Page 2 of Courting War
Theo’s neck prickled, and bile rose in her throat at the arrival of the Goddess of Death, Havyn. She appeared from the shadows, her black cloak billowing in the crisp autumn wind as the raven feathers of her massive wings rippled with the breeze. Her hair dripped like spilled ink, and her moon-pale skin reflected the rays of the setting sun. Havyn was beautiful and terrifying, the angel of the afterlife coming to collect.
She made everyone’s skin crawl. Dark, cold, and empty—Death personified.
Theo sucked in a breath.
Staring at Havyn was like looking into a mirror. The goddesses were nearly identical, apart from the beauty marks on Theo’s left cheek and Havyn’s wings. They had the same eyes, hair, and general demeanor. After all, they were two in a set of triplets.
“Hello, sister. Where's your wife?” Theo flashed a false smile and turned her eyes back to the blaze.
“She’s already on the steamboat, taking the souls from your reckless temper.” Havyn’s voice was a velvet cravat, circling and strangling her.
Theo forced a shrug, a sign of how unimpressed she was. “Some men deserve to die.”
Havyn sauntered to the cliff's edge and stood inches from her sister. The hair on Theo’s arms rose with the closeness. “True, but you’re getting sloppy. Your apathy has obscured vital information.”
“Oh,” Theo raised an eyebrow, “and what is that?”
“The girls. Erety is furious with you. But as you know, it isn’t our job to save human lives.”
Theo’s heart surged, leaving its steady, unbreakable tempo for the first time in hundreds of years. Her heart never changed. It was constant, like her unending echo. Nothing affected its rhythm.
Nothing save for this.
Girls? No girls were on the ship, only the evil men . . . unless she’d slipped up and made a mistake. She sucked in a deep breath.
Theo didn’t make mistakes.
Turning to meet Havyn’s cold violet eyes, Theo asked, “Girls?”
“The girls trapped in the wooden boxes being shipped like cargo to Simark. The girls who have no chance at surviving your inferno.”
Theo’s body froze. Heart, blood—ichor, and breath. Everything was shattered granite.
She’d made a mistake.
A mistake.
Death didn’t lie. Not about this.
Havyn winked and refracted, turning her matter into energy, and traveling at the speed of light to her destination. The process took less than a second. She disappeared, and a moment later reappeared on the ship.
Theo followed, dread solidifying in her stomach as she stepped onto creaking wood. The world smelled of smoke and tasted like rotten, decaying hopes, metal melting and crumbling around them.
Havyn strolled into the flames.
The fire didn’t affect Havyn. It couldn’t, for she traveled to the edges of life and pulled souls back with her. It wasn’t a glamorous job, yet from the merciless smirk, it seemed she loved her purpose.
Theo pinched her eyes shut and listened. If the girls were on this ship, Theo would find them. Generally, she found female humans to be irritants—not vile like their male counterparts, but obnoxious inconveniences. But Theo never targeted them for her swift justice. It wasn’t her way.
Hearts pattered like tapering music from the last cabin of the boat. Nine hearts.
Nine girls.
In an instant, Theo appeared in the rear cabin, smoke swelling around her, dancing to a somber melody of screams. The cries echoed, turning from piercing to croaking. Nine coffins littered the room, holes drilled into the sides to allow the girls to breathe.
Fury tore at Theo’s heart.
War did not make mistakes.
