Dawn of Chaos and Fury by Melissa K. Roehrich - 52

49

“ I don’t understand,” Axel said, all of them sitting in the Penthouse living room once again. This time they weren’t sitting in jarring defeat, but the shock was still there.

Valter was dead, never to threaten any of them again. Theon. Axel. Maddox. Caris. They were all free of him.

And so was Eviana, though not in the way Tessa had intended.

From the first time she’d visited Eviana at the Faven Palace, she’d intended to free her of the Arius Lord. She’d worked to build a tentative trust, and then she’d trusted Lange and Corbin to be the good souls they were and build it even more. They’d clearly done that, and nothing was more evident of that than the way Corbin was holding a sleeping Priya in his lap next to Lange on the sofa.

“Thank you,” Caris said softly as Eliza placed a glass of wine and plate of food on the table before her.

Xan, Eliza, and Razik had all come to the Underground to wait for their return. Even with Bree contained and no longer a threat, Axel wouldn’t leave Kat and Maddox alone.

“Do you need anything else?” Theon asked, his voice monotone as he sat with what had happened.

“No,” Caris said gently. Her gaze slid to Axel. “But I can clear up the confusion.”

“Please do,” Axel said, swiping a hand down his face. “Never in a thousand decades did I think I would be upset my father’s Source was gone.”

“Don’t call her that. Her name was Eviana,” Tessa cut in sharply.

Axel winced. “Sorry, Tessa. I’m just…” He lifted his gaze back to Caris. “Confused doesn’t begin to cover it.”

“As I said earlier this evening, your father was a very paranoid male. It only grew after Rordan’s betrayal. He started taking extreme measures,” Caris said.

“Like linking Cressida’s life to yours,” Theon said.

Caris nodded, toying with the stem of her wineglass. “Nothing was enough for him. He wouldn’t risk not having a son, so Cressida and I both carried a child. Then he needed another, just in case.” She paused for a moment. “His Sources were no different. Eviana was his second Source.”

“We know this,” Tessa interrupted. “He had her… Well, he chose her before she’d even entered the world.”

Caris pressed her lips into a thin line. “You learned of the Sirana Villas.”

Tessa gave a sharp nod.

“You’re not wrong,” Caris continued. “But a bond wasn’t enough. He would have required more of her. Forced more vows and bargains with her.”

Theon’s head snapped up. “He had a Life Bond with her.”

“Surely not,” Axel gasped, his eyes wide.

Caris nodded.

“What is that?” Tessa asked, looking among them all. “What does that mean?”

“A bond between two lives,” Luka told her gruffly. “If one dies, so does the other.”

“He would have altered it to only be one-sided. If she died, nothing would happen to him, and she wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone,” Theon added. “He would have forced her to secrecy like he did with everything else.”

“She wouldn’t have told us even if she could have,” Corbin said, his voice low and soft to not wake Priya. “Eviana was a lot of things, but she knew what she wanted in the end. If we had known, we would have tried to find another way. She wanted Valter gone because he would forever be a threat to her. She didn’t care the cost, whether it was her or anyone else, as long as that threat was gone.”

“I don’t blame her,” Tessa said, her fingers curling into the edge of her chair. “She lived a life we were taught to covet, but she knew what it truly was. Forced to bring a child into the realm, she wanted the greatest threat gone. In the end, does it matter? One villain gone out of thousands?”

“We’re working on changing things, Tessa,” Theon said.

She gave him a fake smile. “Will it be fast enough? For the Priyas of the world?” She looked at Axel. “For the Maddoxes who don’t have the privilege of being born into a ruling family?”

“Everything we’re doing is to ensure the realm is different for them,” Axel argued. “It won’t happen overnight, but we’ll never stop fighting for it.”

Tessa fell quiet, reaching for her glass of wine. She took a long drink, knowing there were eyes on her. Her emotions were…undefinable. She didn’t understand them or know how to deal with them. It didn’t feel like grief, despite the sadness. Failure? Disappointment? Inadequacy? She didn’t know.

“Axel?”

Tessa lifted her gaze to find Kat at the top of the stairs, Maddox in her arms.

Axel was already moving, taking the stairs two at a time. He dropped a kiss to her cheek before taking the babe and then grasping Kat’s hand.

“Come,” he said with a sad smile. “There is someone I want you to meet.”

He led her down the stairs, drawing nearer to Caris, and Tessa took another drink of wine.

“Kat, this is Caris. She was…” Axel paused, looking down at his son and then at Caris. “She’s my mother. This is my wife, Katya.”

Tessa didn’t know if Kat knew of Caris’s history. She was sure Axel would tell her everything later, but she smiled warmly as she greeted the female.

“A wife so young?” Caris asked, her smile kind as she stood and reached for Kat’s hands, squeezing them gently. “Aren’t you a vision, my dear?” Kat dropped her head, her cheeks heating. Caris’s attention went back to Axel. “And this is…?”

“Maddox,” he answered, his voice thick with emotion. “Your grandchild.”

Tessa drained her wineglass while Axel passed the babe to Caris, and suddenly Theon was there, fingertips brushing down her arm. She was projecting far too many things down the bond, but she couldn’t stop it.

“So, what are we going to do about Priya?” Tessa asked, glancing at Lange and Corbin.

“What do you mean?” Lange asked. “We promised to make her family. She’ll stay with us.”

“Are you sure? Because if that’s not something you want to do, we can make other arrangements.”

“She’s staying with us,” Lange replied. “We swore it to Eviana, and even if we hadn’t, we’d do the same.”

“Corbin?” Tessa asked, looking at the male. “You are fine with this? With essentially adopting her?”

Corbin nodded, pulling the sleeping child a little more into his chest. “Yeah, Tessa. We’re fine with this.”

Tessa nodded, getting to her feet. “We’ll make sure you have everything you need for her. Make lists. We’ll get it sorted.”

They rose too, heading for the lift to go down a floor to the apartment they’d been staying in. Stopping at her side, Corbin said, “Thank you, Tessa.”

“You made the deal with Eviana. Not me.”

“But you sent us to her.”

And then they were gone, Xan, Razik, and Eliza following.

Without looking at the others, she said, “I’m going to bed.”

Minutes later, she was sliding between the sheets. Luka and Theon would be up at some point. They’d stayed to visit more with Caris, and as she lay in the dark, all she could think about were the Priyas and Maddoxes who didn’t have anyone to fight for them. The Fae children alone at the Estates. Those with mixed bloodlines born for the single purpose of power. Those forced to bring children into a broken world. The unplanned babes who may be loved but still subject to the wickedness Devram bathed in.

The forgotten children.

The suffering mothers.

The fathers who didn’t know.

She sighed, rolling onto her side as she pictured Theon’s face when he saw his mother. She could feel him down the bond. Luka too. They adored Caris. Everything a mother was supposed to be, ripped from them before they’d even lived a full decade. Even then, that trauma was used to manipulate them.

And tomorrow she would have to face her own mother. They looked at Caris with adoration and grieved lost time. And she…

Tessa heard the door open. Not both of them. Only Luka.

Her back was to him, and she didn’t acknowledge him while he shuffled around the room. A few minutes later, the bed dipped, and an arm looped around her waist, pulling her back against his warm body.

“Time to talk about it, baby girl,” Luka murmured, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. “You’ve been tossing and turning for the last hour.”

“You were so relieved to see your father again,” she whispered, a part of her sighing in relief at having someone to listen. Something she’d never thought she’d feel if she was being honest.

Luka was quiet for a few seconds before he said tentatively, “I was. I thought he was dead. Then I learned he was alive, and when I found him again… Yeah, I was relieved.”

“And Theon is in awe of seeing his mother once more. Not relieved like you were, but…something similar.”

“The three of us are all shocked at the way this day has gone. Caris was beloved by us.”

She nodded, falling silent. Luka’s hand came up, smoothing her hair back. “Keep going, Tessa,” he said gently, urging her to keep talking. Knowing this was foreign to her. To have someone listen and not try to manipulate her based on what she said. Someone who was listening because they cared and not because they were trying to figure out how to use her to their advantage.

Still, she hesitated because saying this aloud was…

“You are all so grateful to be reunited with a father or mother, and I don’t think I want to see mine,” she whispered.

“Because of who they are to us,” Luka said. “None of us would feel this way if we discovered Valter still lived. There would be little feeling if Cressida was gone.”

“But you wish to see your mother? Xan told you she still lives in the Anala Kingdom.”

“Yes, Tessa. I still wish to see my mother, but you not wishing to see yours is understandable. There is no right way to feel about this.”

“But once again, I do not have a choice.”

“You do,” Luka said simply. “You are choosing the good of the realm over your own comfort. It’s a noble choice. Even so, your feelings are valid.”

“Are they?”

“Of course they are, Tessa.” He shifted, splaying a hand on her stomach. “You can’t change your feelings, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about them. You should, however, talk about them instead of trying to shove them aside or face them alone.”

“I should want to, though, right? Meet them? Shouldn’t I be curious? Anxious? Shouldn’t I be excited at the prospect?”

“There is no right way to be feeling about any of this,” Luka said gently, his fingers on her stomach dragging loose circles atop her shirt. “Curious. Tentative hope.” He paused. “Anger.”

“Stop reading my emotions,” she muttered.

He huffed a chuckle. “It’s a balance, baby girl. You have to let us help you.”

She snuggled back into him. “You’ll be there tomorrow, right? You’re coming?”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’ll be where you can see me,” he answered. Silent seconds ticked by until Luka said, “When we went to free Xan, Eliza said something to Razik. I didn’t understand then, but I do now. She said just because you help here doesn’t mean you have to do anything else. No one is expecting anything else from you, and even if they are, you helping here? That’s all it is. It is not an offering of anything else. Just because she comes here tomorrow doesn’t mean you have to decide right now or even tomorrow how much you wish to know her. Okay?”

She nodded again, staying silent and once more trying to find sleep. Even when Theon joined them some time later, it didn’t come, and she knew they didn’t sleep either.

“You’re sure we don’t need a mirror gate for this?” Theon asked, all of them gathered in the gardens of Arius House.

Theon was focused on the task, and she was focusing on the cool ground beneath her bare toes. The soft breeze on her face. The rays of warmth trying to pierce through the stormy sky.

She was doing that. She knew that. The sky a reflection of her inner turmoil.

Luka and Theon had been unusually careful around her. Fretting and fussing. It was annoying.

“Not with a portal key,” Xan said for what Tessa was sure was the hundredth time.

This was not an offering of anything else, she reminded herself. She was bringing Akira here to help the realm. That was it. If her mother had expectations, they didn’t matter. No promises of anything more.

She looked up, unexpectedly locking eyes with Razik. The male was watching her, arms folded over his chest and mouth pressed in a firm line. But a strange understanding passed between them. How many times had she told Xan she didn’t know if or when Razik would forgive him? She hated that this was what she had in common with the broody dragon who was an asshole ninety percent of the time.

Her fingers curled, chaos coiling around her fingers as her breathing became erratic. Theon and Luka both whipped their heads to her, but Razik only held her stare.

“You control when and how the relationship moves forward,” Razik said, pointedly ignoring Xan’s attention on him. “Some days you will be able to handle a conversation. Other days, you will not want to be in the same room. Both are fine. You hold that control here.”

Tessa nodded slowly, something in her chest easing at finding someone who at least understood what she was struggling with.

Xan cleared his throat. “She will follow your lead, Tessa. She will wish for a chance to explain her actions, but…”

“But you are not required to hear her excuses,” Razik interjected, his features hardening. “And that is a service to her. If you are forced to hear them before you are ready, they will fall on deaf ears.”

Tessa nodded again, pursing her lips as she turned to Xan. “What do I need to do?”

“Because Temural altered them, they are not entirely like other portal keys,” Xan said, dragging his eyes from Razik and focusing back on her. “You’ll need to use your power to pull the stones from the rings and repair them. It will…be a lot, but once reunited, the portal key will do the rest. The one she bears should recognize it.”

“And if someone follows her through?” Razik cut in.

“Is that a possibility?” Tessa asked, eyes wide in alarm.

“Yes, but highly unlikely. Akira is going to assume she is going to Temural. She will not let anyone follow,” Xan answered.

“But if someone is with her when the portal opens?”

Xan held her stare, and it was answer enough. This was a risk.

“With all of us here, if someone follows, we can handle it,” Theon interrupted.

“Can we?” Tessa argued. “If a god or goddess follows her through?”

“They can’t come here, Tessa,” he said calmly.

“Because it will upset the balance?” she drawled. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“If it were that easy, don’t you think Achaz would have already come to Devram?”

That was a valid point. All of her visions confirmed the same. He couldn’t come here. There was something keeping him from entering.

“Fine,” she said, holding out her hand. “Give me the rings.”

“Tessa, if you need time—” Theon started.

“I don’t. Now,” she insisted, her power growing restless as she prepared to let it breathe.

“Tristyn will need to take it from here,” Xan said. “This is Witch magic now.”

Witch magic. Blood magic. Marks and enchantments. It didn’t much matter to her. She was ready to be done with this.

Tristyn had already drawn an upside-down triangle on the ground nearby, and he gestured for her to come closer. “Place a ring at each point,” he said, features dark in concentration.

“Have you done this before?” she asked, placing the rings.

“Have I repaired a portal key? No,” Tristyn replied. “They are rare, and those that do exist are hidden away.” She nodded, letting Tris guide her to the center of the triangle. “Normally there would be incantations involved, but since this one was altered and is keyed to your blood, I think your blood and chaos will do.”

“You think?” she asked incredulously as he passed her a small knife.

He shrugged with a wink. “We’ll improvise if we need to.”

“This doesn’t seem like something we should improvise.”

“You’re altering everything, wild fury,” he said. “It’s all improvising at this point.”

“Right,” she muttered, dragging the blade across her palm as Tristyn stepped from the triangle. She couldn’t let it drip to the ground in fear of summoning Hunters, so instead she let it pool, her chaos merging with it. Then, just like she had with Xan’s collar, she pulled threads of her power and sent them to the rings.

It was innate somehow, letting her power do this. Recreate something. Everything came from Chaos, so it only made sense her chaos would be drawn to making something new.

The rings rose into the air until they hovered at eye level, light springing from each one and meeting in the center. That light turned dark, a churning mass of onyx as streaks of purple and gold flared until a ripple of power radiated out from the thing.

Tessa blinked, the light receding. Everyone around her was getting up from the ground. Tristyn was holding Theon back while Xan held Luka’s shoulders.

“You can’t go to her right now,” Tristyn gritted out. “Not until this is done.”

“The fuck I can’t,” Theon snarled, shoving Tristyn off him, but Razik was there, helping the deity.

“I’ve seen this done before,” Razik snapped. “If you interrupt the process, it could cause something you don’t want. The last being I saw repair a portal key didn’t survive it.”

Theon stilled at that, and his voice was death when he said, “I was never told that was a possibility.”

“She’s stronger than that Witch was,” Razik gritted out. “But I’m assuming you don’t want to chance anything.”

The stone in front of her was a mix of colors now. Marbled onyx with white and violet running through it. Her magic was reaching for it, coils of chaos wrapping around it tightly and drawing it to them. Tessa reached up, taking it between her fingers. It pulsed in her palm. It was odd to think about. This other-worldly power in the palm of her hand. If she closed her hand, squeezed tightly enough, maybe it could just…cease to exist.

Or maybe we could create something new. Use that power. Take it as our own.

Tessa! Luka growled in her mind at the same time Theon snapped, No, Tessa!

She slowly turned her head to them once more. They couldn’t stop them. No one could stop them. Not the gods. Not the Fates. This was theirs anyway. She was theirs⁠—

“No, you are not,” Theon snarled, his darkness slamming into Tristyn and Razik and throwing them back. He prowled forward, not caring about the ritual mark on the ground or the power she held in her fingers. He gripped her chin, forcing her eyes to his. “The only ones you belong to are me and Luka. Not the gods. Not the Fates. And you certainly do not belong to the fucking Chaos. Do you understand?”

You control it. Not the other way around, Luka added down the bond.

Then that key started glowing, and it didn’t matter what she thought. Not as it sprang from her fingers, hovering in the air once more.

“Fuck,” Theon cursed, grabbing her and dragging her back.

“I told you interrupting this would fuck something up,” Razik grumbled as Tessa fought against Theon’s hold, trying to get back to that power.

Because he was wrong. She was Chaos, and Chaos was hers. It called to her. It was a piece of her. It was⁠—

The portal key dropped to the ground. The air shimmered as if a clear veil was there, and then a female stepped through it. Hair the same gold as her own, loose and wavy, fell to her navel. Blood-red lips and ethereal grace. An ivory dress that was so sheer it hid nearly nothing with a gold belt slung low on her hips. Gold rings. Gold earrings. Grey eyes swirling with gold and violet.

“I’ve seen you before,” Tessa breathed, Theon still holding her to him.

The female turned, meeting her gaze, and Tessa could see the madness there. Fractured and furious.

“You got back up,” she said, energy crackling in her aura as streaks of gold and violet lit up the sky. Her eyes flashed to Theon. “And you have taken what’s yours.”

She took a step towards her, and Theon pulled Tessa back, his darkness appearing.

“Don’t!” Xan barked, but not fast enough.

A maniacal grin spread on the female’s face as light arched from her hand, somehow latching onto Theon’s darkness and dragging it to her.

“The fuck?” Luka growled, stalking forward and summoning his own magic.

The female tipped her head back and laughed, lifting her other hand and letting her power latch onto his too. Luka stumbled as that light yanked, and it was all Tessa needed to see.

“Come closer, little ones,” the female sang, taking another step and reaching with her hand. “Let me taste it.”

She grunted when light and dark slammed into her, shoving her back and back and back as Tessa stalked forward. “I become incredibly violent when people touch what is mine,” Tessa snarled, fury coursing through her veins.

“No! Stop!” Xan interjected, shoving himself between Tessa and the female. “Akira, stop. We don’t harm them. Here.”

The male’s black flames appeared, sliding up her arms, along her collarbone. Winding into her golden hair.

“Breathe and take,” Xan coaxed. “Then look.”

Her eyes fell closed, her storm of power winding around Xan’s black flames, and she inhaled deeply. When she opened her eyes, gold was swirling in their grey depths, similar to the way Auryon’s used to swirl with ashes.

“Xan?” she whispered.

“There you are,” he said with a smile. “You have it under control?”

“For now,” she agreed, and he pulled her into an embrace. “Where is he? Where is Temural?”

“Not here,” Xan murmured, still holding her close. “But there is someone else you should meet.”

He stepped back, his hand falling to the small of her back. Tessa could feel Theon and Luka behind her as Akira’s eyes widened when they settled on her. Tessa still had her hands raised, chaos at her fingertips. She could feel it swirling in her eyes, knowing they were a mirror of Akira’s, only a different color.

“Tessalyn,” Akira breathed.

She moved to take a step towards her, but stopped when Tessa said, “Tessa. That is my name.”

Akira nodded, her fingers flexing at her sides as she shuffled from side to side. “There is a lot of power here,” she murmured, stretching her neck one way than the other as if trying to get something under control. “Too much. There is too much power here.” She spun suddenly, Xan catching her wrists when she reached for his shirt. “Did I hurt them? Try to⁠—”

“She stopped you,” he consoled, more of his dragonfire skimming across her arms. His brow furrowed. “How long has he starved you?”

“Too long,” she murmured. “She is upset with me.”

“Who? Anala?”

She shook her head, golden strands swaying. “Tessa. I can feel her fury.”

Xan’s eyes flicked to her, and Tessa stared back, expressionless. She wasn’t entirely sure what was happening here.

“Were you followed?” Tessa asked sharply, and Xan frowned, but she didn’t care. “Did someone follow you through the portal?”

“We would have seen them, Tessa,” Xan replied.

“You don’t know that,” she argued. “Phantoms could slip through, and you cannot tell me gods cannot be invisible if they choose.”

“She is wise,” Akira murmured. Tessa watched her shoulders rise with another deep inhale before she turned once more to face her. “No one followed me, Tessa.”

“Where were you?”

“Locked in his world with nowhere to go.”

“This whole time?” Tessa demanded.

“For decades.”

“Was I born there?”

“No.”

Tessa nodded, her fingers curling into her palms as she started pacing.

Until Luka pulled her into him, and Theon slid a palm down her hair.

Akira’s eyes narrowed in interest. “Who are they?”

But Tessa didn’t answer as her power twisted in her soul, mirroring her conflicting emotions.

“They are her balance, Akira,” Xan said softly.

“Two?”

Xan smiled. “She is the daughter of wild and Fury. She requires two to balance her. The Fates delivered.”

“The Fates did shit,” Tessa snapped, shaking off the males. She felt steadier, drawing from their possession.

Akira hummed. “Which ones did you meet?”

“What?”

“Which Fates? Some are more palatable than others,” Akira clarified.

“I didn’t… You’ve met the Fates?”

“You haven’t?”

“This conversation is going around in circles,” Theon grumbled, and Tessa sent him a dry look over her shoulder.

She should feel something, right? Some kind of familial connection? Some kind of… something .

“The fuck?” Luka barked when Akira suddenly jumped forward a step. Tessa once again found herself being dragged back.

“Do you like stories?” Akira asked, her hands clasped under her chin and face full of hope as she held Tessa’s stare.

“By the gods, you can’t be serious,” Theon muttered under his breath.

“I love stories,” Tessa replied.

“Me too. Me too,” Akira murmured, starting to pace. Small steps, back and forth, Xan staying close. “In all things, there must be balance. Beginnings and endings.”

“Light and dark,” Tessa supplied.

“Fire and shadows,” Akira said in excitement.

“The skies, the seas, the realms,” Tessa echoed.

“Yes,” Akira said, nodding as she continued her pacing. Sparks of energy echoed each step. “Beginnings and Endings were once friends, forced to keep the balance in the stars. A common purpose and a trusted bond. Until one desired more. He convinced Endings to join him, and Accords were struck, until Endings uncovered truths and lies woven to create new realities. He turned from Beginnings, taking Dreams with him.”

“Arius and Serafina,” Tessa said softly.

“Good,” Akira said, nodding. She seemed relieved that Tessa understood. “Beginnings was furious. He sought others to help him seek revenge, creating beings and armies, but he wanted more. Always more. He found one to give him a child, but the child wasn’t enough either. He stole what was not his, forcing her to keep it. It corrupted her. Twisted into something new. Created fury that could not be contained, but she tried. She tried to contain it, but she was never enough.”

The words were shrouded in anguish, Akira’s steps quickening with each one.

“She tried to please him. Tried to be what he wanted her to be. Took more and more, forced to keep and keep. Take and keep. Take and keep,” she continued.

“This isn’t making any sense,” Luka muttered.

“Don’t interrupt the story,” Tessa and Akira snapped at the same time.

But it was making perfect sense to Tessa. She understood every single word.

“Every time she slipped a little more into what she was not supposed to have. It consumed her. She was desperate to please him, so she went in search of something that would make her enough. They were hidden among the stars. Secrets of Dreams and Death.”

“Saylah and Temural,” Razik said quietly, and Akira spun to him.

“Yes! Yes! Wild and Shadows.” She spun in a circle, resuming her pacing. The energy swirling around her flickered in the air, lightning crackling and thunder sounding far off in the distance. “I found him. Or he found me. His Trackers did. He found me, and the world was quieter,” she murmured. She paused for a moment, her fingers closing into fists at her sides. Her voice was vicious when she spoke next. “And then Beginnings took me from him.” Her gaze snapped back to Tessa. “But not before you. Created from something inevitable and uncontrollable. He could not have you. Never you.” Her voice cracked, tears pooling in her eyes. “Never you. So she sent you away, and she fell into madness. It was the only way she could survive losing him and you. She let it consume her. She wasn’t strong enough to get back up, so she let it create something new. Something born of vengeance and wrath.”

“A Fury,” Tessa said on a breath.

Akira nodded, her eyes falling closed as Xan sent another trickle of dragonfire to her.

“Do you understand, Tessa?” Xan asked gently.

And she did. She understood all of it because she’d lived the same. Never enough. Trying to prove herself. Needing more and more. Take and keep, keep and take.

“Tessa?” Theon asked softly, cupping her face to turn him to her. “Are you all right?”

She hadn’t realized she’d started crying. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

Tessa turned back to her mother, voice soft when she asked, “Why didn’t you send me to Temural? Why here?”

“He was on the run,” she answered, her eyes somewhat clearer. “Achaz hunted him, as he does all children of Death and Dreams. He could not have you. Never you,” she insisted. “So we chose the one place he couldn’t come. Temural didn’t know until later, but I sent others. Xan. Nylah. Roan.”

“And he sent Auryon once he figured out how to get her in,” Xan added. “You were never meant to be alone.”

“You were alone?” Akira asked, her eyes welling with tears now.

Tessa nodded, unable to speak past the emotion clogging her throat.

“I never wished for that,” she whispered. “Alone is agony. Too many nightmares haunt the in-between. The whispers drive you mad.”

“Yes,” Tessa said, more tears streaming down her face because someone finally understood.

“I…” Akira faltered, her fingers tangling into the fabric of her dress. Her eyes flashed to the males towering behind Tessa. “I wish to embrace you, but I can’t. My magic is too much here, and you still have fury. It will try to devour that.”

“Okay,” Tessa whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

“But I wish to speak more. When you are ready,” Akira added.

Tessa nodded, and Theon cleared his throat lightly. “Actually, there is a reason you are here. Aside from your daughter.”

“Who are you?” Akira asked again, her eyes narrowing. “You are too far removed from Death to carry the power that you do.”

“That is a tale for another time,” Theon said, and Tessa snickered as he avoided the story. “But we are told you can facilitate the transfer of power from one being to another. Or at least, you can teach Tessa how to do it.”

“Perhaps,” she agreed, still eyeing him. Her gaze shifted to the left. “I know who you are. You were scarcely walking when I saw you last. You are hers?”

“I am,” Luka answered.

Before Akira could ask about the rest of their company, there was a burst of flames that had Tessa lurching back. She’d never get used to magic messages. With a grumble of annoyance, Theon reached into the fire, plucking out a piece of paper. His eyes scanned it, brows arching in surprise.

“What is it?” Luka demanded, taking the paper from him.

Theon turned to Tessa, “We’ve been invited to the Anala Kingdom. We will be escorted in the morning.”