Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Callum watched the girl struggle to get away, shoving Theo in the chest, still coughing up the last of that lake water.
“Let . . . me . . . go.” She forced out the words as she straightened her arms against him, begging for space.
“This is how you demonstrate gratitude?” Theo’s monstrous body faded, bone-white skin warping to tan, his wings disappearing into the slits in his cuirass.
He lowered her to her feet. It looked like he was trying to do so gently, but she collapsed in front of him.
She struggled to breathe as blood dripped from her small frame onto the floor.
Callum clutched his head as he rushed to sit down. He fought to stay awake.
He’d done what he had to do back there. He got them both out. Theo could handle himself, that was certain. Callum just saw no room for gambling when it came to her, so he dove in too.
Now he would pay the cost.
His ability to travel through space in the blink of an eye was unique, and yes, he could teleport those who touched him, but it meant completely draining every ounce of his magic.
It would be suicide to incapacitate himself like this on a battlefield.
It meant days of barely being alive, sleeping night and day until he was right again.
It was a sacrifice that left him incredibly vulnerable.
He could think of a handful of times he’d taken passengers with him. It was always to help them escape certain death, and he had only performed the feat for those closest to him.
Never for a complete stranger.
Theo and Manos stood side by side, assessing her injuries. They paid no mind to their fallen companion.
“Don’t mind me, boys, I’ll just pass out here. No need to fuss.” He gave a soft wave as he fought to keep his eyes open. He eyed the trembling princess. “Thank you for saving my ass back there. Is that so hard to say?”
She made some sort of annoyed howl. Callum wasn’t sure she was capable of speech right now by the looks of her.
Theo had been so sure that she wouldn’t try to escape, or at the very least if she did try, she’d grow frustrated or scared and give up. They had severely underestimated her resolve. They let her get too far, all the way to the south clearing. He couldn’t stop thinking about it.
They did need her. The Divine Allura were failing. She hadn’t even undergone her godly trial, and there was already that much power inside her. Her magic was strong enough to fend off Theo, a task not many could accomplish. He had never seen anything like it.
The fae—they possessed sparks of the old magics, not humans. This girl could turn the tide. He had deserved that rock to the face, and even if it meant enduring more of her assaults, he would get a handle on his resentment and try to help.
She needed to thank her guardian spirit they had gotten to her in time.
“Why would she jump into an ebros-infested lake? Is she fucked in the head?” Callum asked, directing his question at Theo.
“I didn’t . . . jump. I fell. And how was I supposed to know those . . . things were in there?” Helaina whimpered.
“You fell? You hear that, Theo. Your weapon fell, it’s a damned miracle she didn’t crack her head on the rocks. The ebros could have been licking her skull clean.”
Theo bristled, but just barely. “Well, she didn’t, and they’re not.”
“We should have gone in sooner.”
“The current was mild, I thought she could reach the shore alone,” Theo countered.
Callum had thought that for a moment too.
She had been fighting so hard back there.
Until the whole herd of ebros found her.
He couldn’t imagine anyone fighting off the rows of teeth that circled their throats all the way down to their stomachs, making the most agonizing death for anything they swallowed.
“You wanted to wait, now look at her. Her damned leg is shredded.” He watched her tremble and shake like a leaf in the wind.
“Stop pandering to her. She’s playing with us, she’s not helpless,” Theo said.
Callum knew he was right.
Theo paced back and forth. “She should have used it. Fuck.”
“Yeah? Well, she didn’t! You expected too much from her too soon.
” Callum couldn’t escape the growing guilt.
They had taken her from whatever life she had, and planted her into this.
He was given a choice in coming here, Aaron too.
Everyone in the Divine Allura was given a choice.
To continue their lives as they were, or trade their mortality for an eternity of service.
She hadn’t been offered the same—they couldn’t offer her the same. Destiny and all that.
He could barely lift his head anymore. Fuck, he was fading fast.
She was in worse shape. Callum watched her roll to her side. Her eyes tracked down to assess the damage. He heard her dull snivel when her hand touched the warm blood oozing through her ripped clothing.
The creature had chewed down to the muscle. How her leg managed to stay attached to her body, Callum had no clue.
“If you brought me here for my powers, you might as well end me here. I won’t help you.” Helaina’s voice sounded somewhere between a sob and a scream. “You hear me? I won’t use it!” Those twiglike arms shook. She was barely holding her head off the ground.
“There you go again, begging for death.” Theo’s reply was unconcerned.
“You ask for it so often, yet you know nothing of it. Not all souls go to the ether, you know—you could be damning yourself to the six, and you wouldn’t even know it.
Is that the death you pray for? Circling the hell realms as the gods tear your soul apart? ” Theo kneeled down to meet her gaze.
“I’ve seen . . . plenty of death,” Helaina spat back. “Whatever’s after can’t be worse than here.”
Theo gave a condescending nod. “The coward’s way out, then, that’s your only answer. Believe me, Highness, under any other circumstances, I would grant your request with pleasure . . .”
Helaina’s fingers dug into the coarse ground like she was bracing for the life-ending blow.
“But my soldiers are dying—your people are dying, souls that very much wanted to exist here and were robbed of the life they were given. Fate has been cruel to the both of us, because you are the only one that can help me stop what’s coming. You and that curse of yours.”
The princess’s arms grew weaker as she continued to try and brace herself on the uneven floor. Blood pooled down her mangled trousers, soaking the ground.
“Theo, enough.” Callum tried to prevent his eyes from rolling back in his head as he nodded toward her injury. “Get the healers.”
Theo ignored him. Instead, he brought her face close to his own, cupping her chin. “Is there any part of you—any sliver—that possesses the capacity to think beyond your own selfish motives?” His voice was low and twisted. He gave her a once-over and made no effort to hide his contempt.
“Refusing to use this power isn’t selfish!” she fired back.
“Theo . . . her leg,” Callum tried once more. Too much blood, she was losing too much blood.
Manos chimed in. “I’ll get Lionel.”
Thank the gods for Manos and his sensibility.
Theo was so hypnotized—so angry.
“It can’t be controlled. Whatever weapon you think is inside me, it won’t listen.” Her voice was growing hoarse and tired. She had been in the water too long.
“You can make it listen. You could have gotten yourself out of that mess back there, easily, but you panicked.” Theo leaned in close to her, feral face etched in undiluted rage.
His whisper was so low it was barely perceptible.
“I’ll show you how. I’ll make you better.
I’ll make you stronger and faster. I’m going to make a warrior out of you, Helaina. ”
The girl looked like she had stopped breathing.
The captain rose up above her. “Then I will give you exactly what you have been begging for since the moment I met you.”
She looked up in confusion.
“After you become what I need, then you can die.”
Callum could tell she didn’t understand Theo’s meaning. It didn’t stop her from holding his challenging gaze.
She couldn’t hold it long, though. Her blood loss was too great. Her eyes rolled back, and for the second time, they watched the princess slip into unconsciousness.
The moment her eyes closed, Callum let himself do the same.