Callum had made him feel like a savior back then. Taking them in after years of surviving on the streets. It didn’t matter that Theo had the most intolerable temper and gave them no sympathy during their training. It didn’t matter that the asking price was an eternity of killing. In fact, he was certain Callum adored that part of his position. What did matter was the fact that Theo had given them something they never had—a home.
At this moment, the sight of that scar across Helaina’s throat made Theo forget all of that. It made him want to blacken one of Callum’s eyes, although he wasn’t sure why. He had many females in his army, and they fought just the same as everyone else, earning similar wounds. That scar had come from her sheer desperation for death. She was indeed broken, but she had a vicious side, too—he had seen it when she tried to knife him in the neck. He needed to bringthatside to the surface.
Despite her weak appearance, their short time together had proved her to be a handful. Of the qualities he had gathered about her, it was her fear that intrigued him the most.
“Guest... or prisoner?” Helaina finally asked.
“Were you greeted with a barred cell or an open door?” Callum replied lazily, sipping his drink, his filthy boots propped up on a stool.
Theo’s lips formed a flat line. Hehadthought about locking her up in the dungeons. He wasn’t sure what exactly she was capable of yet, but she looked so delicate. Especially after her little fainting spell at the camp. He’d decided the risk of allowing her to stay among the others was slim. Realistically there was nowhere for her to run. No point in shackling her like an animal if she wouldn’t get very far.
“I could have woken up in a palace, and it wouldn’t change the fact that youstoleme in the night.” Although her voice grew bolder, Theo sensed a ripple of fear oozing through her pores. Yet her expression remained unfazed, a mask of sorts. She had mastered hiding her true emotions, it seemed. An impressive trick.
Breyer couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Stole you? For what? Bait for some snares?”
Fee laughed at her lover’s snide comment.
Breyer developed a devious smile. “She is beautiful. Mostly skin and bones, but that face, she’s probably bewitched her fair share.” She peered at the girl, speaking as if she wasn’t standing right there before her.
Fee gave her a side-eyed glance.
“I’m sure you three will have such fun withwhateverit is you have planned.”
Theo grew annoyed. “Both of you... out.”
Breyer’s teasing stopped, her posture deflated from confident warrior to scared child.
He hated that he made her look that way, that she was still afraid of him. She would always be afraid. That type of fear he could never savor. The endless kind he never intended to put there.
Attempting to distract himself, he homed in on that enticing dread dancing up and down Helaina’s bones. He licked his lips. Her smell was pure saccharine.
The two fae abruptly stood, hand in hand. Breyer gave one last glare in the princess’s direction. The sound of their boots crunching on loose rock faded as they exited down one of the many open tunnels.
“Where am I?” Helaina asked.
“Elkron. Fortress under the mountains,” Callum answered.
The girl went rigid, fisting her hands at her sides. “Which mountains?” The inquiry came out as a rage-filled whisper.
“Ash Cliff,” Callum replied frankly, giving the princess a fiendish wink.
Theo heard her breathing pick up at the mention of Ash Cliff. The mortals shared stories of this enchanted place. The only thing they got wrong was thinking the mountain itself was the barrier keeping the monsters at bay. The mountain held no power. It wasthem, the Divine Allura, that kept out the darkness.
Up until things started falling apart, at least.
Theo had investigated the border many times, trying to understand how the enemy was getting through. He was always left with zero clues and countless bloody scenes. Death had become far too common in the last twenty years. He had to end it.
“Why did you bring me here?” Her voice shook.
Unlike the toned and tall figures of his female soldiers, Helaina was rail thin, a fraction above five feet tall. Long, unkempt hair, milky-white skin. He guessed she had never participated in any type of hard labor or training.
Of course not, she was a princess of Keles. She probably spent her time swooning over princes and planning extravagant parties. Everything handed to her at the snap of a finger.
That would change soon.
Always the most rational of the three, Manos attempted easing the girl’s apprehension. “We apologize for the unexpected and rather... rough extraction, it’s not how we normally do things.” He delivered the line with his signature calm.
Theo noticed her reach for her throat, cupping that thin scar along the edge of her neck.
