Chapter 26
Argos
He forced himself not to panic as he watched the toxic smoke rise from the landmine.
Someone had planted it right outside their door. Yesterday maybe, when they’d gone into the tunnels. There was no way someone could’ve done it this morning without his hearing it.
He’d hardly processed his arm yet. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be reminded of how Izzi had looked—what pieces he’d had of her, anyway. If he thought of it, he wouldn’t be able to function, and he needed to protect Theora.
Theora is alive. That’s what matters.
He heard her scream and rushed to her before she could reach him, urging her the opposite way, back toward their suite.
The pain was so horrible he thought he might vomit. But whoever was on their way, he was pretty certain they’d had something to do with it.
“That was an explosive,” he heard Theora exclaim. “Argos!” She tried to turn around, but Argos kept her moving forward, his hand at her back.
They entered their suite, and Argos slammed the door shut behind himself. He leaned his back against the wall, panting, attempting to touch his arm, to soothe it, and unable to.
“They’re resorting to explosives now to get rid of me?” Theora grabbed her husband’s shirt. “How did they find our room?”
“It wasn’t Pyre,” Argos growled, locking the door to their suite. “We have to go. Now.”
“Wait, Argos.” She hurried to follow him into the bedroom, where he again locked the door behind her. “If it wasn’t Pyre, then who? We’ve spent the entire war dealing with her explosives.”
“It’s Apollo and Venita out there. With others, who I can only assume are guards.” He handed her the tunic he’d made, and, to his annoyance, she unrolled it and stared at it a second. “Stop looking at it and put it on,” he snapped. “Your running shoes, too.”
He could feel his magic clawing at his mind, pressing at his patience, and suddenly he wanted more than anything to go back out there and tear Venita and her cronies apart—
“Cease,” Theora commanded, and he felt his magic cool, the pain of his burns only increasing with that lack of adrenaline. She was getting really good at her magic, and not a moment too soon. “Explain something to me, Argos. What does Venita have to do with—”
Argos grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. Her heart was pounding, and she looked on the verge of tears. But there was no time to comfort her now. They were in more and more danger each second they stood there.
“Do you trust me?” he growled.
Her eyes widened, realization seeming to set in. “Yes.”
“Then don’t make me tell you again.”
She nodded, tears blooming from her eyes, and immediately dropped her silk robe and donned her runaway clothes. He could hear her heart racing as she scrambled for her running shoes.
He was in no position to put on his armored tunic alone, but he grabbed it anyway, along with his weapon, just as he heard a bang at their suite door.
He’d rigged the door, but the enemy would be inside within the minute with the right tools or a few good strong kicks. “Go,” he said, prompting Theora toward the closet as soon as she was dressed.
She rushed to it, climbing up without a word, and Argos followed. Together they pulled up the ladder and shut the door behind them.
Argos let his senses lead as he hurried down one of the corridors.
Theora didn’t argue, thank the Sovereign.
She was too terrified; he felt it in the scent of her sweat, her trembling grip on his shirt.
They went through a few more tunnels before Argos halted, leaning his back against the wall with a groan.
Despite the fact that nothing vital had been hit, this wound was draining him quickly.
He didn’t know what sort of venom had been in the smoke of that explosive, but he needed an antidote quickly.
“Where are we going?” Theora asked, finally, leaning against the wall with him to remove one of her shoes. Her voice and presence were a comfort, even if they couldn’t stop the pain.
“Hell if I know,” Argos muttered. The pain was beginning to affect his focus, but he noticed her taking a folded sheet of paper out of the shoe and pulling her dress up to tuck it into her underwear.
He could’ve sworn it was Apollo’s traitorous letter.
This damned woman…“They’ll have all the main exits guarded, at this point, if they’re smart.
Our best bet is to wait it out somewhere safe until we come up with a better idea. ”
“Venita did this?” Theora asked, anger building. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“How?” She blinked, as if forgetting the most important question. “Why?”
“You’d know better than me.”
“There’s no way she could ever seize control. She doesn’t have the mark of a ruler, and there are no chosen rulers behind me in the succession—” Her shocked gasp fell swiftly into a glare of betrayal. “Apollo.”
“Finally,” he grumbled. “We got there.”
She chewed on her lip, looking around in the dark. “So where do we go now? The market?”
“Pyre will help us,” Argos said suddenly, painfully, on the verge of wanting to tear out—
“Cease, Argos,” Theora said, cooling his magic yet again. “Even if she didn’t start the war, she continued it. And she tried to kill me the other day.”
“She had nothing to with the ringblitz.”
“You antagonized her like she did.”
“Well, I was wrong,” he snapped.
Perhaps delirium from the searing pain had him starting to talk crazy, but it was the only option he could think of. It was the only place he knew for sure he could locate again, and quickly. Besides, she’d said so herself: If she wanted to kill him, she’d use her bare hands.
She was a fighter who respected Honor, and though he wasn’t sure if they’d ever be allies, she was, at the very least, not their enemy.
He began walking down the corridor, just far enough to catch the scent he needed to head toward the Vespulan wing.
“This way,” said Argos, leading the way into the dark.