Page 20 of Courting War
But a second stranger stepped into her path before she could deliver on her silent promise. “He answers to me.”
The young man towered—an inhuman height—over her, bathed in the morning light and casting a shadow of strength and authority. His long redwood hair was pulled into a messy low bun—almost as if he pulled it together in a rush as he worked. Or perhaps he did it just before a sparring match. One thing was abundantly clear: this young man was a warrior. It was written in how he moved, in the sculpting of muscles, and in the scar bridging his left eye.
He wore only trousers and a white shirt with the top three buttons undone, exposing his dark olive skin, massive sculpted pectoral muscles, and a dusting of reddish-brown hair. The left half of his chest had a partially visible tattoo laced into it. Theo hitched a breath. No waistcoat, no tailcoat, no semblance ofhumandecency. Humans were so particular about what clothing was appropriate to wear in the presence of daylight or a lady.
Unbuttoned shirts were hardly de rigueur.
Theo had to tilt up her chin to meet his arresting gaze. His mahogany eyes sparked with amusement and a tinge of magic. There was something about him that, while human, surged with energy, passion, and ancient spells.
He was unspeakable and unknowable.
It was so utterly foreign to her that she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
Her eyes dipped to his chest again, and heat prickled her cheeks. Her eyes flicked lower down . . . she sucked in a deep breath. A mistake. Flicking her gaze back up to his, she made her third mistake. He cocked his head, a glint sparkling in his amber irises. There was nowhere safe for Theo to look.
A flood of heat and unspeakable emotions washed over her body,and something happened to Theodra; a vile sensation stirred in her stomach—like the fluttering of a set of butterfly wings.
She jolted back, physically reacting to the changes in her body—to the poison flooding through her veins. She clutched the railing, feeling the cold metal against her fingers and trying to gain a semblance of control.
Fortifying the scaffolding surrounding her heart, Theo swallowed before saying, “If you are in charge, then I command you to turn this ship around and take me to Theoden.”
The edge of his mouth ticked up, and he squared his shoulders, his muscles flexing with the movement. “You command?” He stepped closer, removing the distance between them, and her traitorous heart surged like a tidal wave.
“Yes, I do.”
“No.” His voice was low and husky, and his response short, simple, and utterly maddening.
A firestorm swelled in her chest. If she still had her immortality, her ravens would’ve emerged to stalk this man and send fear into the deepest depths of his heart.
A vein in her neck bulged. “Do you know who I am, boy?” she whispered, dark and deadly.
“Boy . . .” he said as if chewing on the word. “No. I don’t knowwhoyou are, but even if you were the Queen of Simak, I wouldn’t appease you.”
Theo reached for a weapon, patting the skirts of her priestess dress, only feeling the lovespoon. Of course, Theo didn’t have weapons; her mother wouldn’t dare give her something to strike out with. But her eyes landed on the boy’s waist. He had a knife sheath strapped to his belt. It would do.
Theo pounced and kicked out his legs as she pulled the knife from his belt. His back thudded to the deck, and it only took mere seconds for her to straddle his waist and hold the knife to his throat.
“You think yourself so high and mighty, but you’re only a weak and decaying mortal.” Her pitch dropped and was morefrightening than the keening song of a banshee. Yet the boy wasn’t scared. His lips drew into a brilliant smile. A smile that could rival the sun goddess. So remarkable in its beauty that even the great Adonis couldn’t hold a candle to this young man when he flashed his teeth. He was amused—lying vulnerable on the deck with her knife to his throatamusedhim. She didn’t know what to think of that.
His eyebrows pinched together. “You are also a decaying mortal.” He raised his head closer, and his neck scraped against the metal, his breath dancing on her throat. “While I do not know who you are, you’re no god.”
She shivered at the insult, but her legs squeezed his torso tighter, and she pressed the knife down, pricking his skin. A drop of blood emerged, proving that she was serious. “Can you be so certain?”
He chuckled, and with barely any effort at all, he lifted her by the waist and flipped their positions, slamming her back into the wood. In her shock, he wrenched the knife from her weak human fingers and slid it against her throat.
“Yes. I'm certain.” The words flicked off his tongue. “I’ve met a god, and you don’t even come close to their radiance.”
His audacity was astounding. The gall. He was like all the other cruel men she punished. After all, men were all the same. Vile, rotten creatures. When she got her divinity back, she would make him pay for this.
Theo’s chest rose with furious breaths, the knife moving against her skin. Theo stared into his soul, whispering a promise of vengeance. When she was done with this creature, he would be in the depths of the underworld.
War was a villain, and she would be the villain of this foolish boy’s story.
“Now, if you would please get off my ship,” he said, egotism dripping from his lips. “We have far more important matters to attend to.”
Without another word, he pulled the knife away and bounced to his feet and stepped over her, calling orders to the ship’s crew.
Picking herself up, Theo seethed. No one talked to her like that. She had flayed men’s flesh for lesser offenses. He actually ignored her.Ignoredher like she wasn’t important enough to acknowledge. It nettled more than anything else could. Men cowered, pissed their pants, or ran for their lives.
