Chapter 63
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Theo and Callum walked back through the tunnel, Theo’s nerves on edge as the minutes ticked by. He couldn’t stand to wait in that cave for her, not for another moment. As they neared the Azure Chasm, they found it empty.
Odd, he had told his soldiers to assemble. Even if some had already gone above, he expected at least a handful to be waiting here for him.
They proceeded down a corridor of bedchambers, then another. They heard no voices, no shuffling of feet or preparing of weapons. There wasn’t a single breathing soul to be found.
Theo and Callum exchanged glances. They shot through the caves with frantic speed.
When they came up to the clearing before the training valley, they saw them.
Every member of the Divine lined the arena.
Every soldier, even Lionel and his apprentices in their long robes, stood at attention, looking toward a mountaintop.
The lines were precise and deliberate, ready for war. At first glance, it looked like they were following his orders, but their faces possessed a dead, cold stare. One he had only seen when Manos held unsuspecting minds in suspension.
Where was the mind reader? Theo couldn’t see him among the ranks.
He walked the gaps in the lines, studying every single vacant face. He passed Breyer and Fee, standing close together with phantomlike expressions.
“aaron! Aaron, where are you?” Callum’s earsplitting shouts reverberated through the canyon, unanswered as he scanned the ranks, looking for that familiar face. He spotted him at the same time as Theo, toward the front of the lines.
Callum made to sprint ahead for his brother. Theo grabbed his shoulder, halting him in his tracks. He nodded his head toward the hilltop.
Dolion stood there, an outstretched hand gripping Manos’s shoulder.
The mind reader’s breaths were ragged. He looked like he was using every ounce of power to strain against Dolion’s mental hold.
Coercion.
That sick manipulation tactic. Dolion was making Manos hold all their minds at a standstill. Keeping them stagnant and compliant. Dolion’s head slowly turned from Manos to regard the sea of soldiers.
“I would have him hold you, too, but I need someone to go fetch. Where is my future blood bride?”
At the word bride, Theo’s brutal demon form appeared.
“Let them go,” he gritted out.
“No, I don’t think I will. Better get her quickly.
My hand might slip while you’re wasting my time.
I might just . . .” Dolion’s grip migrated to the edge of Manos’s neck.
The mind reader shouted in pain, thrashing and fighting to get away until Dolion’s eyes burned bright, calming his struggle. “His spine would snap like a dry twig.”
Dolion focused all his attention on Manos, his eyes burning into the back of his head. “He’s strong, I’ll give him that. All of you are. But I’m stronger.”
Manos let out a string of pained breaths as one of the Divine began to march forward. Manos was a link to all of them, a bridge for Dolion’s coercion. Touching Manos gave him access to all the minds below.
Before Theo could even comprehend his intention, Dagnon took his own blade, raised it to his throat, and sliced.
Theo didn’t react as his soldier dropped to his knees, blood staining the soil. He couldn’t risk it.
“Choose, Captain. I can leave peacefully with what’s mine. No harm will come to the rest of your precious army, you have my word. Or you can sacrifice every single one of them tonight for one insignificant girl.”
Theo pulled out his sword. “Your word is as worthless as your life.”
Dolion’s lupine features shifted toward him. “I was hoping you would choose poorly. I wonder what your mother will do to you when I bring you back to her. I know she has been looking forward to making up for lost time.”
Callum’s eyes narrowed as he turned to his commander. “What is he saying?”
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Theo hissed through clenched teeth. “My mother is dead. She died a long time ago.”
Dolion’s eyes taunted the captain from afar. “Theodon, you surprise me. After all these centuries you haven’t told them? None of the esteemed Divine Allura have guessed it? Honestly, I don’t know what you see in this pathetic lot. They really couldn’t sniff it out?”
Theo released a growl, that raging fire inside him burning and aching for bloodshed.
“No one found it odd that your powers were so limitless? No one here even considered that you were not a descendant of our immortal creators but a son.”
Theo kept his unblinking eyes on his opponent. His power brewed.
Moments ago, there wasn’t a cloud in the night sky. Now, rain began crashing down upon the canyon.
His lifelong secret, the burden he kept under lock and key.
Callum’s face was distorted with shock. “Valhoor is your father . . . and your mother . . . your birth mother . . . is—”
“Drayella,” Theo breathed out.
“You’re a god,” Callum finished.
Dolion’s grin grew. “She’s very eager to reunite. Mother dearest isn’t too proud of your deeds, your siding with Brahm. She thinks it’s time you were punished. Time for men and fae to burn. For you to experience banishment as she did—or death. Whichever comes first.”
“You can’t kill me, Dolion.”
“True. But she can. After I’m done draining this valley dry, I’ll deliver you to her myself. I think I’ll make Helaina watch as your own mother destroys you.”
Dolion whistled a signal. Gleaming royal-blue scales and sharp spines rose from behind him. One by one, undead syren hounds poured over the mountain’s edge. Bloodthirsty red eyes and snapping jaws crowded all around.
“Once I’m through here, I’m going to find my sweet prize. She will serve Drayella and Valhoor during the day, then spend her nights serving me, for the rest of our immortal lives.” He flashed his fangs, licking his lips in a repulsive gesture.
Theo’s feral eyes flared as he flashed his own razor teeth. He held his sword at the ready. “You’ll never fucking touch her again.”
Callum unsheathed his own long blade, readying for the attack.
“Oh, I’ll do more than touch her. I’m going to bite her, Theodon, again and again. I’ll fuck her bloody until she’s screaming for mercy that will never come.”
Thunder cracked as the syren hounds lined up, hundreds of them howling to the sky and snapping their teeth in anticipation of the order.
Callum looked at his captain.
The hounds were near the height of Dolion himself. And if they were all undead . . . how could they destroy an entire cursed army with two soldiers . . . even if one was a god?
“Kill every last one of them.” Theo held his sword as those obsidian eyes flashed in the gleam of a nearby lightning strike. “None reach the valley.”
Callum nodded as they both readied themselves at the base of the hill, the lone barriers between their helpless legion and the army of bloodthirsty dogs.
Dolion’s command was eerily calm.
“Attack.”
As soon as the words left his lips, the syren hounds sprang forth.