Page 120 of Courting War
“Now, hehasbroken the Immortal Law.” Nefeli scowled at Havyn.
“I didn’t hear him say he loved her. The confession of true love and all that,” Havyn drawled, her eyebrows twitching.
Nefeli’s purple irises bore into Kellyn. “Boy, do you love her?”
“Don’t, Kel,” Theo begged. “Don’t.”
Kellyn sewed his lips together and rolled his shoulders back defiantly.
“Aww, perhaps you need some motivation.” Nefeli ran a finger across her blood-red lips. Nefeli snapped her fingers, and a jolt of pure agony slammed into Theo. She crumbled and pulled her knees into her stomach since she couldn’t use her arms. “Proclaim your true feelings for our little War, and I’ll make her pain stop,” Nefeli said. “But every minute you stay silent, her pain will intensify tenfold.”
“Don’t,” the word was a cry as Theo writhed in pain. “Please, don’t. I can take this.”
Behind her back, Theo tried to reach a hand out to Kellyn, her heart beat a bomb in her ears. He closed the distance and clutched her fragile fingers, his eyes sparking with fury and unshed tears. He hated this. Hating watching her and doing nothing.
And he would break before she did.
Nefeli sauntered across the room, her heels clicking against the marble floors. When she reached Theo, she jerked her up by her chin, breaking the hold with Kellyn. “You’ve refused to play the game of gods for so long that you’ve become so easy to trap,” she said, leaning down, her violet eyes swirling with fury.
Turning them to Kellyn, Nefeli’s smile turned feral. Holding the mortal’s gaze, she snapped her fingers, and the pain in Theo’s body deepened, becoming unbearable. A blood vessel cracked in her eye, and blood dripped down her face. Her eardrums exploded, crimson mingling with other liquids snakingfrom her ears, and she howled, whimpering like an abused puppy.
“Theo, I can’t.”
“Please, Kel, they’ll kill you.” Her words were a croak. “Please . . .”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
KELLYN
Champion of Theoden
VOLCANIC BALLROOM, CITY OF THE GODS
Kellyn couldn’t take it anymore. It was horrendous torture. He couldn’t let it continue.
It was gruesome.
It was cruel.
But her body sustained it because she was immortal. What would easily kill a human was light maiming for a god.
Kellyn didn’t know if Nefeli would kill her daughter, or if it were even possible to kill a god, but he didn’t want to find out. Foolishly, he hadn’t even known it was possible for a god to feel pain, but it was so clear now that it was. The thought felt silly, but so much about the gods was unknowable. Theo was in agony that his mortal brain could not fathom.
Kellyn knelt beside her and pulled her into his arms, comforting her and whispering settling words into her hair. The gods hadn’t chained him. He was a mortal, a tiny bug to be squashed, and no threat to them.
It would be insulting if Kellyn wasn’t so gravely concerned for his love.
“Theo, I—” he started. How did he tell her that he couldn’ttake it anymore? She might have been able to withstand it, but he couldn’t.
“I deserve this,” she croaked, blood dripping from her lips.
Kellyn shook his head, his fingers grazing her chin. “No one deserves this.”
She cried tears of blood. “I can’t live in a world where you’re not alive.”
“Oh, how foolishly sweet,” Nefeli said, snapping her fingers again and further deepening the pain.
Theo’s eyes fastened on Kellyn. They were pools of obsidian with a dusting of panic. Tortured, she tried to speak, but the agony muffled her words.
