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Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

T erena’s knee bounced as she sat next to Daris’s cot in his tent. She could hear the murmur of voices around them, but her eyes never left his face while he slept.

The tent flap rustled, and Terena glanced up to see Sonah, her hands clasped around a bowl.

“You need to eat,” she whispered as she inched closer. An owl hooted as the flap dropped. The lantern on the table cast a weak light in the tent, and for the first time since they’d gotten back to the camp, Terena wondered how late it was.

She gave Sonah a tired smile. Kneeling beside her, Sonah sighed and set the bowl on the ground.

“How is he?” she asked after a while.

Terena gazed at Daris. The army surgeon had tended the wound, dressing it with a bandage wound around his head, covering the damaged eye. Terena’s breath hitched as she thought of how he’d looked. His beautiful blue eye gone and in its place a hole surrounded by ridged, angry flesh and blood. She had looked away as she lifted his hand to her lips, muttering nonsense to herself. Prayers and bargains to the gods.

“Pytho made him a potion that seems to help,” she answered at last. She reached out to brush his short hair back from his forehead. “He was in so much pain.”

“I heard Melanos say Daris is like Rydon. A Eudaemon.”

“Aye.”

“How? I mean… did you know?”

Terena looked at her with a frown. “I would’ve told you, had I known.”

Sonah dropped her chin and nodded.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Sonah looking at her hands while Terena continued to stare at Daris, her eyes dropping to his chest to watch him breathing.

“Good,” Pytho said as she poked her head inside the tent. She came inside and around to Sonah’s side as she peered down at Daris. “He’s still asleep.”

“Pytho, how is it you didn’t know he was Eudaemon?” Sonah asked, her tone curious.

Pytho shrugged. “I see only what the Fates allow me to see.”

“How is it that Melanos knew?” Terena asked, her voice sharper than she’d intended.

The oracle raised her black eyes and stared at Terena with sadness. “He is a god,” she said after a few moments. “He must sense it.”

“Aye,” Sonah said while shifting her legs beneath her. “He told Rydon he thought we knew, because we all traveled together. He knew when you were all at the cave.”

“He must be your Eudaemon, then,” Terena said. The pang of jealousy sparking in her chest making her feel like the worst sister in the world. She did not begrudge Sonah having her own immortal bodyguard, but she was still nettled Daris was hers.

“So it’s a good thing then he’s going north with us,” she replied, cautiously excited. Terena gave her a look.

“I don’t know he’ll be fit to go,” Terena said.

Pytho looked uncomfortable and Terena noticed.

“What?” Terena asked, her eyes narrowing.

Pytho started, her eyes widening before she whiffled her head. “ What? Nothing.”

Terena shifted, her eyes locked on the oracle. “What are you not saying?”

“Terena please,” she said, her voice low. “I already told you more than I should have and look what happened. The gods punished me for overstepping.”

“Well, can you at least tell me if he’ll travel with us?”

Pytho looked wretched, her gaze swinging between Terena and Sonah, searching for words.

“No, he will not.”

Terena’s skin prickled. Something shifted inside of her. “Why?”

Pytho shook her head and splayed her hands. “I cannot say, Terena.”

“If he’s bound to Sonah,” she bit out, “he should go with us.”

The pained look on Pytho’s face made Terena back down. She sighed, pulling her hand out of Daris’s. She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, hoping to bully her growing headache into going away.

“I have a potion that will help,” Pytho said.

“Thank you, Pytho,” she said. The poor woman had been through so much herself. She didn’t deserve to be badgered into sharing celestial secrets. She was right. Look what had happened already because she’d shared more than she should have.

Pytho stood there for a long moment and Terena looked over. The woman was looking at Sonah with something like pride before she shifted her gaze to Terena. As soon as the oracle caught her gaze, she quickly left the tent. A few minutes later, Sonah stood, muttering to Terena about letting the food get cold before she, too, left the tent.

Silence fell when she was once more alone with Daris sleeping at her side, settling her. Terena sighed and dropped her head, then stood up, stretching and wincing as her body protested. Her muscles ached from sitting in one attitude for so long. It had been a while, too, since she’d eaten and she cast a longing look at the small bowl Sonah had brought her.

The sideboard off to her left near the foot of the cot Daris slept on held various tinctures and rolled up bits of cloth she’d used to wipe Daris’s blood .

But it also held a decanter of wine.

Her steps were heavy as they carried her closer, and she sighed, exhaustion settling on her shoulders. She lifted the decanter and an empty goblet and filled it to the brim. As she lifted it to her lips, she paused. Terena glanced over at Daris, his chest rising and falling slowly.

Rydon’s blood had brought her back from the brink of death, allowing her wounds to heal much faster than if she’d relied on healing ointments or poultices.

Maybe if she gave Daris her blood…

Before she could think more on it, Terena set the glass down and unsheathed the dagger at her chest. Slicing it across her palm, she winced as she fisted her hand over the wineglass, watching as the blood dripped and mixed with the wine. She swirled the cup and carried it over to the stool she’d been using all day, slowly settling herself on it as she stared at Daris’s closed eye.

Not wanting to wake him, she set the goblet down beside her and took his hands in hers once more.

The throbbing in his head woke Daris. It was as if his brain was on fire. He groaned, lifting a hand to his head, but soft fingers coiled around his wrist, and he stilled.

One eye fluttered open, and he blinked a few times to focus. His right eye wouldn’t open.

“Terena?”

The smile she gave him sent a wave of warmth over his chest, and he exhaled.

“Aye,” she whispered. A watery sheen blurred her eyes and her chin wobbled. “How do you feel?”

He groaned. “Like my head is splitting open.”

She flinched, covering it with an unamused chuckle. “Well. Good thing I have just the remedy for it.” She bent over, her eyes falling away, and the absence of them hit him in his gut. She lifted a goblet in his line of sight and he narrowed his eye. “Wine? Really? I thought you knew by now I don’t drink.”

“I know,” she said with a rueful smile as she held it out once more. “Which is another thing I want to know about but right now, I’ll need you to forget it’s wine and just drink.”

Still, he hesitated. “What’s in it?”

The left side of her beautiful mouth lifted in a genuine smile. “Wine with some extra special medicine for the Commander of the Liodari.”

Terena moved, her right hand tucking under his head as she lifted him enough to drink. She held the goblet to his lips, and he brought his hand up to cover hers as he took a sip.

He made a face and looked back at her.

“Ugh,” he said, his lips twisted. “That’s awful.”

“Well, it’s not supposed to be good. I don’t know any medicine that tastes good, Daris. Now, stop being a baby and drink up.”

He tried to scrunch his face, but the motion only made his head ache even more, so he drank the rest and sighed when she let his head lower back to the pillow.

Silence settled and Daris closed his eye again, then frowned.

“What happened?”

Terena’s breath was shaky, and he opened his eye again to look at her. A tear fell and she quickly swiped it away.

“I mean… where do I start?”

“How about why the hell my eye won’t open? Did something happen? I remember nothing after I gave Peleon the shroud.”

Terena was quiet for so long, a strange sense of wrongness settled in his bones. Maybe it was the tincture she’d given him, but his gut roiled.

“Peleon,” she started, then dropped her chin and sighed before she looked back at him. “Peleon stabbed you. In the eye. As soon as you reached for Pytho.”

Daris jolted. He lifted his hand to touch the cloth over his ruined eye and tried to sit up too fast. He cried out at the sharp stab of ice hot pain that almost split his head. Terena put a hand to his shoulder, her grip firm as she leaned closer.

“Don’t,” she said, her voice pained. “Please. Can you please be calm?”

Daris’s pulse raced, and his breath quickened. The nausea from a moment ago was back in full force, and he thought he might embarrass himself by retching in front of her.

“Daris,” she said soothingly. “Calm down or you’ll hurt yourself. I can have Pytho bring you the sleeping potion she made for you. Do you want that?”

He clutched her hand, willing his stomach to calm, willing his heart and his breathing to calm.

“No,” he said. Daris swallowed, then took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “No, don’t leave.”

“Never,” she whispered.

His eye widened and they stared at each other for a long moment before she smiled.

“What else happened?”

Terena blinked. “ That’s your question? I just told you that weasel stabbed you in the eye and you want to know what else happened?”

He frowned but said nothing as he waited.

Terena scratched at her nose and then lifted her hand. “Let’s see. You died. A battle broke out. We killed these fuckers called cyphers—wait till I tell you about those guys—and we took back Messene. Oh, and Peleon got away because, of course, he’s a snake and they always land on their feet… belly, I mean. You get it.”

Daris stared at her for so long she fidgeted. “I didn’t die.”

She scoffed, but it sounded more like a choked sob. His eye narrowed as she wiped at her eyes again. Terena nodded, her eyes sad. “Aye, Daris. You died. I saw you.”

Daris looked away, his heart squeezing tight at the look on her face. “I have to tell you something.”

“What? That you’re Eudaemon?”

Daris’s eye whipped back to her and his mouth went slack. She smirked at his expression .

“Melanos told us.”

“How does?—”

Terena shook her head and laughed. “He’s a god?” She shrugged. “He said he thought we knew.”

Daris opened his mouth to say more when the tent flap rustled. A second later, Pytho appeared, carrying a cup.

Terena twisted to see, smiling when she saw the oracle.

“I’ve brought more of the sleeping draft,” Pytho said in a low voice as she held out the cup. Terena stood, and as her hand slipped from his, Daris tightened his grip before her fingers left his.

Turning back, Terena smiled at him. “I’ll let you get some rest.” She walked past Pytho, laying her hand on the woman’s shoulder as she did so.

The moment she was gone, Pytho turned back to him, uncertain. He watched as she looked at him, then turned away. He remained silent, letting her decide. She took a tentative step toward the stool Terena had vacated.

Setting the cup on the ground at her side, she gave Daris an awkward smile. “How are you feeling?”

He was about to remark about his head aching and the fact he’d lost an eye, but he paused, frowning. The sharp pain piercing back and forth across his head was no longer there. Even the tightness around the wound at his eye socket no longer bothered him. He was still tired, but every moment that passed, he became stronger.

Terena’s tonic was potent.

“I feel much better, thank you,” he said at length, smiling at the oracle.

She smiled back, but it was tight and her black eyes darted around. They were unnerving to look at.

“I will leave soon,” she said, her words measured. He watched her but said nothing.

“I…,” her mouth opened and shut until she exhaled loudly. “There are forces at work here that will do everything in their power to keep you apart,” she said at last, and Daris stilled. He had a feeling from the way she spoke she was choosing her words with care. “When you are be tter,” she turned to look at him finally, “you will travel north, with Terena and Sonah?”

At his nod, Pytho pursed her lips and dropped her gaze to her clasped hands. “Whatever happens, you need to bring Sonah back to Sparta.”

Chills arced up his spine. A moment passed in silence and then he turned, inching his body up, and with a grimace and Pytho’s help, he sat up. He let one leg drop to the ground and brought his other down before he looked back at Pytho with a frown.

“What are you saying? What have you seen?”

She loosed a shaky sigh and rubbed at her forehead, her strange black eyes hidden by an equally shaky hand. Dropping her hand, she said, “Just... bring Sonah back with you. It’s the only way Terena will return.”

Daris whipped his hand out, holding her wrist, and she gasped. He leaned forward. “Tell me.”

The oracle stood and Daris had no choice but to drop his hold on her. She turned as if to leave, then turned back and held her hand out to him once more. “You’ll know when. Whatever happens, you must bring Sonah back, or you will never see Terena again.”

Without another word, Pytho darted out of the tent, taking his breath with her.

A few days later, Melanos left with Pytho and her Magi. They had formed a semi-circle around them as they said their goodbyes. Pytho had held on to Gabriol longer than seemed appropriate, and Terena arched an eyebrow at Rydon, who shrugged. When Gabriol pulled back, Pytho whispered something to him that made him stiffen, then nod. The moment was forgotten when Melanos came forward to thump Gabriol on the back. Terena had asked Melanos if he’d like to go north with them, but the god had laughed.

“I do not wish to offend you, Terena,” Melanos had said with a wry smile. “But I have no desire to see the Olympians return. For obvious reasons. Besides, after I see the oracle safely back to her temple, I’ve a mind to find Bethana.”

“What of Poseidon’s curse?” Croak had asked.

Melanos had winked at Terena. “Perhaps my new friend will figure a way to break that curse as well.”

Terena wound her way through the tents, pondering Melanos’s words. Could she break Poseidon’s curse and return Bethana to her nymph form? Part of her wanted to test the theory, but she also knew finding the northern god king might help her odds.

The late afternoon sun was amazing on her back. A cool autumn breeze whipped her face and her eyes watered. Finding herself at the edge of the camp, Terena turned when she heard grunting a few feet away. Frowning, she walked toward the sound.

She paused when she spotted Daris swinging his sword. It had been days since she’d given him the blood tonic. When she’d gone to see him the following day, she had been turned away by two Liodari she didn’t know. After tracking down Jason, she’d been shocked and hurt to hear Daris had left instructions he didn’t want to see anyone.

Including her.

Terena watched Daris as he swung his sword expertly. Then he stumbled and Terena’s breath caught. His balance was off.

“It’ll take me some time to get used to it,” Daris said, startling her. Terena had backed away, intent on leaving unseen. She hadn’t known he’d even been aware of her standing nearby.

“I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said after a pause, her hands balled at her sides. Daris glanced over at her before going back to swinging his sword, his movements fluid and graceful. When he turned to his right, however, his shoulder dropped and his steps faltered.

Terena saw the way his lips turned down and shook his head. She warred with herself; part of her wanting to stay with him, but a part of her still hurt at how he’d refused to see her.

Making up her mind, Terena turned to leave when he called out to her.

“Stay,” he said in a rough voice .

Terena stopped. She stood awkwardly for a few seconds. He went back to swinging his sword.

“I can see you’re busy,” Terena grumbled and turned to leave again.

“Terena, stay.”

“Oh, now you want to see me?” She knew she sounded childish, but it still bothered her he hadn’t wanted to see her.

He turned to face her fully, and she blinked. The bandage he’d worn that first day was gone, replaced by a scrap of leather held in place with ties winding behind his head. She schooled her face, not wanting him to misread her expression. Somehow, he looked more dangerous. Harder. So unlike the quiet, steady commander she’d come to know.

The man standing before her was menacing in a way Daris never was.

“I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

Blinking, Terena cocked her head. “I already saw you like that, remember?”

Daris didn’t respond. He dropped his chin, swinging his sword idly. Long moments passed before he sheathed his sword.

“Do you remember when we saw each other in Aurora?”

The words startled her. She’d been expecting him to tell her he did not know he was Eudaemon before today and would she please forgive him for making her worry so much?

Instead, he brought up the first time she’d seen him, her chest squeezing when she looked up at him. A sense of something more, something like a memory. The first time she locked eyes with him and could not look away. The first time she knew, deep in her bones, this man was important to her.

The first time she doubted her feelings for Lerek.

“Vaguely,” she said with a lift of her shoulder.

He shifted his stance, bracing his hands at his hips. “Fine. You’re mad.” Daris raked a hand through his hair. Terena willed her scowl to stay in place when several locks of his gold tipped hair stood on end. Even with the leather over his eye, he was still breathtaking. Somehow, it had the effect of making his good eye more intensely blue, like the clear blue of Obsidian Bay.

Daris stared at her for a few long seconds before he lifted a hand toward her. “When I saw you in Aurora, I…,” he swallowed and stopped, pursing his lips. “I can’t explain it. I saw you and it was like… I instantly knew who you were. In reality, I had no clue who you were. I’d never seen you before and I know I’m messing this up, but I sensed… in my soul, I knew you.”

Terena’s jaw loosened. Any anger or hurt she’d been feeling before now evaporated.

Because she knew what he meant. She’d felt it too.

“At first, I thought my heart had stopped because you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I even repeated that over and over to myself later that night, but…” He wiped a hand over his face. “It wasn’t until I went to bed and I dreamt of you?—”

“You had a dream about me?” Terena interrupted, unable to stop the smile growing on her face.

He frowned and nodded. “Aye, Terena. That’s why I brought it up. I dreamt about you that night. But it wasn’t the first time.”

It took a second for his words to sink in. Terena’s pulse stuttered, then raced and her eyes widened. “What?”

“When I was twenty, a bear terrorized a village nearby and our instructor thought it would be an excellent test of us in the Agoge, our training. Five of us went to that village, but I was the only one who made it back. The bear attacked us while we were bedding down for the night. The bear,” Daris dropped his head back, his mouth open as if recalling. “That beast was unnatural. It was the biggest monster I’d ever seen, then or now. Well… Melanos might be the same size.

“We’d made spears out of branches and attacked it, but it killed three of our brothers-in-arms. We managed to hurt it bad enough we thought we had it. When one of my brothers, Artagos, went in for the kill, it roared and swiped him across the middle, opening him up.”

Terena was chilled by his recollections, her heart hurting for these boys, barely men, having to endure this in order to become soldiers in the Spartan army. She approached Daris, but he remained lost in his memories.

“They were all dead within minutes and I stood there in shock, trembling, afraid as it stalked toward me.” He looked over at Terena, his expression haunted. “I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up with this,” he pointed to the three scars on the left side of his face by his ear. “I had gashes, too, on my shoulder and legs, and I lay on the ground knowing I was dying when I saw this woman walking toward me. She knelt at my side and whispered.”

When he didn’t continue, Terena asked, “What did she say?”

Daris’s expression hardened as he stared at her. “Eudaemon.”

Terena’s skin sizzled at the word. It was an unlocking of sorts, her soul opening its eye in recognition. She dared not say anything.

“Aye. I knew before we got here I was Eudaemon, but I did not know what that meant. I’d only ever heard it that one time until Melanos said it again when we were in Ibros. I told Jason and Michael the story while you were recovering from the encounter with Bethana. It explained so much about why I’d been wounded in countless battles, some mortally, and yet I survived.”

“Didn’t you tell your instructor or anyone else about that encounter? Or ask about what she meant?”

Daris shook his head. “I thought it a hallucination from blood loss. I didn’t say a word about it to anyone.” He looked up at her. “When I went to sleep that night, I dreamt of you.”

Terena’s mouth dropped open.

“It’s true,” Daris said ruefully. “I saw you, clear as you are standing before me.”

“What… were we…,” she coughed and shook her head, trying to appear unflustered. “What was I doing?”

“You were dancing,” he whispered, his voice a caress, his good eye heated as he took a step toward her. “I dreamt of you dancing, holding hands with people on either side of you, and you looked up at me and you smiled and I… I swear my heart stopped. That was my dream.”

Terena’s chin trembled, tears filling her eyes. She quickly blinked them away .

“Daris…”

“But it wasn’t a dream,” he said softy, taking another step closer, now less than a foot away, his head tilted down to her. His eye was on her mouth as he lifted a hand, the pads of his fingers stroking over the line of her jaw. “Seven years later, you smiled at me while dancing that night in Sparta.”

So many thoughts chased each other for dominance in her mind, she was stupid with the flood of them.

“When I saw you in Aurora, that’s what I was feeling—recognition. Attraction. But then I dismissed it because, of course, I was attracted to you. Look at you. I didn’t stand a chance. Then in Sparta, when I saw you dancing,” he finally looked into her eyes, his smile resigned, “that was it for me. I was yours. I am yours.”

A flood exploded inside her chest and she leaned up, her hands clutching his forearms as she pressed her mouth to his. She sensed him stiffen, then instantly coiled his arms around her, bending to pull her closer as he slanted his mouth over hers. She begged for entrance with her tongue across his lips and he opened with a groan, his tongue dancing with hers, tasting her mouth, her lips, teeth clashing, biting.

Daris pulled away, his breath hot on her face, his chest rising and falling against hers. He stared down at her, mouth open. Terena pulled his head back down but after a brief kiss he pulled back with a shake of his head.

“Not here,” he whispered, dropping a quick kiss to her nose. Daris stepped away and slipped his hand into hers. Terena’s stride lengthened to keep up with him. She didn’t bother to look at the curious soldiers watching as they passed.

When they were inside Daris’s tent, he turned. For a moment, he looked embarrassed and tried to step away.

“What is it?” Terena whispered as she clutched at his waist to keep him close.

“I don’t,” he cleared his throat as his face flushed. “I don’t have anything to prevent?—”

Terena grinned. “What? You don’ t want babies with me?”

If possible, Daris’s face became a deeper scarlet. Terena laughed and decided to go easy on him.

“I’ll talk to the surgeon later. I’m sure he can help with what I’ll need. Now,” she said with a wink, “speaking of what I need…”

He wrapped his arms around her and crushed his mouth to hers again. Daris shifted, walking her backwards until she was stopped by something at her back and she whimpered to get closer to him.

Daris moved his hands over her back, down to her waist, his fingers digging into her hips before he reached down, grabbing her ass and lifting her. Terena’s mouth opened, her legs wrapping around his waist, and she had a second to revel in the hunger of his gaze before he slammed his lips back to hers. He moved, the muscles beneath her fingers shifting, and then he bent over, lowering her onto the cot. She kept her legs wrapped around him, unwilling to let him go as he growled at how little space the cot afforded him. He pulled back, grabbing the bedding and tossing it on the floor, then lifted her and spun before lowering her onto the blankets and furs.

“Wait!” she said, her hands flying up to his shoulders. He was panting, breathing as hard as she was, and it made something unfurl low in her belly as she gazed up at him. “Daris, we should stop.”

He looked like he’d never heard a worse idea in his life, and she smiled. “I only meant… Daris you were dead a few days ago! You fucking lost your eye! You need to heal still and I?—”

Daris growled and grabbed her wrist, pulling it to the laces of his breeches. “Does this feel like I need to heal?”

Terena shivered at the feel of his hard length beneath her palm. This was definitely a much different Daris than the one before he lost his eye. She looked up at him, her eyes heavy, but she had to try one last time. “Baby, I don’t doubt your… strength. I’m worried about you, though. We should wait.”

“If you want to stop, we’ll stop,” he said, and she thrilled at the frustration she heard in his voice. “But I am fully healed, I promise you.”

“Good enough for me,” she smirked and yanked his head back down, slamming her lips to his.

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