Page 62 of Courting War
The velvety seed pods went down smoothly like a kiss of magic, but they came out like demons swimming in the Orcus River. Clawing, cruel, and consuming.
Theo was currently rolled in a ball with her arms wrapped around her stomach, her head on the floor of the white void. She had no idea what was happening. She heard muffled noises and felt bile rising in her throat. She couldn’t process anything but the agony churning her stomach and splitting her insides apart.
Dahlia, the tattooed raven on her wrist, puffed out her feathers and urgently knocked at Theo’s skin with her beak.
When she wouldn’t stop, Theo scratched at her skin and moaned, “What?” Getting the word out of her lips seemed nearly impossible.
Dahlia squawked and nudged more. Typically, Theo could easily translate, but her mind was foggy, and the bile caressing her throat wasn’t helping. She was far too sick to make sense of anything.
“What?” Theo groaned and vomited.
Squawk, croak, caw, squawk.
The bird desperately wanted her to know something or do something.
Squawk.
Theo moaned and pinched her head, a headache forming.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
“Shhh,” she whimpered.
Caw, caw, squawk.
She held her hands over her ears, the noise causing a brutal piercing sensation at the front of her skull.
Caw, squawk, tap, tap, tap, squawk.
The bird’s crescendo peaked, its tapping causing red marks to form on her wrist.
“What?” She groaned again and, this time, squinted her eyes and tried to focus.
Caw, caw, caw, which roughly translated toKellyn, Kellyn, Kellyn.
“What about him?”Her words tasted like they were coated with poison—because they were. Death was preferable. Not that she knew what a human death would entail. Maybe it was fire and brimstone and lakes of acidic demise.
Caw, croak, squawk, squawk, squawk.
Which might have translated something likeKellyn, champion, poison, bad reading.Even if Theo was in her normal physical state, she still wouldn’t have understood.
“Kellyn, poison, bad reading?” She repeated through a painedbreath as she tried to keep the contents of her stomachinsideof her stomach.
The raven repeated it but added,must get up now, life and death.
“Help Kellyn in the challenge?” Theo clutched her stomach and tried to sit up straight. And failed.
Dahlia flapped her wings and cawed twice.Yes, yes.
Theo moaned and rested her forehead on the ground, wishing for a sweet demise.
Doing anything—never mind following her raven tattoo’s instructions—felt impossible. Besides, she’d promised not to help. She wouldn’t do what her mother wanted. Defiance was her sword and shield. Nefeli wanted Theo to support the champion, and therefore she would not. It was that simple.
Squawk!
But the bird was insistent.
“Yes, yes,” Theo grumbled.
