I fell into his arms, pressing against the solid warmth of his chest. His scent wrapped around me, familiar and right.
How could I have thought, even for a moment, that Phonos’s affection could compare? It was no wonder that I’d felt so hollow. Without Theron, everything I’d experienced was meaningless.
“I’m sorry, Theron,” I somehow managed to say. “I didn’t remember.”
“It doesn’t matter.” His arms tightened around me as if he could keep me safe through strength alone. “It wasn’t your fault, and you should never apologize to me.”
For this perfect moment, we were complete again. But around us lay the family that had shown me such genuine kindness. Alecto and Megaera were badly hurt, and Phonos was barely breathing. The gravity of what I’d just learned, about them, about my village, about my impossible situation, weighed heavily on our reunion.
I could feel Theron’s tension too, his knowledge that this wasn’t over. These people who’d welcomed me, who’d made me feel likefamily, were the same ones who’d destroyed my world to save my life. And now they lay broken because of our love.
Chapter 11
Unwoven
Callista
FormoreyearsthanI could remember, truth had been my greatest enemy. I’d hidden my curse, my brokenness, behind clever deceptions, pretending to be normal.
It was almost ironic that at the very moment I no longer needed to hide, another truth had come to haunt me.
“It was you,” I croaked out, tasting bile on my tongue. “You’re the ones who caused the massacre. With your screech.”
Enyo didn’t answer. She was still kneeling beside Phonos, energy flowing from her fingertips. I couldn’t blame her for prioritizing her son, but dear gods, I needed some answers, too.
“Enyo… Tell me the truth. You were there, in Agrion. Weren’t you?”
My pleading tone finally drew a response out of her. “Yes. We were.”
When she didn’t elaborate, I forced myself to insist. These were the worst possible circumstances for a confrontation, but I couldn’t just let this go.
“My neighbors...” I started, then stopped. What was I trying to say? That they hadn’t deserved to die? But they’d been preparing to kill me for something I couldn’t control.
“Were about to execute you,” Enyo finished in my stead. Her voice sounded blank, almost distant, as if she wasn’t talking to me at all. “We gave them better targets.”
Her hands, the same ones that had combed my hair just this morning, were covered in blood and shaking. I didn’t think I’d ever been more confused in my life. “But why, Enyo? Why go so far? You didn’t even know me.” Back then, they couldn’t have realized I was death-touched. And if they had, they could have just asked me to come with them, without killing everyone.
“It wasn’t about you, Callista,” Enyo corrected me, as if explaining something obvious. “We went after a village that had offended Thanatos. We gave them all the blessing of death. Your survival was... fortunate.”
Fortunate. That was one way of putting it. I’d have been more inclined to say it made absolutely no sense.
“Then why wasn’t I affected by your screech?” I asked. “Everyone else went mad with rage, but I stayed clear-headed.”Even Theron had been affected, in the Kratos Circle duel, but not me.
Phonos stirred weakly, his glazed eyes zeroing on me the same way they always did. “Because you’re my match,” he wheezed. “Death screeches can’t touch true mates.”
Even broken and bleeding, he still believed we were destined for each other. The certainty in his damaged voice made my heart clench.
“Callista,” he continued, “I... I’m sorry… About your village. But they are happier now.”
He had no way of knowing that, no way of promising something he could barely understand. And I had no way of knowing what he truly thought, what his reasoning really had been.
A scream bubbled in my throat, frustrated and angry. It should have been a relief that they hadn’t destroyed Agrion just for my sake, but it wasn’t. I’d trusted Phonos so much, trusted them all, at a time when my own mind had betrayed me. Their presence had done little to ease the pain of Theron’s absence, but it had still meant a lot. And now, it had all turned out to be a lie.
Yes, that was what I wanted to say.Liar. Murderer.But the words… Just didn’t come.
For the first time since I’d started talking to Enyo, I realized something was terribly wrong. Enyo’s efforts weren’t helping Phonos get better at all. Unlike in the barge, his wounds simply refused to close.
They needed a proper healer. We had to get Iaso here at once. But Iaso was nowhere near the Spire, and even by barge, it would take forever to bring her here.
