“I will meet you at the castle.”
Chapter 26
Calindria could only stare at Thanatos as two brutes approached her, seized her arms and pulled her away from the silver-haired female. She kept her gaze locked on Thanatos as they marched her away from the demigoddess, as he approached the female, his eyes fixed on her. She willed him to look at her instead, but his silver gaze refused to leave the demigoddess.
“Thanatos,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Do not do this.”
He had hated it when this female had held him captive, and the thought of him subjecting himself to it again had an ache blooming in her chest and fire blazing through her veins. She would rather the demigoddess placed her back in a cage. She was used to that life, had experienced a taste of freedom, and it would be enough to get her through the coming months or years, however long it took for him to find her again. Thanatos had a life out there, beyond this realm.
But that wasn’t the only reason she didn’t want him to subject himself to this for her sake.
She had seen the fear in his eyes, had sensed the panic in him.
He was afraid of what would happen to him once he was within the grasp of this female.
“Thanatos, look at me.” She tried to break free of the two males holding her in vice-like grips, lunged a few inches towards Thanatos before they pulled her back and shoved her forwards, away from him.
He still refused to look at her.
The second he was within reach of the demigoddess, the silver-haired female was all over him, cuddling up close to him.
Thanatos didn’t push her away.
He stood there, gazing down at the female as she stroked her palms over his chest, as she smiled up at him.
Some of the fire burning in Calindria’s veins turned to ice. He had hated it when the demigoddess had held him, hadn’t he? There was no trace of loathing in his eyes though, no anger as the female caressed his bare skin, as she pressed close to him.
The silver-haired female angled her head towards Calindria and rubbed her cheek against his chest, her violet eyes flashing wickedly as they locked with Calindria’s.
“Oh, how I have ached for you, my lover.” The demigoddess leaned back slightly and looked up at Thanatos as he lowered his head towards her. She reached up and framed his face with her palms, ran her hands down his strong neck and squeezed his shoulders. “There is no male in this world who fucks like you do. I still tremble when I recall how hard you took me… how you gave me everything you had.”
Calindria frowned at that, aware of what the female meant by it, and that she had said it on purpose, knew that Thanatos had been with her but had held part of himself back from her, denying her his seed. Because of this female?
“Look at me,” she snapped, her eyes locked on Thanatos as she lunged towards him again, wrestling against the firm hold of the two brutes. “Look at me, godsdammit!”
He didn’t take his eyes off the beautiful female as she rubbed herself against him.
“Take her away and do not disturb us. We have a lot of lost time to make up for.” The demigoddess’s hand drifted lower to cup Thanatos’s backside through his leathers. “I bet you will be even rougher with me this time.”
She looked as if she liked the thought of that.
Calindria didn’t. The thought of Thanatos with this female shattered something inside her, snapped the tethers on her rage and had her fighting to reach him. She spat curses at him when he still refused to look at her, when he just stood there with his eyes on the female as the two brutes began dragging her backwards, further from him.
They twisted with her and shoved her forwards, and she knew in her gut they weren’t going to let her go. Thanatos had been right about that. As soon as she was able, she needed to escape their hold, but she couldn’t think clearly. Her head was filled with heart-breaking images of Thanatos with the demigoddess. She tried to shut them out, but she wasn’t strong enough. They came one after the other, a torrent that tormented her, tearing apart her strength piece by piece, until new thoughts emerged, ones about just giving up.
She didn’t want to be without Thanatos.
She looked back at him one last time.
This time, he glanced at her, and his eyes were bright blue fire, caged fury shining in them as the demigoddess kissed a path over his bare chest.
That look was enough to reignite the flames of her own rage, to give her the will to keep on fighting, to shut out the twisted thoughts her mind was throwing at her and focus on doing as he had asked.
Escaping.
She needed to escape and then she needed to get help. Her mind raced over everything she had to do as the two brutes marched her towards the mountains, as she sensed Thanatos disappear from behind her together with the demigoddess and her army. She couldn’t fight the demigoddess alone when she had an army at her disposal. She wasn’t strong enough. She needed backup and she needed to trust what Thanatos had told her, and what she had witnessed in his eyes countless times when they were together, was true.
He loved her.
She loved him too, and she was damned if that demigoddess was going to lay her filthy hands on him.
She was going to get help and then she was coming back here to save him.
Calindria flexed her fingers and focused on them, felt a tingle in their tips. She walked calmly forwards, relaxing in the grip of the two brutes who held her as she formed a plan and tested the limits of her powers.
She glanced at the swords the two males gripped. She was quick, but the drug was still affecting her strength. If she made a play for one of their swords, there was a high chance the other one would kill her before she could get her hands on the weapon.
What if she touched one of them?
Calindria focused harder on her hands, but her thoughts were still a little hazy, her body still a little numbed by the drug. The demigoddess knew of the power of her touch, would probably have tailored the drug to shut down that ability in her to render her safe for her men to touch.
Her eyes widened slightly.
But there was a chance the female hadn’t known about her power over nature.
Ahead of her, a great crack in the side of the mountain loomed, a tunnel she knew without a doubt would lead to a new cage for her. That was the reason the males hadn’t teleported her anywhere. They already had a cage prepared for her.
She held her nerve, biding her time, hoping her plan worked. She needed to catch them both off guard and in a confined space, and it didn’t hurt to give herself a little more time to purge the drug.
The one to her left pushed her forwards and grunted as they reached the tunnel.
Her breaths quickened, heart accelerating as she stared ahead of her, at the end of the cragged narrow tunnel. It was short, ended barely ten feet in, opening out into a cavern that had a golden metal cage in the middle of it, lit by flaming torches.
Now or never.
Either this worked, or she had just condemned both her and Thanatos.
She summoned her strength, using the thought of Thanatos being tormented by that female as fuel. She couldn’t let it happen. She had to save him.
Her eyes slipped shut as she drew on the earth, as she used every drop of her strength and focused on her feet, on the connection between her and the ground. Nature.
Power surged through her, felt as if it was ripping her apart and consuming her, and she cried out as pain blazed through every inch of her and her head turned.