Praetorian Rising, стр. 81
He swam toward her, his arms and legs wind-milling easily through the water despite the heavy weight of terror still ricocheting through his body. Reaching her in a few seconds, he grasped her face and kissed her soundly, his legs kicking wildly beneath the surface to keep them afloat. "Dear Ma'Nada, I thought I'd lost you."
She smiled as their lips parted, the heat of her breathe fanning across his cheeks. "I thought I'd lost myself," she replied with a blue-lipped grin. His fingers entwined in the thick mat of her hair as he yanked her to him, their bodies sliding against each other beneath the surface of the water. He felt her chatter and twitch, but she clung to him as he did her for a few minutes of needed reassurance. They weren't lost; they had each other.
"I'm here," Theo found himself repeating, his cheek pressed firmly to hers as he held her. "I'm here."
She pulled back, lips quivering, and smiled at him. "Perhaps we should keep moving?"
He nodded, almost regretful to leave the fleeting moment, but they had little time left and needed to be moving if they were going to survive the night. They swam to the edge of the lake, the temperature of the air not much warmer than the water they moved through. Several torches lit the underground space, but it was sparse and dim, leaving their surroundings in shadow with nothing more than a sliver of orange to guide their way. Inky water sloshed against the ground as they emerged, the distant expanse of the lake disappearing into shadow behind them and jagged, angry stone teeth leering at them from overhead.
"Are we still in the compound?" Camille asked, shaking her limbs dry and ringing out her hair. Water pooled in black puddles on the stone around her feet as she shivered.
Appearing like a shadow on the ground at her feet, Neeko sidled up to her legs, entwining his body around her ankles as he cooed a sound of relief at the sight of her. Bending down, her face and hair dripping water all over his fur, Camille pressed her nose into the crook of the cat's neck and kissed him soundly several times before running her fingers over his ears again and again.
"I'm glad to see you can swim, too," Camille said with a brilliant smile, her straight white teeth a pearly glow in the dim torchlight. Despite Theo's slight pang of jealousy over the cat's immense fondness and reciprocated affection he had with Camille, he smiled at the intimacy. She may not outwardly show him love, but it was a relief to know that she could. Her memories of him might be few and far between, and she may never remember who he was or what they had been, but at least he knew her ability to show love had not been taken from her.
She was there—somewhere inside the broken membrane of her fractured self—and he would do whatever it took to find her again. Theo fought the urge to cradle her close and warm her up as he watched her fingers tremble while righting her weapons and hoisting her soggy pack onto her back. He knew the luxury of touching her wasn't something he could afford, despite how much he needed it.
Neeko shook out his coat, emitting a low purr as he headed toward the cave opening.
"Still underground, and still in danger," Theo said, his voice clipped and as straight-forward as possible. She glanced at him, her mouth open in a pout-like bow, seemingly on the verge of saying something, but she remained silent. "Come on, we need to keep moving."
Camille nodded, ducking her head and eyes to the ground as she moved past him in pursuit of Neeko. Theo shook the droplets from his own hair and checked that he still had all his weapons, then took off at a jog up the steep slope of the cave after them. They had precious little time before the compound would collapse, and he didn't want to be underground when it did.
Chapter Sixteen
Defiance
It wasn't a quick slaughter; it was a bloody, drawn-out battle. The first round of Chimera ripped past their hunkered positions, blasting through the tall grass like battle rams through thin sheets of paper into the main square of the village. After the Chimera came the Equestrians, and though Vesyon led his troops around behind them, their efforts were unnecessary—most of LeMarc's forces filed straight into the village like flies to a buzzing lamplight.
The truth remained, however, that there were just too many of them. The Equestrians scuttled across the damp ground, their boots marking out endless paths of forward motion like the ever-persistent march of ants. It seemed impossible to knock down their lines. Even if they decimated several hundred soldiers during the explosion, the Rogues would still be vastly outnumbered.
Two of the larger warships held back, firing with everything they had, killing Rogues and Equestrians alike. Bodies became the only barrier against the incoming swarm of beasts and cannon fire, a wall of matted, bloodied fur or tender flesh in uniforms painted the bright red of freshly drawn blood. There was no hope of winning; they just needed to push as many into the compound as possible before running like mad in the opposite direction and hoping to survive the night.
Vesyon pivoted toward an incoming Equestrian and flayed the man's chest wide open, spraying the ground with crimson. He watched as the soldier fell backward, mouth agape, his final gasping breath and familiar wide eyes of unbelieving shock locked on Vesyon's face. It made little sense to Vesyon—most of these men were young soldiers, barely old enough to have experienced war, let alone a battle of such proportions. The men dressed in black