Praetorian Rising, стр. 36

Chapter Nine

Romeo Village

Pinpricks stabbed unrelentingly into Camille's left shoulder, and it felt like her arm had been severed directly at the socket. Her eyes snapped open, wild with attention as images crashed together in front of her. It was worse than waking in Sierra Village because now she remembered.

Camille took in her surroundings with quick and swift calculation. She was alone in a simple, unfamiliar bedroom, with Neeko stoically perched on the window ledge above her head. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief in the comfort of otherwise complete solitude.

Her head ached and she reached up to assess the delicate new skin and auburn hair sprouting where it had been torn out. She pulled down her loose cotton shirt to see a smear of fading yellow bruises traveling over her chest and down her arms, many in the outlines of a man's hand.

Blinking away the stinging sleep from her eyes, Camille took in the paneled wood roof above her. The room smelled both earthy and metallic, which was very strange. Fluttering light twitched and danced across the ceiling, moving with the tempo of the wind whipping through the trees outside her window. Squeezing her eyes shut in a moment of hope and desperation, she begged for darkness. Everything hurt within her, down to the marrow of her bones.

Stifling a yawn, Camille pressed the palms of her hands abrasively against her eyelids, trying to will good thoughts back into her mind. When she stared around the room once more, Camille noticed a shadowed figure in the corner and her heart launched into her throat.

"Cam?" it said, sleepy and barely audible. "You okay?"

"Holy crap, Theo! I thought you were an intruder!" Camille collapsed against the feather pillows, eyes fluttering with unwelcome weariness.

He came over to sit on the edge of her bed. "I'd never attack you," he said with intense seriousness before a gentle smile curved his prominent lips, and a glimmer of humor sparkled in his expression. "Not unless you asked me to." His eyebrows wiggled suggestively over his twinkling blue eyes, and it was difficult for Camille to keep a smile from finding its way onto her lips.

"Lurking in the dark watching someone sleep is nearly as bad as attacking them."

Theo's smirk bloomed into a full smile. "My sincerest apologies, my dearest lady."

Camille snorted as his genial tone, aware of a sudden flutter in the depths of her belly.

"How's the head?" he asked.

She felt around the tender area with her fingertips. "It's healing."

"I should've been there for you," he said, reaching out but stopping when Camille flinched backward into her pillow.

She drew a deep breath, feeling immediate guilt at the hurt in Theo's eyes. But she didn't know him; there was no reason to feel bad for an automatic reaction. She had every right to be uncomfortable, and yet the only emotion bubbling through her system was a growing heat in the pit of her stomach.

Wiggling her toes and readjusting her propped up position, Camille’s line of sight slid over the shadowed room to keep from drowning in Theo’s blue gaze.

“I handled it,” Camille replied, pressing her palms down on the sheets and comforter to make them as smooth as possible.

"That's no excuse. I can't tell you how sorry I am." His head hung, shoulders slumping as he scratched at the back of his neck. “You shouldn’t have had to deal with this. It wasn’t fair. I’m sorry, Cam.”

Camille had no retort; he seemed genuine, despite his previously sarcastic nature. This version of Theo clearly cared about her, maybe even liked her. She grew nervous under his intense gaze but found it was incredibly difficult to keep her eyes averted for any extended period.

"I, um, well, something strange happened when the men attacked, and I don't quite know..." Camille started but felt the words lodging thickly in her throat. The Equestrians had aggressively attacked her, and her Praetorian abilities had failed her. Theo seemed to understand the words burning in her throat by the look of empathy in his expression. His hand slowly moved toward hers, a gentle and silent question, waiting to see if she would pull away from his intention to touch her. She didn't. Linking his fingers with hers, his lips quirked upward for a slight moment before they drew down in apparent distaste. His expression glazed over, his body present but his mind far away in a long-ago memory.

"Being a Praetorian isn't easy Cam. Sometimes it's downright horrible. We experience a constant, wild surge of emotion in every direction. It can feel incredibly impossible, but we trained for years to learn how to restrain it. Fear is just as debilitating as anger can be empowering. If you let the emotion overtake you, you will lose control."

As much as she didn't want to relive or think about what had happened in the forest, she knew precisely what Theo was talking about. She hadn't just felt fear as the Equestrians descended on her, she had been wholly paralyzed with terror. Having spent most of her energy on diffusing the raging monster screaming through her blood in times of anger or frustration while living with Peter, Camille hadn't realized the monster would abandon her in times of absolute terror. Like a blind person relying only on sound, she had put too much stock in what she had no control over. To manage the beast within, she would need to learn how to manipulate it, and not allow the inner monster to manipulate her.

"Where's Vesyon and