Free The Deian War: Conquest by Tom Trehearn

the only person in the room that she felt would have told her, if he was awake and able to do so.
    As if given a cue, his eyes finally opened. “What…” Lupus whispered. “What happened?”
       He looked around the room, getting his bearings, a confused look on his face. When his gaze settled upon Calla, he refused to look anywhere else. “Calla? What am I doing here?”
       She would have leapt out of her seat, but she felt so guilty now that she was almost too scared to touch him. Instead, she rose more slowly than she wanted to and went to hold his hand in hers. “You blacked out, Lupus…you’ve slept for two days since.”
       “ Two days ?” he echoed. “I have never slept for so long…What made it so?”
       Calla looked to Gaia for reassurance. The latter nodded slightly, suggesting that she should tell him the truth. She looked down at Lupus, her brown eyes full of a care and affection that was born out of a deep history of mutual protection and love. “Lupus, we…we think the Corruption was able to affect you…But it is only a theory and there are other explanations we haven’t yet pursued” she tried to smile, but she knew it wasn’t convincing enough.
       Lupus closed his eyes in resignation. He dreaded the answer she gave, but he had been expecting this to happen for months now. Every time he engaged in a battle, the higher his emotions would boil in the heat of it. Whether it was anger towards the enemy or love and concern for her, his feelings were increasing in strength with every conflict he fought.
       Suddenly he noticed a difference in the room. He couldn’t see her because Calla was standing in the way, but he knew someone else that could influence his heart and mind was present. As though knowing this without asking, Calla moved aside and showed him what he already knew; Raina had returned from Gothica.
       “Well, now it makes sense why I awoke so abruptly…” he laughed awkwardly, leaving the rest of them confused about his conclusion.
     
    RAINA AND GAIA left the tent upon Calla’s request. Outside there was rain pouring over the forest canopy and falling on them profusely through the gaps, but neither of them seemed bothered. Where Raina used the bare minimum of her psychic power to create a layer of energy around her to shield herself from the downfall, Gaia let the water soak into her skin.
       They stood together and watched as the assembled legions practiced drills and carried out various training exercises to keep them alert and ready for the next battle, wherever that would be. Gaia was the first to break the silence, feeling the tension seething from Raina.
       “You still don’t see it, do you?” she asked.
       Raina turned her head. Her rich cream battle-skirt wavered in the slight wind, but it was her deep blue eyes that transfixed Gaia. “See what ?” she pretended not to know.
       Gaia’s lips twitched in annoyance that Raina would still feign ignorance after all this time. It had been blindingly obvious from the start that she held a grudge against Lupus, yet now she acted as though she was innocent. “They belong together and there’s nothing you or any of us can do about it; nor should it be the case”.
       At this, Raina turned her at tention back to the legionnaire trying to dismiss the topic, but Gaia continued. “When they’re together, he’s stronger and so is she.”
       “They distract each other!” Raina snapped, her eyes scolding and her tone acidic. “How do you think the Corruption starts, Gaia?”
       Gaia held her ground, unshakeable in the face of Raina’s unjustified wrath. She had fought alongside the two Apostles for long enough to never doubt their union. “Not from love , not their emotion! The enemy is duplicitous and evil, Raina. The creature Lupus faced two days ago could have planted the seed if it wasn’t there before from his personal hatred of the Phantoms.”
    “Why should his hatred be any