Praetorian Rising, стр. 33
"Yeah, I know, but the second Neeko showed up, I knew she'd be with you. You couldn't have expected me not to come," Theo said pointedly.
"Oh, and I guess I'm just supposed to believe you 'happened' upon her in the forest a few days ago? Don't try to con me, Theo. I know you better than that," Vesyon said.
Theo kept quiet for a moment, staring idly into the dancing flames. He seemed so young and weary for a sliver of a second, his shoulders drooping forward as though they couldn't withstand the pressure of his internal torture. What was troubling him? Camille felt a sort of tenderness and desire to comfort him—but then he straightened with aggressive bravado, and it disintegrated into nothing.
Vesyon hadn't noticed the transition of Theo's body language and continued as though Theo was listening. "I expect you to do what you're told. If the High Court found us—"
"I don't care about the High King or his Regent. I'm sick of hiding Vee! Besides—" Theo interrupted, picking at a wayward pine-cone and tossing it into the crackling flames, "nobody has seen the King since the massacre. We're fighting against an enemy that no longer exists! The border kingdoms are pushing back against foreign invaders, which is its own new beast." Theo tossed a handful of brush and twigs into the fire, and the flames danced and sparked wildly. "There's also this new problem we hadn't planned for," Theo said, his head tilting in the direction Camille had entered the brush. "I doubt you'll be able to keep her whereabouts secret much longer."
Vesyon sighed. "I'm sure he already knows she's fled Sierra Village. Peter said the Moon Tax collector saw her blood medallion, and it's only a matter of time before someone else recognizes her. Despite his absence from the throne, LeMarc will learn of her whereabouts. I'm sure of it. He sent the Chimera after her, I've no doubt."
"Why does he want her so badly?"
"I don't know why. We have no knowledge of what happened to her after the destruction of Charlie Town, but he obviously wants her back."
Camille found it interesting that Vesyon habitually referred to the High King without his title. He knew a lot more than he was willing to discuss, and by the stern look of determination blazing across his darkened features, she had a hunch that pulling her from Sierra Village was the beginning of a plan set in place long ago.
"Does she remember anything?" Theo asked, sounding fragile once more.
"This is not the place to discuss her past."
Theo heeded Vesyon's harsh tone, albeit begrudgingly. "So, let me get this straight," he said as he poked the stick he held into the belly of the dancing flames. "The High King has sent bloodthirsty monsters after a Praetorian everyone thought was dead or exiled to Olin because of one glimpse of her medallion? Do I have that right?"
Vesyon scoffed before flipping open a pouch filled with shelled nuts. "LeMarc knew she was alive and within the Asperian Kingdom. He's known since I rescued her that she didn't miraculously 'disappear.' Now, because of that oaf, Grenswald, he found where I hid her. It's only going to get worse from here."
Camille couldn't keep herself in the shadows any longer. "How could this possibly get any worse?" she asked, ignoring the look of annoyance on Vesyon's face and shoving the game into Theo's hands. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what's going on—Chimera or not."
"It's not so easy to explain," Vesyon said.
"Try me," she shot back.
Theo got to work on skinning the game as Camille settled onto a round stone near the fire.
"You already know what the plan is. We're leading the Chimera away," Vesyon said, cracking a nut and popping the salty insides into his mouth.
"And we killed those Chimera—all twenty-seven of them," Camille said. "So why are we still on the move, and why is he here?"
Theo smirked at this but continued his work on the game.
"Theo's presence here is inconsequential. He disregarded his orders to stay behind and will be reprimanded once we get back to Romeo Village," Vesyon explained.
Theo grunted as he chucked a skinned squirrel back at Camille. "Like you could keep me away, Vee. Besides, you know as well as I do that my duty is to be here with you. I'm tired of staying under the radar and playing 'lead babysitter' of Romeo Village."
"Duty? What duty?" Camille asked.
"The duty of being a Praetorian. Theo should've stayed in Romeo Village, until we arrived, to guard the people, but he apparently wants to do things his own way," Vesyon said, grabbing a portion of the squirrel meat and wrapping it around a skinned branch to dangle over the fire.
"If my duty is to the people, why am I here with you?" Camille asked.
"I'd watch that mouth of yours, Cam. The sharp attitude is completely ineffective with him. You can't ruffle his feathers; I've seen you try and fail many times," Theo said while attacking a particularly stubborn piece of blackened meat with his front teeth.
Camille and Vesyon each stared venomous daggers at Theo.
"Well, it's true!" Theo burst out, his lips covered in shiny squirrel grease. "You know she's good at weaseling her way under someone's skin." Theo shook the animal's bone in Vesyon's direction.
"You might know something about that, hmm?" Vesyon said under his breath.
"You can shut your trap, 'mister high and mighty.' Just because you have the personality of a rock doesn't mean you're better than me!" Theo shouted. "I have feelings, you know. I'm a sensitive man."
"'Better than,' did you say? I can't argue with your logic."
Theo opened his mouth to shoot another snide comment in Vesyon's direction, but Camille wasn't in the mood to