“Chatty Cathy.” Humor lit Isadora’s voice, but she didn’t smile. Not once in the past two weeks had Casey seen her smile. “I like that one. I’m going to use it.” That humor faded. “But you know what happened, don’t you.”
Yeah, Casey knew. It was all she thought about whenever she was alone. Because she wanted to read so much more into what Theron had done—or been willing to do for her. But if that was the case, then where was he?
“He never loved me,” Isadora added quietly. “I was nothing more than another duty he was fulfilling. You…you’re his soul mate.”
Casey looked at her sister. “How do you know for sure?”
“Because guilt is the only thing that could keep him away. Guilt for having lied to you. For bringing you here. For thinking he could do his job and not see you as a consequence. Otherwise he’d be here right now, planning war strategy with Cerek and Zander. If there was only one word to describe Theron, it would be loyal. He’s loyal without fault to the people he loves. And he knows he let you down.”
Casey watched a bird sweep across the sky. She could think of a lot of words to describe Theron—hot, sexy, overwhelming and generous. But Isadora was right. Loyalty ruled him. After having that foundation crack, it made sense he’d be shaken now.
“What if he doesn’t come back?”
Isadora pursed her lips. “I’ve been thinking about that. And I have an idea. If you’re up for it, that is. It’s a little sneaky.”
“You know where he is?”
Isadora nodded. “As of yesterday, at least. Orpheus got a message from someone named Niko in the Misos colony. It seems they’ve got an interesting new colonist helping rebuild what was damaged in their recent daemon attack. Only he’s not Misos. According to Orpheus, he’s way too big and strong.”
Casey’s heart kicked up to the beat of a marching band. He’d gone back to the colony? To a place where everyone despised him?
Her heart filled. Of course he had. That would be his way of making amends. He’d gone to help them rebuild and start over. Her people. He’d gone to protect what was hers.
“The only problem is,” Isadora said, “no one knows where the colony is.”
Casey turned slowly toward her sister. “I do.”
“I thought you might.”
Theron swung the hammer with more force than necessary. The nail shot through wood and flew out the other side. Swearing at himself and the hole he’d created, he reached for another nail from the pouch in the tool belt around his waist and gently tapped it into place. Damn aluminum nails here in the human world. If it were up to him, he’d be using iron. Or fucking steel.
“You look like you need a break, hero,” Nick said from across the room. He smacked a nail into place on the wall they were rebuilding and ran a forearm over his sweaty brow. “Water’s in the kitchen.”
“I don’t want water,” Theron grumbled, gently tapping another nail as if it were an egg.
“I didn’t ask you if you wanted water,” Nick said. “Gitcha ass in there anyway. You’re surly as a bear and I want five minutes peace from you.”
Theron shot him a droll look, narrowed his eyes in challenge and dropped the hammer into the toolbox at his feet.
Nick sent him a sour grin and went back to work.
When Theron first arrived at the colony and offered to pitch in on the reconstruction, Nick had been more than a little surprised. He’d never asked why Theron was there, and he’d never inquired about Acacia. Theron figured that meant the half-breed either already knew what had happened or he was taking pity on him.
That last thought didn’t sit well with Theron, but it was the only thing that kept him from picking the half-breed up and tossing him out one of the hidden windows in the rock wall that looked down to the canyon below. “I’m not getting you one,” he muttered. “You can get your own damn water.”
“Hallelujah,” Nick said as Theron headed out of the room. “Some twisted god up there took pity on my soul after all.”
Theron flipped him the bird—a gesture he’d learned hanging around with the Misos—before he rounded the corner.
But there was no heat in the exchange, and as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen at the back of the lodge, he felt a strange sort of communion with the half-breed. He was still cautious around the man, because there was something just not right about Nick. But the scarred leader of the colony was growing on him. It took balls to stand up to a hero—especially one of Heracles’s line. Nick had done it without a second thought from the very start.