her sheer desperation for death.
She was indeed broken, but she had a vicious side, too—he had seen it when she tried to knife him in the neck.
He needed to bring that side to the surface.
Despite her weak appearance, their short time together had proved her to be a handful. Of the qualities he had gathered about her, it was her fear that intrigued him the most.
“Guest . . . or prisoner?” Helaina finally asked.
“Were you greeted with a barred cell or an open door?” Callum replied lazily, sipping his drink, his filthy boots propped up on a stool.
Theo’s lips formed a flat line. He had thought about locking her up in the dungeons.
He wasn’t sure what exactly she was capable of yet, but she looked so delicate.
Especially after her little fainting spell at the camp.
He’d decided the risk of allowing her to stay among the others was slim.
Realistically there was nowhere for her to run.
No point in shackling her like an animal if she wouldn’t get very far.
“I could have woken up in a palace, and it wouldn’t change the fact that you stole me in the night.
” Although her voice grew bolder, Theo sensed a ripple of fear oozing through her pores.
Yet her expression remained unfazed, a mask of sorts.
She had mastered hiding her true emotions, it seemed. An impressive trick.
Breyer couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Stole you? For what? Bait for some snares?”
Fee laughed at her lover’s snide comment.
Breyer developed a devious smile. “She is beautiful. Mostly skin and bones, but that face, she’s probably bewitched her fair share.” She peered at the girl, speaking as if she wasn’t standing right there before her.
Fee gave her a side-eyed glance.
“I’m sure you three will have such fun with whatever it is you have planned.”
Theo grew annoyed. “Both of you . . . out.”
Breyer’s teasing stopped, her posture deflated from confident warrior to scared child.
He hated that he made her look that way, that she was still afraid of him. She would always be afraid. That type of fear he could never savor. The endless kind he never intended to put there.
Attempting to distract himself, he homed in on that enticing dread dancing up and down Helaina’s bones. He licked his lips. Her smell was pure saccharine.
The two fae abruptly stood, hand in hand. Breyer gave one last glare in the princess’s direction. The sound of their boots crunching on loose rock faded as they exited down one of the many open tunnels.
“Where am I?” Helaina asked.
“Elkron. Fortress under the mountains,” Callum answered.
The girl went rigid, fisting her hands at her sides. “Which mountains?” The inquiry came out as a rage-filled whisper.
“Ash Cliff,” Callum replied frankly, giving the princess a fiendish wink.
Theo heard her breathing pick up at the mention of Ash Cliff.
The mortals shared stories of this enchanted place.
The only thing they got wrong was thinking the mountain itself was the barrier keeping the monsters at bay.
The mountain held no power. It was them, the Divine Allura, that kept out the darkness.
Up until things started falling apart, at least.
Theo had investigated the border many times, trying to understand how the enemy was getting through. He was always left with zero clues and countless bloody scenes. Death had become far too common in the last twenty years. He had to end it.
“Why did you bring me here?” Her voice shook.
Unlike the toned and tall figures of his female soldiers, Helaina was rail thin, a fraction above five feet tall. Long, unkempt hair, milky-white skin. He guessed she had never participated in any type of hard labor or training.
Of course not, she was a princess of Keles. She probably spent her time swooning over princes and planning extravagant parties. Everything handed to her at the snap of a finger.
That would change soon.
Always the most rational of the three, Manos attempted easing the girl’s apprehension. “We apologize for the unexpected and rather . . . rough extraction, it’s not how we normally do things.” He delivered the line with his signature calm.
Theo noticed her reach for her throat, cupping that thin scar along the edge of her neck.
“‘Rough’ is a kind way to describe it . . . and you didn’t answer my question. Why am I here?”
Callum stood. “You did that to yourself. You should be thanking us. If I hadn’t gotten there in time, you would have taken the coward’s way out and put that pathetic knife through your chest. We saved you. You’re alive because of us.”
Theo couldn’t help but agree. Her actions were cowardly. How dare she try to surrender her mortal life so willingly? His very existence was centered around defending the gods’ creations, and here she was offering herself as some sort of sacrifice.
Her head jerked toward Callum, her balled-up fists almost white from clenching so tight.
“You didn’t save me! You stole me. You’re no better than a common thief.
I couldn’t care less about someone like you calling me a coward, you worthless swine!
” She bent down, snatching the closest stray rock and hurling it toward his lieutenant.
She struck her mark, hitting him directly in the temple.
Callum hissed, bringing his hand up to meet a bead of bright-red blood dripping down his hairline.
Theo knew his lieutenant was faster than that. He could have blocked that blow ten different ways.
Manos was trying to hold in a laugh. His amusement disappeared when he saw Theo stand.
As pitiful as her attempts had been, her violent outbursts needed to be reined in.
She wouldn’t get special treatment, even at this point of pure desperation.
Today it was a small stone, tomorrow she could be bringing this whole damned mountain down.
He knew what she was capable of, even if she didn’t.
Helaina retreated a step.
“Throw another. I dare you.” His approach was strategically calm, like a lion hunting his next meal.
“Theo . . . don’t.” Callum almost sounded like he felt sorry for the girl.
Theo threw him a ferocious glare. “Stay out of it.”
Callum put his hands up in surrender, then swiped a finger beside his eye to dry more blood.
Helaina’s shoulders shrank inward as Theo turned back to her, his muscular build dwarfing hers.
She staggered backward until her back was flush with the rock wall. The glow from the worms above shrouded them both in aquamarine. She barely looked up as he closed in on her. Like she thought that could hide her somehow.
Theo only halted his approach when his nose was inches from her forehead as he craned his neck down to meet her short stature.
He planted both palms on either side of her shoulders, caging her in.
“The next time you hurl an object . . . or a pathetic insult, it’s your last,” he warned. “Do you understand me?”
She didn’t speak.
“Answer me.”
She brought her molten-silver eyes up to meet his feral gaze. They looked otherworldly in the light of the glowworms.
His hard face softened into pure awe. Those eyes would haunt him every night until the end of time.
Clarity swept through him. “Tell me, how long have you been hiding? How long have you known?” The invisible connection blazed in his chest, an unwavering inner voice making itself known.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Another lie.
She mustered up some courage and formed a question. “Who are you?”
“I’ll start being honest with you when you offer the same, Highness.”
She reacted with the commanding tone of a princess. “Tell me why your men brought me here.”
Theo didn’t offer an answer, his thoughts swimming with the path ahead. He had brought many recruits here in much worse condition. He had the power to stop all this madness standing right before him; all he had to do was shape her.
He smelled the tang of terror emanating off her skin. Her fear called to him in a way no others had. Her scent was thick with it, while her face remained neutral and fixed like stone. Such a well-crafted mask she had, a clever little liar.
That delicious scent of hers heightened. That emotion was a camouflaged seduction. It wasn’t just terror, she was . . . stimulated in a way, excited even.
“answer me, you bastard!” Her sharp echo bounced off the damp rock walls. Her open palm struck his cheek.
He had been so distracted she had actually landed the hit.
Faster than he could think, his hand wrapped around her throat, stealing the breath from her remaining scream. This was not how things usually went here. His reaction was . . . intense, but there was too much on the line.
His grip was firm yet careful, ensuring she could breathe. He didn’t want her passing out again. He would explain the gravity of things to her, but first he needed her to see him.
Really see him.