Page 84 of Courting War
“Oh, I know.” He cracked a smile.
Theo removed her hands from him and sat in the chair next to his bed. “Not that I care, but how are you feeling?”
He chuckled and clutched his side in pain. “You truly are as disagreeable as Cecile said.”
“A personality flaw.” Her lips lifted. She enjoyed the humorous sparring with him. “Or a personality strength.”
“You must stop making me laugh.”
“Fine.” Theo tapped her chin and turned to a subject that would dissolve the smile from his lips. “So why do you hate my champion so much?”
“And as blunt as Cecile said.”
“I try not to disappoint.” Theo bowed her head in acknowledgment. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“Because he stole my honor.”
“Can honor be stolen?”
“I was supposed to be the Theoden Champion, and instead of naming me, Kellyn named himself because he didn’t believe I could do it.” Theo’s brow creased. That didn’t sound like Kellyn at all. “He has to be the hero and so damn self-sacrificing.”
“Does he?” She bit her lip. “That’s not the Kellyn I know.”
“You don’t know him at all,” Emmett snapped back.
Theo’s lips twitched in amusement. “Clearly, you don’t either.” She ran a finger along her raven tattoo’s head. Conversations with mortals could become quite tedious. They all lied and refused to say what they meant, and then they had all those tiring and useless emotions to contend with. It was alla lot. It was clear Kellyn had lied to his best friend to save face. He didn’t want him to know about his weakness.
Theo didn’t care—she truly didn’t—yet she still said, “Are you sure that’s how Kellyn became the Champion?”
“It’s what he said.”
“And no one ever lies.” Theo ran a finger down her skirt formed from raven feathers—she missed her ravens. Missed her divinity. “Perhaps you should talk to him about it instead of seething in silence. He’s been an emotional wreck over your sickness.”
“A sickness that was his fault,” Emmett growled.
“You should ask him about that, too.”
Theo didn’t know why she was meddling in human affairs. They didn’t matter to her. She was simply getting revenge on hermother. Of course, Theo didn’t want her champion to die. That was abnormal. All gods cared about their champions, and Theo had much to make up for since her apathy had led to many deaths.
That was it.
Talking to this boy and trying to get him to mend fences with her champion was only good for the games. The friction between them wasn’t good.
“It is better to forgive than to spend an eternity angry,” she said, “trust me, I know something about grudges.”
“I’m not sure I know how to forgive him when he took everything from me.” He shook his head, his eyes clouded. “I needed this.”
Theo leaned back in her chair and studied him. Her instinct told her his anger stemmed less from Kellyn’s actions and more from childhood wrongdoings. That level of pain wouldn’t easily go away.
She sighed. Why did she care to delve? She never did. It wasn’t her way. Yet . . . “I have scars, too.” Her lips twitched up momentarily as she tried to share her understanding. “Here.”
She ran a finger around her ribcage, following a line that a rope of fire once left on her skin. Only a god could damage another, could cause one pain. A lesson she’d learned long ago. Unfortunately, for 9,000 years Theo made the mistake of loving someone. Of trusting someone who didn’t deserve it, andhedestroyed her.
“I have the deeper scars, too,” Theo breathed. “The type of scars that not even time can heal.”
“Trauma.” Emmett’s voice was softer than a whisper.
“Yes.”
