Page 17 of Courting War
Theo’s blood burned with fury. “What—” she tried to speak but her lips wouldn’t move. Her usually steady heart broke tempo and pounded a staccato rhythm in her chest. Terror clawed its way up her throat, and her limbs went completely limp.
The Queen of the Gods cupped her daughter’s face and said, “I'm sorry, but you must learn your lesson. You’ve broken the rules of the Sacrifice far too many times, and that can no longer go unanswered.”
Chapter Six
THEODRA
Goddess of War
TEMPLE OF THE SACRIFICE, CITY OF THE GODS
Asoft stream of sunlight cut through the Temple of the Sacrifice and shined directly into Theo’s aching eyes. Ensconced torches lined the walls, the flames dancing to a song of unease. Ivy and mildew snaked up the marble colonnades, shadows stalking the narrow corridors. On an altar burned a bushel of sage and a gnarled tree branch covered in disease and termite tracks.
A frisson of anxiety churned in Theo’s stomach. Something was terribly off.
All 639 muscles and 206 bones in her body ached. And godsdidn’t ache. A flash of memory cut through her thoughts.
She’d only ached like this once before.
Theo sucked in a deep, miserable breath and forced the trauma back down into a locked box where it would never resurface again—where it would rot forever in the untouchable parts of her brain.
A blasting steamship horn caused a piercing, throbbing sensation behind her eye sockets. Instinctively, she clasped her ears, sending another jolt of pain through her weak muscles.
Dirty ambrosia. Something was horribly wrong.
Blinking her eyes, trying to adjust to the light, Theo let out a tortured moan.
“Ah, she wakes,” a beautiful and enchanting voice floated softly through the room. A softness that caused gooseflesh to rise on Theo’s arms.
Theo shuddered. That wasn’t a voice she wanted to hear. She tried to lift her head to meet her mother’s eyes, but her skull was too heavy, leaving her feeling like a marionette with all its strings cut off.
Theo inhaled sharply, and dread clawed at the nape of her neck.
She was mortal. She washuman.
The thought sent a visceral tremble through her body. Theo hated this. To be stripped of divinity was the worst imaginable punishment.
Only an ichor spell could affect a god in this way. But Nefeli didn’t have Theo’s blood. Theo made sure of it. No god or mortal had the power to hurt her . . .
Except Andromache—Goddess of Light. But Andromache wouldn’t do this.
Not to Theo.
Andromache wouldn’t betray her sister like this. They were too close—inseparable. They were two sides of the same coin. Utterly different but bound by love and an unbreakable bond. Yet fear raged through Theo because if Andromache thought she’d get her human lover Devereaux back from the dead, she would do anything.
She’d become a villain.
“Your wicked ways must end.” Nefeli clicked her tongue and swung her heels over the arm of the marble throne.
“My wicked ways?” Theo laughed as if her mother told an overplayed joke.
“You’ve spent the last 500 years wasting away your divinity.” The Queen’s violet eyes swirled with rotted spells. “You’ve broken the Sacrifice treaty by killing humans on awhim.”
Theo raised a midnight eyebrow. “I never kill on a whim, Mother.”The men always deserved it.
“I’ve had enough of your antics. The Sacrifice hangs by a thread, and you’re threatening it,” Nefeli said. “If humans stop worshiping us and sending their bravest souls to the games, our power will weaken.”
Theo scoffed. “And to be weak is the worst fate imaginable?”
