Page 109 of Courting War
“Let’s not be mad at each other.” Kellyn sighed and fell onto his bed, rubbing his face, emotionally exhausted. He could barely process “Morrigan’s” betrayal, let alone anything else today. Kellyn felt bad about Cecile, but it was nothing compared to how used he felt about Theodra.
“Are you truly telling me how to feel?” Cecile was a tornado in human flesh, tearing through the room.
“That’s never a smart idea, brother,” Emmett said with an amused smirk as he leaned against the wall.
Kellyn laid down and pinched his eyes closed, rubbing at his temples. He wanted to focus on the current argument, but he kept flashing back to the kiss and its disastrous aftermath. It would be his fate to fall for an unobtainable, depraved goddess.
Oh, he was so foolish. Truly a big, dumb brute.
Theo had played him like a fiddle. Using him and disposing of him right as she got what she wanted.
“Kel, are you even paying attention?” Cecile walked over to the bed and hovered over him.
Kellyn inhaled sharply, his veins throbbing from the tension he held all over his body. “No."
“You just don’t care about your actions?” Cecile’s voice vibrated like an asp readying to strike.
“Aren’t you being a bit of a hypocrite?” he said, opening his eyes and catching her gaze.
Cecile opened her mouth to argue but promptly shut it as the realization hit. “Oh, I am. It’s the same, isn’t it.”
“Yes . . .” Kellyn rubbed his temples again, and Cecile floated down to the bed, her face turning from crimson to moon white.
A quick and quaking quiet slid through the room, leaving only the sound of their breathing permeating the air and their hearts rumbling in their chests.
Emmett kicked off the wall and strode over to them. “What is going on?”
“Morrigan is War,” Cecile said. “She is Theodra in a mortal form.” Cecile shook her head and wrung her hands as she told them the whole story, sparing no details, which only perplexed the entire situation. Kellyn felt—albeit only a little bit—sorry for Theodra. Yet it changed nothing. She was still a deceitful, despicable god. Kellyn might have been able to forgive the fact that Theo was a god if she hadn’t lied. It was the lying that truly hurt.
He had asked her point blank if she was a god, and she lied. Not caring one bit for the truth.
“Wait, what?” Emmett stuttered and glanced between Cecile and Kellyn, measuring them. He took in the tense posture of their bodies, to the intense expression coloring their faces. The truth of the words etched into every wrinkle and curve of their flesh.
“Have either of you considered that this might be a good thing?” Emmett asked slowly. “If Morrigan is War, then she’s beenhelping you. You have a chance to survive all of this. I like Morrigan . . . I mean, Theodra.”
“I might agree if she hadn’t just tricked me into providing the spell to regain her divinity.” Kellyn pinched his nose, still lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. “She’s truly abandoned us.”
Cecile rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Kel.”
“We won’t abandon you,” Emmett added, and Kellyn sat up to meet his eyes. It was a massive concession, almost an acceptance of the apology. Whatever it was, it was a tectonic shift in their relationship—for the better.
Emmett cleared his throat and changed the subject, his brown skin glowing against the embers popping in the fireplace. “At least the other champions are doing well. Your plan is working. The Nefesian and Ertomesian champions survived their final challenges, and everyone apart from you is facing their next challenges.”
Happiness fluttered in Kellyn’s core. At least one thing was going well.
“Although, the Simark fellow died,” Cecile added. “His bronze hourglass emptied like his life.”
“Don’t feel bad for him,” Emmett cut in, “he betrayed the Ertomesian girl, leaving her to die and deciding to play on his own. Little did he know that Andromache would punish him for it and make his game unwinnable.” Emmett pointed at the mirror on the wall, replaying the event.
The death was gruesome and graphic, and Kellyn averted his eyes. “What is your next challenge?”
“I think it’s Death . . . again.” Cecile’s voice quivered slightly.
“How is that possible?” Kellyn asked. “If that’s true, then we have the same three challenges back-to-back.”
“You have Death next as well?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense.” Kellyn ran a finger along a throw pillow. “My clue wasAll roads lead to me.”
