“‘Rough’ is a kind way to describe it... and you didn’t answer my question. Why am I here?”
Callum stood. “You did that to yourself. You should be thanking us. If I hadn’t gotten there in time, you would have taken the coward’s way out and put that pathetic knife through your chest. Wesavedyou. You’re alive because of us.”
Theo couldn’t help but agree. Her actions were cowardly. How dare she try to surrender her mortal life so willingly? His very existence was centered around defending the gods’ creations, and here she was offering herself as some sort of sacrifice.
Her head jerked toward Callum, her balled-up fists almost white from clenching so tight. “You didn’t save me! You stole me. You’re no better than a common thief. I couldn’t care less about someone like you calling me a coward, you worthless swine!” She bent down, snatching the closest stray rock and hurling it toward his lieutenant.
She struck her mark, hitting him directly in the temple.
Callum hissed, bringing his hand up to meet a bead of bright-red blood dripping down his hairline.
Theo knew his lieutenant was faster than that. He could have blocked that blow ten different ways.
Manos was trying to hold in a laugh. His amusement disappeared when he saw Theo stand. As pitiful as her attempts had been, her violent outbursts needed to be reined in. She wouldn’t get special treatment, even at this point of pure desperation. Today it was a small stone, tomorrow she could be bringing this whole damned mountain down. He knew what she was capable of, even if she didn’t.
Helaina retreated a step.
“Throw another. I dare you.” His approach was strategically calm, like a lion hunting his next meal.
“Theo...don’t.” Callum almost sounded like he felt sorry for the girl.
Theo threw him a ferocious glare. “Stay out of it.”
Callum put his hands up in surrender, then swiped a finger beside his eye to dry more blood.
Helaina’s shoulders shrank inward as Theo turned back to her, his muscular build dwarfing hers.
She staggered backward until her back was flush with the rock wall. The glow from the worms above shrouded them both in aquamarine. She barely looked up as he closed in on her. Like she thought that could hide her somehow.
Theo only halted his approach when his nose was inches from her forehead as he craned his neck down to meet her short stature. He planted both palms on either side of her shoulders, caging her in. “The next time you hurl an object... or a pathetic insult, it’s your last,” he warned. “Do you understand me?”
She didn’t speak.
“Answer me.”
She brought her molten-silver eyes up to meet his feral gaze. They looked otherworldly in the light of the glowworms.
His hard face softened into pure awe. Those eyes would haunt him every night until the end of time.
Clarity swept through him. “Tell me, how long have you been hiding? How long have you known?” The invisible connection blazed in his chest, an unwavering inner voice making itself known.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Another lie.
She mustered up some courage and formed a question. “Who are you?”
“I’ll start being honest with you when you offer the same,Highness.”
She reacted with the commanding tone of a princess. “Tell me why your men brought me here.”
Theo didn’t offer an answer, his thoughts swimming with the path ahead. He had brought many recruits here in much worse condition. He had the power to stop all this madness standing right before him; all he had to do was shape her.
He smelled the tang of terror emanating off her skin. Her fear called to him in a way no others had. Her scent was thick with it, while her face remained neutral and fixed like stone. Such a well-crafted mask she had, a clever little liar.
That delicious scent of hers heightened. That emotion was a camouflaged seduction. It wasn’t just terror, she was... stimulated in a way, excited even.
“answer me, you bastard!” Her sharp echo bounced off the damp rock walls. Her open palm struck his cheek.
