Calluna

Chapter Eighteen

Part Two

The Freed

"What do you mean? Heather was corrupted by who? The king?"

Nico's voice is as rushed and worried as my heart beats. Everyone's gazes are shifting quickly between me and Atreus, everyone looking at our eyes.

His are purple. Stunning purple. The same lavender shade as mine. But what stuns me more than anything is the warmth in his gaze, the relief, the confusion. Only a mere minute ago his eyes were white. Cruel, ruthless, disturbing white.

Atreus puts a shaking hand to his knee and tries to stand. He looks near to a child, learning how to walk for the first time. Briar rushes to him, some sort of unruly relief in her demeanor, some sort of affection.

"Atreus," she whispers, her arms wrapping around him, helping him stand. "Atreus, is it really you?"

His hands, now gentle, rest on each of her shoulders. He looks at her deeply and lets out a slow, long laugh. Not the same amused, arrogant laugh he made earlier tonight or the vicious, evil one he made the night he killed my father and the villagers, or the night he killed Theron. This laugh rips through his body, light and full of relief. His eyes glow with unshed, happy tears.

"Briar, great seas, tell me this is true. Tell me this is real." His voice is husky and slow, as if he's a child still, just learning how to speak.

"Answer Nico's question," I bite out, my voice unfeeling, my body tense.

His eyes turn to me and he immediately places a hand to his head. A sharp pain shoots through my spine and into my skull and I too lift a hand to my head.

Atreus shakes his head, again and again, seeming to try and rid himself of the pain. He looks at me as if he can't believe I'm real, like he's seeing me for the first time.

"It....it was not the king," Atreus says, his voice weak. "It was a man who calls himself Vulcan. He took over my body... possessed it. That's his ability, his power. He's sensed danger, so he left my body and jumped into Heather." Atreus shakes his head again, much more violently, as if he's seeing something in his mind. "We must leave," he mutters, falling slightly on wobbling legs. Briar catches him, straining under her own wounds.

"Why would we leave?" I ask, my voice hard and cold as I stare at Atreus. "Where would we go?"

"Trust me," Atreus whispers, even though he's in pain, his purple eyes are still locked on mine. I hate how tender they are, how apologetic they look.

"I don't trust you!" I yell, stepping towards him, sizing him up, ready for another battle. This is the man who killed my father, who killed Theron. He's asking me to trust him? Absolutely not.

Atreus's eyes turn sad, still apologetic, and he stands straighter, brushing Briar off. Briar pins me with a cold stare. "Well, I do trust him," she yells back. "You want to stay here, purple eyes, that's fine. But I'm not waiting around for the king to—"

The ballroom doors burst open and Desta and Alder walk in, each with a sword to their throat. Their arms are raised in complete surrender, but the sentries' blades are already making marks in their skin.

"The woman with the yellow eyes informed us that all of you are planning a rebellion against the king in here," one sentry says, his voice cold as ice. "That is treason and you will pay for it with your lives."

I take a step forward, my hands held out in surrender. The sentries push the sword further into Alder's skin. "Not another step, girl."

Desperately, my heart racing, I look back at the others for help. Atreus is already stepping forward, as if he wasn't throwing up everything in his stomach only a few moments ago. "Release them now, on my order," he commands, his voice no longer warm, but the same voice I've heard for the past two months. "It is treason for you to refuse my instructions. You both could be beheaded tonight, at my command. So, I suggest you do as I say."