Chapter 69
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
The savage storm relented as the sun rose behind gray clouds. The only sound traveling between the jagged peaks was the breeze whipping through the trees. Helaina’s fog of shadows had dissipated, bleeding back into the ground. The hills that were booming with snarls and screams now rang silent.
Helaina and Theo took in the massacre before them.
“You came back,” he whispered, rubbing his cheek on the carnage coating her hair. It didn’t bother him at all—he just wanted closeness, to confirm she was not an illusion.
“I came home,” she answered, turning to face him. Her eyes had returned to her signature silver.
He was her home. And there would never be another for her again.
He brought his face down to hers and wrapped his hand behind her neck, pulling her up to meet his lips for the briefest kiss.
She stumbled a bit.
“Are you hurt?” He pulled away, assessing every part of her.
“I don’t think so.”
He lowered her down into the damp grass as he sat with her, positioning her back to rest on his front. Her face was stained ruddy, her hair covered with a thick layer of filth. How had she gotten here? How had she resurfaced from the godly realm with a bloodlust that could rival his own?
“You fought well. Rest.” Theo’s entire body was shaking as he spoke. In all his time he had never had to face an enemy alone. She had saved him.
That internal pull was strong as they touched. He knew exactly what it was.
That connection.
That tether.
A part of him had known from the start but didn’t want to allow his withered old heart to hope.
Theo was a god, and Helaina was his bonded.
It was easy now to see why she was so sought after. Taking magical ability away from an enemy, leaving them mortal. That power could conquer worlds.
Theo let his arms envelop her chest. He needed rest too. His biceps were trembling. She held the weight of him, bracing his arms as they shook.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “For choosing to come back.”
He always knew these trials were a choice. To stay dead or fight to return.
She had fought.
“Thank you for believing I could,” she replied. Those silver eyes beamed as she turned her head to look at him.
His soldiers were making their way into the tunnels of Elkron. Some of the fire bringers remained, burning the leftover hounds, erasing any trace of them from this realm. The already putrid stench intensified with the flames.
They sat there, neither one wanting to move.
His laughter rumbled in his chest.
“What?” she asked.
“You were so terribly and inappropriately named.” His chuckling continued.
“The king of the fae once told me it means ‘shining light,’” she mused.
“A shining light . . . who came back a powerful dark bringer.” He ran his hands over her filthy hair, continuing to solidify she was here with him. That he had not perished on that field today.
She hummed in satisfaction.
Theo was about to say something, say anything else to keep her close, keep her talking to him a little longer. He needed to hear her voice.
But a massive quake broke through the ground.
A whirlpool opened up before them. The mud and blood began to swirl until it deepened as if a hole had been cracked in the earth’s center.
They both rose to their feet, stumbling back as the whirlpool grew wider and wider, forcing them apart.
The earth shook as Helaina fell flat on her backside. Her eyes went wide as a pale hand reached up from that rippling ground. Long fingers breaching the surface.
“Helaina!” Theo shouted from across the divide as he reached for her.
It was too late.
She couldn’t shift her gaze from the dark figure rising from the whirlpool, stepping through the swirling earth.
He was tall, with black hair and ram-like horns.
Skin ghostly pale. He possessed thick black veins that traveled up and down his body.
He was nearly identical to Theo in his demon form.
The trails of veins marked his face and abdomen as he stood before her with a bare chest. Although he came up through a pool of liquid, his long, thin, black coat and trousers remained untouched and pristine.
He turned to face Theo.
Callum teleported to his captain’s side, his eyes displaying utter disbelief.
“Valhoor,” Callum breathed.
The Hell God’s insidious grin grew wider at the sound of his name, revealing animallike teeth that gleamed in the overcast sunlight.
“What do you want?” Theo’s voice was thick with malice.
“My boy,” the low voice hissed in response, “it’s been so long I thought a visit was due.”
“You’re not welcome here,” Theo seethed.
Valhoor clicked his tongue. “That is no way to speak to your father.”
Helaina’s mouth parted.
Father.
Theo allowed his demon form to come out with the last bits of physical strength he could muster. “Get out of my realm,” he ground out.
The Death God hovered over the swirling ground, a snakelike grin upon his face.
His voice was low and hateful as he gazed upon his son. “I see you’re still fighting the good fight. Such a disappointment.” He shook his head. “I will go . . .”
Theo tensed. Too easy. That was too easy.
“. . . but she comes with me.”
Before Theo could act, before Helaina could call upon her power, before Callum could shift to her side, Valhoor ripped a shadow out of the air, whipped it around Helaina’s neck, and dragged her down.
They descended into that whirlpool, both their bodies disappearing into liquid earth.
Theo leaped toward the ripples, headfirst as if he could follow.
But by the time his body landed, he was met with solid ground.
They were both gone. He had taken her.
Manos joined his comrades, breathless, dazed, and drained from Dolion’s coercion.
Theo pounded his fists into the ground, creating deep imprints in the solid earth.
“No!” he screamed.
Callum was motionless. “What do we do?” he pleaded.
Theo’s fists clenched, turning toward his lieutenants. His black eyes heated as his mouth formed a snarl around those razor teeth. His body boiled as his rage created a deeper flame inside his chest. He couldn’t lose her. He just got her back.
“We follow them.” His voice was beyond anger and reason. “And we get her back.”