Benon scrambled to his feet and leaped to grab Dolion’s outstretched hand. In a flash of violet light, they were gone. Theo’s massive blade crashed into the grass where Dolion’s body had been just a moment before.
They’d left Balor behind. He bled still, but his wound was closing as he struggled for breath on the cool grass. Theo drew closer, kicking him in the stomach to flip him onto his back as he coughed and hacked up more blood. He placed his boot on Balor’s neck, making him squirm and hiss beneath the pressure. She hadn’t thought one of those twins could actually look small. Beneath Theo he was laughable, a rabbit begging a wolf for mercy.
Theo slashed his sword across his gut, an odd version of a warning as the helpless twin howled, clutching entrails before they flopped out from the deep incision. Helaina didn’t look away; she found pleasure in the suffering. She imagined Agatha had died in similar pain. She wanted Theo to cut him again.
Instead, Theo spoke in that low guttural voice of his. “You are going to tell useverything.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-SEVEN
Blood, there was so much blood.
Helaina continued to hold her as men shouted and searched.
All that beautiful golden hair, stained with carnage.
Then everything went black inside her empty black room, safe inside the darkness.
Alone, where she belonged.
Helaina woke up screaming. Her eyes shot open to see the faint light of the blazing sconces.
Elkron.
She was safe belowground.
That dream, that memory... The past weeks she had felt a chance that maybe she could get back to who she used to be, that maybe she could be put back together. She was beginning to wonder if her pieces would ever fit the same again.
Deep down she knew. All along, Dolion was part of the force beyond Ash Cliff. She just didn’t want to believe it. That she could have been that stupid for so much of her life, trusting and loving him.
Her train of thought broke as the slightest creak sounded from outside the door.
She reached under her pillow, pulling out a dagger. She pointed it toward the door, her heart beating rapidly.
“Who’s there?”
Her look of dread melted as Theo came over the threshold, holding a tray of neatly arranged items, including what looked to be chocolate and colorful fruits.
His hair parted down the middle, fanning over his shoulders. He wore a simple thin shirt with a deep cut revealing the definition in his chest. His jaw tensed as he took in a deep breath, setting the tray on the floor.
Any apprehension she had felt left her body. He had come for her. Time and time again he had come for her.
I would massacre entire kingdoms to keep you from her.
“What do you want?” It came out crueler than she meant it. She was still so rattled, the shock of things hadn’t settled.
Theo’s thick brow arched, like she should have known the answer. “You were screaming,” that low voice replied. “And I thought you might be hungry when you woke up.”
She looked to Theo, then back at the neatly arranged items. “It’s been you, hasn’t it? Sending food here.” Even when they had been gone, the trays still got delivered.
He didn’t hesitate to answer. “How I first saw you... I never want to see you that way again.”
She leaned off the edge of the bed, crossing her arms to wrap her fingers around the opposite shoulder. He had cared since the beginning, in his own way. She realized that now.
“Do you want to tell me? What you saw in your sleep?” he asked gently.
“It wouldn’t help to say.”
He nodded, leaning his back against the farthest wall, keeping such a distance when all she wanted was to be close. He palmed the back of his neck.
