28. Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Corre
A lthough bringing color and life to the world was her calling, Corre had never been good at it. Combat, on the other hand, had always come easily, which was why her inability to master or even wrap her head around the basics of Markus’s techniques was excruciatingly frustrating. His abilities were unlike anything she’d ever seen or heard of, but he made them look effortless. His power was immense and a little intimidating.
She couldn’t comprehend what was behind it all. Even with her greatest efforts, she couldn’t get the basics down. Her face scrunched as she held her hands out in front of her, trying to form the ball of power he’d told her to concentrate between her palms. “I don’t feel anything,” she said, her voice strained. The muscles in her temples were starting to throb, but she kept her eyes focused between her hands.
“You need to focus—”
“I am focusing!”
He grumbled something under his breath, then cupped her hands in his. The warmth of his touch derailed her focus even more. She tried to get back to it, but it was like her mind had tripped and she was trying to force it to sprint again. He closed her fingers in his hands. “Not like that,” he said calmly. She let her muscles relax, her arms dropping limply in front of her, her fingers still entangled with his. Her body ached from the tension.
“I don’t get how I’m supposed to do this. You just gather some kind of power in your hands?”
“No, not—” He ran his hand through his hair as he stopped to think. “You have to focus on something you really want, and you can’t have any distractions, at least not when you’re starting out. You need to be able to focus on something you really want and then channel that feeling into gathering power from the space around you. Then, with that concentrated matter, you can push into your opponent.”
“Mentally?”
“No, physically. The mental part is a different technique.”
She closed her eyes, her head falling back in defeat. She wanted to scream. This was so confusing. So incredibly frustrating. “I am focusing on something I want. I want to gather that blasted power.”
“That’s not enough,” he said, kicking at a rock on the dusty ground. The dirt was soaked with dried blood from the chimera he’d pulverized earlier.
How did he do it? How did he become so strong?
She thought about the scars on his back and of that gaping wound and the state he’d been in when she’d found him here. Maybe she needed to be patient. She’d only been at this for a couple of hours. Not over a decade. She let out a breath and rolled her shoulders back, lifting her arms again, her hands out in front of her like she was holding a ball in front of her chest. “Okay. I’ll try harder.”
He smiled and gave her a nod. “Good. It’s important to focus on something you truly, deeply desire—something much more significant to you than learning these techniques. Let those feelings guide you to a deeper strength. That’s the first step. You need to channel passion. But first, you need to find what that is.”
She closed her eyes and searched. What was something she wanted so deeply that she could steal from the matter around her? Something from her soul. She thought about growing fields of flowers, but that wasn’t good enough. That was a duty she was expected to perform, not one she was passionate about. Not something she desired.
She thought about protecting her mother and about becoming Persephone to make her proud.
Still nothing.
Beating Athena in a training round? No. Plus, that would never happen. And Corre could care less if it ever did.
What do I want?
The air in her chest clenched, her lungs working to pump it evenly. Maybe I can’t do this. Her mind reeled, but then she thought of Markus. The way he smiled at her so unabashedly. The way he was growing less and less inhibited around her. The way he’d kissed her neck and held her while they slept.
And she thought about leaving him. Of the pain she would soon face when they had to part, knowing she was leaving him here in the hands of an evil puppet master who knew exactly what to say and do to make him feel small.
She fumed at the thought. Her chest ached.
Suddenly, her body was bright and loud and unleashed, and a spark fizzed through her palms. She opened her eyes to see if anything was there, but she saw nothing. Anything she’d felt disappeared.
Her arms flopped back down. “I thought I had something!”
“You did.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I sensed it.” He trailed a finger across her palm, then looked into her eyes. “Right here.”
Her cheeks burned, and a gust of air whirred around them. She looked everywhere but still saw nothing. “What was that?”
He chuckled. “You won’t be able to see it. You’re gathering power from what’s around you, and you’ll be able to keep it concentrated enough to use it.” He shook his head. “But you won’t be able to see it.”
Now that he mentioned it, Corre realized she’d never seen power spring from his hands or move around him. It was invisible. “But what am I doing right this time? All I did was think about something I was upset about . . . and cared about. But I do that all the time. In my room, in the fields. Why would the power suddenly show up now?”
“Because you’re focused on gathering it,” he said, but she crossed her arms, one of her eyebrows rising incredulously. He laughed and said, “ And because I’m here.”
“I knew it wasn’t just me,” she said with a groan.
“No, it’s not like that. You did that all by yourself. I’m just sensitive to the matter around us. I live with the control constantly—always focused and always manipulating it, at least somewhat, even when I don’t realize it.”
“Pfft. Well. Then it wasn’t me, like I said.”
“No, you did that. Trust me, Correlia.” His voice was so gentle and pleading that she couldn’t resist looking up into his eyes, his dark irises like pools of dark honey or the water from her favorite rich, earth-filled lake.
Everything about him made her ache and pulled her to him in ways she never knew was possible. She was connected to him in a way she couldn’t explain and didn’t understand. But she loved the feeling of it—the power that rushed through her like fiery rays of light.
“Trust me,” he said again, and she nodded, entranced by the darkness of his eyes and the deep richness of his voice. She would follow him to the depths of Tartarus and back again. She would even peer back into that absinthe water mere inches from her flesh if it meant keeping him close and making sure they were bound together.
She’d do it without a second thought because she couldn’t stay away. She wanted him in every way.
“Good. Then let’s try again,” he said. He let go of her hand, and she had to focus on her breathing before her legs felt less like liquid and her body felt more solid again. She needed to train. If she wanted to do something about any of this, she needed to learn how to do these things. Anything she could to make her stronger. So he wouldn’t have to do it alone anymore.
Corre lifted her arms and closed her eyes.
She wouldn’t let him go through life alone.
She would fight. With him. For him.
And that was what fueled her.
Corre flopped onto the bed, every muscle in her body screaming with fatigue. “How does he do it?” she whispered under her breath and rolled over. She slipped herself into the sheets and tried to rest. Her body was tired, but her mind was alert.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Markus. Almost seconds after they’d returned from hours of training, he was summoned to report to Thanatos. What he needed to report, she wasn’t sure, and by the expression on his face before he left, she guessed he didn’t know either. It gave her an uneasiness she couldn’t swat away or shut out long enough to sleep it off.
She grabbed one of the pillows and wrapped it over her head, her face planted firmly against the mattress. Go to bed , she urged herself. You can only help if you rest .
But sleep didn’t come until Markus finally came back, looking even more tired than he had when he’d left.
“What happened?”
He silently slid off his boots, then ripped off his shirt and slid into the bed next to her. “Nothing. Let’s just go to sleep.”
That uneasy feeling grew and coiled within her gut, but she knew better than to press him on the matter. “Good night, Markus,” she said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss on his lips.
“Good night, Correlia,” he whispered, then with a wave of his hand, the light in the room faded to black.
Two hours earlier
Markus tried not to let the thought of Correlia linger in his mind as he walked to Thanatos’s chambers. It had been a while since he was summoned to the castle.To Thanatos’s actual chambers. The throne room was one thing, as was the dining hall, but going straight into his chambers in the castle meant something serious. Something too urgent for the old deity to bring himself to the throne for in the detached portion of the labyrinth.
When the dark, stone walls faded into a pristine tunnel of silver, Markus knew he was almost there. He followed it to a marble staircase, his feet no longer causing loud clacks against the stone. They were now muffled by the plush scarlet rug that led into the large, colosseum-sized chamber in the grand palace of Tartarus. His fists tightened. This was his palace. Yet here he was, trying not to tremble as he was summoned by his captor.
Captor.
He’d never thought of Thanatos like that before, but he didn’t have time to analyze it. He was too distracted by the hideous, unsuspecting god waiting for their master before the onyx throne. He wanted to spit when the blonde turned to smirk at him. Could the muscles on Nikias’s face form any other expression? Had he shot out of his mother looking like a pompous ass?
“Thank you for finally joining me,” the lanky general said with a ghoulish smile.
Markus glowered. “The pleasure’s entirely yours.” Nikias’s face tightened. He opened his mouth to retort when Thanatos’s guards strode through with their spears, leading the mighty deity to his seat in the center of the room—an extravagant, ruby-crested throne. The throne that belonged to Hades.
“Ah. My pupils,” Thanatos said, then waved for his soldiers to go and stand attention at the back of the room. To ensure there were no intrusions.
“Master,” Nikias said in the most saccharine fashion Markus had ever heard. It took everything in him not to roll his eyes.
“Master,” Markus said, a little more than a grumble, kneeling and bowing alongside the blonde.
“General Nikias. What news do you bring from Olympus?”
“We can’t find the girl anywhere,” he said.
Markus tensed but immediately forced himself to relax and push out any thought or feeling. Stay blank , he begged himself. Stay blank.
“How is that possible?” Thanatos growled, his long, talon-like fingers scratching against the arm of the throne.
“We have searched every inch of the world above, but we have seen no sign of her.”
“Have you interrogated anyone?”
Nikias flinched. “A few, but—”
Thanatos leaned forward with gritted teeth. “You have yet to lead a full interrogation? Do you think a mistake like that would be made by Theron?”
Markus bit down a smile and shot a triumphant glance at his enemy.
Nikias pretended not to notice. “I’m sorry, master. We will question her family and friends.”
“Why haven’t you done that already?”
“Her home has been empty.”
“So, you—” Thanatos started, then stopped. He sat back in his chair, his face falling into an odd expression that made Markus ill at ease. “Her home has been empty? Curious.” Markus’s stomach soured, his triumphant smile wiped clean off his face. “Do you know anything of this?”
Markus looked up and saw his master’s eyes on him. He swallowed hard but kept his voice steady. “No, master. Why would I know anything about that?”
The wrinkled creature narrowed his eyes. “I thought you found her most intriguing. You even sneaked to see her behind my back.”
Stay blank. Stay calm. Stay focused.
“No, master. I learned my lesson the first time.”
Thanatos tapped a gnarled finger, his eyes still narrowed on his apprentice.
A bead of sweat crept down the back of Markus’s neck, and he hoped to whatever beings that existed beyond the Titans that his master wouldn’t notice.
But Nikias was the one to speak. “ Have you?”
Markus shot him a look, but he couldn’t hide the unguarded shock that rippled through him at the accusation. “What are you implying?”
Nikias smiled, his face as smug as ever. “You haven’t been training as much as usual.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Oh? Then why have you been retiring at supper every night? You usually take on one more beast, or at least train your swordsmanship and form.”
Markus’s jaw slowly dropped. “Are you keeping tabs on me, general? Because the last time I checked, I rank above you .” Nikias’s smile tightened, his eyes staring daggers into Markus’s. “Keep your ugly face out of my business.”
“And what business is that?” Thanatos croaked.
Markus couldn’t stop how fast his heart was racing. His thoughts were slipping. His composure was falling apart. He was losing control. “Nothing of note,” he said quickly. “I just don’t like the idea of being followed and spied on like some filthy low-level demon.” He kept his arms firm at his sides, his nails digging into his palms. He wished he could take a good swing at Nikias right now.
“Understandable,” Thanatos said, and Markus relaxed slightly, but then Thanatos added, “But if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn’t mind if my servants check on you after supper from time to time? To make sure you’re training properly.”
The blood drained from his face. “Of course not. I have nothing to hide.” His hands were freezing despite being balled up so tightly his knuckles were white.
“Good. Because you need to prepare to take the throne, and you’re far from that point right now.” Markus swallowed hard but kept his composure. “And my pupil next to you says you’re hiding something.”
His eyes snapped to Nikias. “Hiding what exactly?”
That smug grin was still plastered on the blonde’s face as he said, “I’m not sure yet. Maybe I’m wrong, but, as our master said, if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn’t mind the occasional check now and then, would you?”
“Of—”
The two were interrupted by Thanatos’s gravelly laughter booming through the room. “My boy, you need not worry. You rank higher than the general. He is simply sore because he hasn’t done his job.” Nikias turned red. “So do it,” Thanatos growled at the blonde with a sudden crack in his expression, “Or you might as well never come back to Tartarus again.”
Markus looked to his feet, trying his best to conceal the satisfaction on his face.
“Yes, sir,” Nikias said shakily.
“Now, the both of you, go. Keep looking for the girl. Her coronation is only a few sun-falls away. We need to find her before then.”
“Why?” Markus blurted.
Thanatos narrowed his eyes again. “We can’t let someone so dangerous start blooming the world. Or our plans will fall apart. Don’t you remember?”
“No. You never told me the depths of your plans, or what you want with her.”
“Silence! Find her!” His voice roared through the room.
Nikias bolted upright and bowed. “I won’t let you down, master."
“You already have, general,” Thanatos drawled, then looked to his star apprentice. “Don’t disappoint me, Theron. You know what happens when you disappoint me.”
Markus swallowed and nodded slowly, his nails finally piercing the first layer of skin on his palms. A trickle of blood dripped through his fingers. He smeared it discreetly beneath his tightening fist before his master could spot it.
“Go,” Thanatos said lazily, waving his hand. “I’m tired.”
Markus didn’t bow as he left. He had to get out of there fast. He didn’t care what Thanatos did to him, but he couldn’t let him get his claw-like fingers on Correlia. The thought of Thanatos doing anything to her made him sick. It made him want to scream and wield that all-mighty sword across his master’s chest.
“You can’t win,” a voice hissed behind him.
“You’ve already lost,” Markus said, opening the doors from the palace and weaving back into the labyrinth.
“I know you’re hiding something, and I’ll find out what.” Nikias pushed past the larger, dark-haired god and rushed down the corridor. Markus wondered if he should worry. Logically, he should. Nikias was onto him. But Thanatos didn’t take the general seriously. He saw through his brown-nosing. The spindly god was weak.
Still, Markus needed to be less sloppy. He couldn’t give Nikias the chance to win. Not this match. There was too much at stake.He needed to go to the dungeon before returning to his chambers. He had to at least look like he was training as much as he was supposed to. He moved as quickly as he could to the dungeon. He didn’t want to leave Correlia unattended for too long, especially now that he knew Nikias was snooping around in the shadows.
When he made it to the practice chamber, he tried focusing and training himself mentally, but every time he tried, he’d get thrown off by the thought of Correlia. The way her nose crinkled when something made her laugh. The way her cheeks dimpled when he somehow managed to make her smile. To make her happy.
And then he thought of what she’d said about the throne. It wasn’t until she talked to him that he started reconsidering things—realizing things—and he came to the conclusion that something in him might have unconsciously resigned to his fate of forever being Thanatos’s underling long ago. Maybe he’d never realized it so he wouldn’t be let down one day. Maybe he’d wanted to protect himself from the disappointment that his crown would never come. But the crown had never looked as vital to him as it did now. The way Thanatos’s eyes had looked so viciously hungry and Nikias had looked so desperate made Markus know that he had no choice but to take over the throne. It was the only way to keep her safe.
That beautiful, sunshine person who’d woken him up and rescued him from that recurring nightmare. The goddess with skin so soft she felt like feathers beneath his fingertips.
He would do anything for her.
She might never fully grasp how much her kindness meant to him. He wasn’t sure how he could describe it to her—how he could tell her that she’d saved a part of him. Most days, he had to live through that nightmare of fire and heartache. The memory that had tormented him since he was a boy. But today, he’d been rescued from it. For the first time in his life, he’d been rescued by someone who cared.
Not even his own mother had rescued him that day, and he wasn’t convinced she’d even wanted to. He could never forget the expression of fear and disgust on her face. She’d wanted him gone. But now, even the memory of her face was smudged, wiped away like it’d been scrubbed clean.
It was for the best.
After about an hour, Markus gave up. There was no way he could train anymore today. He left the dungeon and headed back to his room, still tense and afraid of what Thanatos’s plans for Correlia were, and what Nikias might know.
What would happen if Markus slipped up?
The twisted knots tightening his muscles were combed out a bit when he opened the door and saw Correlia lying there, waiting for him. But then his stomach dropped.
If Thanatos got a hold of her, what would he do?
He couldn’t bear the thought.