That foul mouth of hers, she had clearly been spending time with Breyer.
More rubble exploded at her feet until her shadows finally materialized, just enough to deflect the fragments, scattering them to either side of her.
“Theo, stop it!” She barely got the words out before he sent another spike careening across the cave. Her shadows sparked to life, protecting her from the debris. “I said stop it, gods damn you!”
“You want my help, this is what it entails. Although part of me thinks you’re beyond help at this point. Do you think the deserts would take you still? What about Keles?”
Another wisp of shadow appeared as her palpable fury grew. “I know what you’re doing... You’re trying to get me mad on purpose.”
His clever hellion. Her understanding of his intentions wouldn’t hinder him.
“They didn’t look for you.” Theo enunciated the words so slowly.
His blow landed perfectly.
Helaina screamed, thrashing a gust of shadow at him. The black whirls spiraled toward his core in a clear attack. He blocked them but wasn’t as lucky with the second flurry, which materialized just after. He crashed to the cave ground with a rattling boom. He rolled backward and recovered his footing, standing tall and cracking another formation in two.
“They forgot about you. They didn’t even try. Not a single soldier sent. How many are in your militia? Eight thousand? Ten?”
“shut up!” A mass of black waves barreled toward him. Theo weaved into the air. The shadow was restless and chaotic. It seemed holding in her own powers while he was away made them even more unpredictable. They came to life, reaching for him like the hands of a drowning man, then dissipated the moment they didn’t hit their target. Just for another gust of them to appear.
Theo hovered above her, his wings creating a wind that pushed her off balance. She went down on all fours, teeth bared as she strained against the blast. She lifted one hand and a wall of black followed, pushing out before her, blocking his attack.
Theo sent a barrage of formations hurtling right for her. Each pointed end exploded and shattered as it came into contact with her wall, steadily sliding her closer and closer to the edge of the sinkhole.
“they didn’t look for you!” he shouted as another whirl of Helaina’s power soared into the air, coming for him with a wild rage.
“you’re a heartless monster. i fucking hate you!” she screamed back as her shadow wall faltered and broke away into fibrous pieces.
Theo’s growl of outrage echoed all around as he sprang from the narrow arena. He came down on her in a flurry, scooping her up and carrying her until she was pinned to the wall that stretched just above that endless void. She wouldn’t use her shadows on him up here.
Her rapid breaths coasted his neck as she stopped struggling, realizing if he let her go, she would drop.
“They didn’t look, Helaina. But I would have.” His voice cracked at the last.
She held on to the gauntlets covering his wrists. Her face had been contorted in rage a moment prior; now it softened at his declaration.
“I wouldn’t have sent you away. I wouldn’t have given up. I would have come for you, just like the others. There is not a single candle in that vigil that I didn’t try to bring home.”
Her stare calmed, silver eyes going vacant.
“Lionel told me you saw it. I haven’t forgotten any of them. Emeric, daughter of Temprah, cut down the year Vrasta and Creston warred with one another. It was the same year a pack of nucka flooded our borders, threatening to break free. Penelope, daughter of Nedos, she spent so long training with me to use the dagger, so she could come back just like Lionel after her trial. Only she never did. Anton, son of Raphsa, went missing around the same time the attacks on Lynor began. We spent months swarming these mountains, searching for him.Months, Helaina.”
As his list went on, her body went as rigid as the rock wall at her back. He gripped her shoulders, flying her back to the flat earth, letting out a grunt of frustration as he found his own footing.
“Theo... I?—”
“Amelia, Warren, Quinn”—he rattled off the names as he paced before her—“all fliers in Manos’s ranks, all gone a couple winters back. It was too cold to know for sure if they were dead. We kept hoping they’d return, but spring came, then summer.”
His hands traversed through his hair; he was damn near about to pull it out. “I brought them here, promising a life that was better than what they had. The Divine aren’t just who can be useful to me... They were crumbling down there. Enduring a mortal life that wasn’t worth living. I promised them better—do you think I make promises lightly? Yet for so many it didn’t matter; I condemned them to death anyway.”
“Theo, I didn’t realize...” she started, but couldn’t continue.
“Agatha, daughter of Ures...” He watched Helaina’s breathing pause. “I just spent the past weeks looking for her. Not just hunting the ones who hurt Aaron, but looking for her! So that I wouldn’t have to light anotherfuckingcandle!”
Helaina’s lip trembled before she spoke. “You... remember all of them?”
“I’ll never forget a single one. It’s my job to keep them safe, to train them so they can protect themselves. Their lives matter to me just as much as the mortal lives below. They don’t stop mattering when they come back as a demigod, they don’t stopbelongingto someone, even when their families are dead and gone.”
