Dawn of Chaos and Fury by Melissa K. Roehrich - 56

53

“ I really wish you’d wear some armor,” Luka muttered. “What are we going to do if your blood touches the ground?”

She smirked where she stood near the kitchen island, leaning a hip against it. “I’m not wearing armor, Luka. If Hunters appear, I’ll take care of them. My arrows kill them. Auryon’s did.”

“We’re going to be facing enough enemies. We don’t need to add more,” he argued.

She hummed, the bands of light on her wrists flaring brighter as they unfurled and coiled. “I’ll be fine,” she said, pushing off the counter to return her coffee creamer to the fridge. “Maybe I’ll just make armor of light like Theon does with his darkness.”

“Great. Then you’ll be a beacon calling everyone straight to you,” he deadpanned.

“Why so grumpy this morning?” she asked around a huff of laugher. “One would think after the night we had, you’d be the farthest thing from grumpy.”

Because it had been a very good night that had left her more than a little sated. She’d slept deeply without a single dream, and while normally that was fine, it was also a little worrisome. She hadn’t had a vision in weeks. Tristyn had told her it was likely because the future was changing too quickly when she’d mentioned it to him a few days ago, and while that made sense, it still had her on edge.

So her husbands had taken it upon themselves to drive every other thought from her mind.

“What are we discussing?” Theon asked, coming into the room and going straight for her. He pressed a kiss to her temple as he reached over her head for a mug.

“Luka is upset I don’t have armor. Again,” she sighed, glancing at Theon.

He wasn’t in a suit. Instead, he wore black tactical pants with pockets. His long-sleeve black shirt hugged his torso, and his belt already had daggers sheathed to it. Luka was in the same, and she’d been trying to avoid staring all godsdamn morning.

“It slows her down,” Theon reminded him, turning to lean on the counter as he took a drink of caffeine.

“See?” Tessa said, gesturing to Theon. “I’ll have Nylah and Roan. My power will be feeding the entire time. I can funnel power to the two of you if needed.”

“Absolutely not,” Theon barked, straightening. “You’ll keep your power.”

She gave him an exasperated look. “Theon, you’ve been sleeping off and on for over a week with all that power you have now.”

“I’ve also been training with it and learning how to conserve it and control it,” he countered.

“Yes, but a week isn’t enough time.”

“We’re out of time, Tessa,” he said quietly, pulling his phone from his pocket when a message sounded.

He wasn’t wrong. Each day they delayed this was another day Rordan could make the next move, and they really wanted to be the ones to do that. But they’d had to wait. Theon had taken on the power of the Ladies and Dagian, and by the gods, she’d never seen something so heartbreaking and breathtaking. Never once had she thought she would see the Ladies take accountability for their actions and do something so monumental for the betterment of all those in Devram, not just those in power.

Theon had been beyond exhausted, and while he’d slept and the Ladies had done the same to recover, the rest of them strategized and planned. They’d brought in the heirs and generals of the other kingdoms. They’d studied maps, and Tessa had absorbed as much as she could. But this wasn’t her area of expertise. She was the power. She recognized that. Luka, however…

Tessa had watched him with a sense of wonder. There were generals from the various forces there, yes, but watching Luka, Xan, and Razik command the room as Sargon’s descendants? That was a sight to behold. Eliza had known more about battle strategies and formations than the males who led the kingdoms’ forces. Tessa had so many questions, but she knew they didn’t have time to indulge her. Later, when they survived this, she’d ask them all. Then again, she’d have lived it by that point.‘Experience was a better teacher than anything and all that.

There was a sharp knock on the door before Razik entered, Eliza at his side.

“We just received word that the last of the forces have moved into place,” the male said.

“Axel had the Underground move in two nights ago,” Theon added. “Do you two want coffee?”

Eliza curled her lip. “No. I’ve never taken a liking to that bitter drink.”

“It’s why you add cream and sugar,” Tessa offered.

“I’ll stick to tea,” the general replied flatly.

“We’re heading to the camps shortly,” Theon said. “Is everyone else ready?”

They didn’t have time to waste, but they’d needed it. There was no fast and easy way to move hundreds of forces into position. The few people who could Travel used massive amounts of power to do so, and those who could make portals did the same. The thing was, with Theon now having so much more power, he was one of the few who could make portals now. The heirs could, but it drew a lot from their Sources. They’d had to time everything to allow everyone the opportunity to replenish reserves—whether by natural means or rations of blood.

So all the kingdoms had moved forces into place in the Dreamlock Woods of all places. The border between the Serafina and Achaz Kingdoms across from Faven would have been preferable, but then they’d have to cross the Wynfell River when they were ready to move forward. Rordan would have the advantage still, and they’d be fucked. Instead, they were sneaking in little by little into the Dreamlock Woods from the Serafina Kingdom and crossing into Achaz territory. The woods were avoided by everyone, and Rordan would never expect them to attack from the south.

But he didn’t know about Priya.

It was Kat who had told them that bit of information one evening when they were debating where to make their stand. Going straight for Faven would be unexpected, but Rordan had come for Arius House. They were going to answer in kind.

Corbin and Lange had confirmed that Priya had somehow befriended the woods, and a small group of them had Traveled there to see it for themselves. They watched a little girl speak with Sprytes and Nymphs. They watched her talk to the trees and witnessed the flowers bloom for her. She was at home and in her element, and when Corbin and Lange crouched before her and asked her to do this for them, she’d done so without question. That child didn’t trust another soul but them, and all Tessa could think was if she accomplished nothing else in her life, helping those three find each other was enough.

“Everything is packed and ready?” Luka asked, rinsing his coffee cup and leaving it in the sink, and Tessa fleetingly wondered if they would be back to wash it.

A thought that clearly was heard down the bond because Theon’s gaze snapped to her.

Enough. If we start thinking that way, we may as well admit defeat right now, Theon growled.

She thinned her lips, but she nodded in response.

“Let’s go,” he said tightly, grabbing her hand as they all made their way to the foyer. Axel and Kat were there, and Kat had tears on her face as she pulled Maddox to her chest and kissed the top of his head.

“You can stay,” Axel was saying, holding them both close.

She shook her head. “We’re doing this for him,” Kat whispered. “If we won’t fight for this, we are no better than those who came before us.”

Kyra was here, waiting off to the side. With the Ladies no longer having power, they were given other tasks and areas to be of help. Kyra would keep Maddox until they returned.

With one last press of lips to their babe, Tessa’s heart twisted in her chest as they watched Axel hand his son to another. She had yet to hold him, but not because she didn’t adore him just as much as the others. He was perfect in every way.

“We’ll be back,” Axel said firmly. “Do what you must⁠—”

“With my life, Axel,” Kyra said softly. “When you return, the world will look different.”

With a lingering look, they walked out the front door of Arius House. Axel and Kat. Xan and Akira. Razik and Eliza. Caris. Everyone else was already in the Dreamlock Woods, waiting for them.

They stood in a circle, and Tessa looked up at the towering house that had once been her prison. She’d believed herself to be nothing then. Too wild and untamed. Too broken to fix.

She’d never wanted any of this, but little by little, they took and took. Little by little they started a war with her. She didn’t belong with their nobility. She didn’t want a throne, but she was coming for it anyway.

Rordan thought she would bow to him.

Dexter thought he could control her.

Achaz thought he could use her.

But you can’t control the uncontrollable.

Something dark and wicked coursed through her veins as she took hold of Theon’s and Luka’s hands.

She wasn’t taking a throne. She was taking the entire godsdamn realm.

She was taking it all, and she’d decide who would be left standing in the end.

“You should be sleeping,” Luka said, coming to her side. “We don’t move for another two hours.”

She hummed an acknowledgment, but she didn’t answer. Standing at the edge of the trees, she stared out at the open area that would soon be filled with warriors of all kinds. Legacy. Fae. Night Children. Shifters. Witches and deities and dragons. They were marching on Faven at first light, and that was indeed hours away. But others were already stirring. They would be preparing, but she hadn’t been able to shake this feeling. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, and it was something she should know. Something she should recognize.

“Baby girl,” Luka sighed, pulling her into his chest, a large palm running down her hair. “It’s the realm against one kingdom.”

He was mistaking her mood for nervousness and dread, but she’d oblige him in this.

“A powerful kingdom run by a male who has been stealing power for decades with seraphs in his army. If we win this, it will not be easy,” she murmured, pressing her cheek to his chest.

“No one said it was going to be easy. But with you and Theon. All the forces⁠—”

“That we scrambled to put together. Who have never known true war. Who have never truly fought.”

“Theon was right yesterday,” Luka said sternly. “We can’t think like that. If we do, we may as well bow down now.”

“I will never bow to anyone again,” she said sharply. “Never again, Luka.”

His fingers gripped her chin, tilting her face up to his. “Then let’s make sure of it. Are you ready?”

She nodded, and he lowered his lips to hers, kissing her deeply on the edge of the woods as they prepared to bring a storm of chaos and fury at dawn.

They flooded out of the woods. Hundreds of them at once. Those with wings were soaring above as they all marched on Faven when the first rays of daylight kissed the ground. As they expected, it didn’t take long for seraphs to answer in the sky.

Razik, Eliza, and Caris were leading units to the right. Xan, Aiyana, Tristyn, and Cienna had the left, her mother with them. Tessa led the rest in the center, with Theon and Luka at her sides. Axel was with them. Cade and Rayell. Kylian and Giselle.

“Get in the sky, but stay close,” Tessa gritted out to Luka. She turned to Theon, her grin pure madness as an arrow appeared in her hand and she nocked it to her bow. “And so chaos rains.”

Theon grabbed her neck, hauling her to him, and for a few precious seconds, she savored it.

Then pulled back and let that arrow fly.

And as the sun broke the horizon, the first seraph fell.

Everything after that was instinct as she let herself plummet into her Chaos. It wanted to take, and she was going to let it.

Her arrows didn’t miss, seraphs becoming nothing but fluttering embers as she released one right after the other. She didn’t worry about the ground forces. Nylah and Roan were at her sides, and they didn’t let anyone near.

Her power was thrashing and yanking, tasting the death in the air, but she wasn’t ready. Not yet.

Not yet.

Soon.

Theon, however…

He was not waiting.

His darkness coated him like armor as it always did. That sword they’d taken from Bree was in his hand, and his darkness wound around that too. He moved like the god he descended from. Power flowed, blanketing the ground around him. Tendrils shot up from the depths of the inky mist like vines. They wrapped around seraphs as they dove, yanking them down where either the Trackers ended them or Theon did.

A roar of fury had her looking up to see not only Xan and Aiyana, but their sons fully shifted too. Black flames filled the sky at the same time thunder cracked, rain starting to fall. Whether it was her or her mother, she didn’t know, but a storm rolled in. Lightning flashed, dragon and seraph alike diving to avoid it. They’d have to deal with it though because that cloud cover forced the seraphs lower, allowing those with wind magic to interfere more effectively.

Tessa shot one last arrow before looping her bow over her chest as an Achaz warrior made it past Roan. Her hand shot out, snagging the male’s arm as he raised a dagger. She wasn’t stronger than him physically, but she finally let her power out. It pounced, sinking deep into his soul, light and dark crackling under his skin as she watched the bands of light on her arms flare brighter. Knew the Marks on her skin were doing the same. The warrior screamed, pitiful and full of agony as her Chaos feasted, refilling the magic she was using.

More.

She needed more.

Each step was purposeful, calm and slow as she made her way into the melee. Weapons clanged around her. Warriors from both sides crossed to the After. But as she sank deeper and deeper into her magic, everything seemed to slow. She ducked as swords swung above her, her power unfurling from her soul. It crackled out, an intricate network of light spreading beneath her feet.

Theon? she gasped down the bond, her power yanking for more of her.

Tessa? Where are you?

Do you see it?

See what? There was a pause. What are you doing?

Can you use your power to shield our own?

Tessa?

Please, Theon.

Fuck, he muttered. Yeah, tempest. I’ve got it.

She sucked in another breath as her power pulled enough to distract her, and it cost her. Someone wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her off her feet as the air was pulled from her lungs.

Until she heard gurgling sounds, and she was dropped back to the ground.

She quickly rolled over, reaching for her dagger while struggling to hold back her magic, only to find Axel with blood dripping down his chin. He dropped a body beside her, the male that had held her now missing half his throat.

“Vicious,” she murmured with a smirk.

Axel only winked, yanking her to her feet. Then he was shoving her back down as his hand wrapped around another throat. “They don’t fucking stop,” he snarled, his fingers flexing.

“I got it,” Tessa said, scrambling out from under him and shoving her dagger deep into the chest of a female.

For the next few minutes, it was the two of them. Axel’s strength and her blades, her magic moving with her.

“What is Theon doing?” Axel gritted out, snagging another Legacy as he ran by.

Tessa sank a dagger into his back. “Helping me,” she panted.

Because everyone on their side standing atop her net of light was being draped in darkness, and gods, she hoped it was going to be enough.

“Go find Kat,” Tessa said. “Stay off the light.”

He looked down, seeing what she meant, and nodded. “You good, baby doll?”

Roan was slinking to her side, always knowing what she needed, and Tessa nodded. “Tell her to burn them all.”

He smiled darkly. “Will do.”

Then he was gone, moving faster than she could track. She didn’t know how he would find Kat, but she knew he would.

Ready, Theon?

Now, Tessa. This is a lot to hold.

She turned her face to the sky, letting the rain splash against her face, and when the next flash of lightning came, she let the leash on her power snap. It latched onto the energy, pulling it closer. It struck the center of her net of power, all the cracks sparking and exploding out. Anyone not covered in Theon’s protection was on their knees, then their backs, screaming while the energy jolted through them over and over.

While her power took and feasted and devoured.

Theon was suddenly at her side, pulling her back to her feet. She didn’t even know when she’d dropped to her knees, but now that she’d let it out, her power didn’t stop.

“Take some,” she panted, clutching Theon’s arm. “Take some, Theon.”

“No, Tessa. You need⁠—”

“I wasn’t asking,” she gritted out, planting both her palms on his chest. Her power halted, recognizing the well it had before it, and it shifted, racing for him.

“Fuck,” he grunted as it slammed into him, and she felt his darkness rise to greet it. Latch onto it. Take it for its own.

They hadn’t known how this was going to work. The Source Mark worked both ways, but Razik and Eliza had to merge their blood to refill reserves. She’d never had to do that. His power had always been drawn to her, and now that he was more, her power was drawn to him too. Something unexplainable and uncontrollable.

But then his arm wound around her waist, tugging her into him and raising his sword as he spun. The seraph that had come for them was speared on the end, blood raining down as his darkness rose and snapped the male’s wings clean off.

“You’re smiling, tempest,” he muttered, lowering his sword and letting the seraph fall to the muddy ground. “We’re in the middle of a brutal battle, and you’re fucking smiling.”

“We like the madness,” she whispered, dropping her hands.

He huffed a laugh, wiping at the blood on her face but only smearing it. “Have you seen him yet?”

She shook her head. “He’s here. He’ll find me.”

And that was how the next minutes went. Or maybe it was the next hour. More? Time became meaningless as they fought. Theon never strayed far, and Luka was always above them. She caught glimpses of fire every so often. Eliza or Kat. Other fire Fae. The Night Children were ruthless, and Shifters sank claws and teeth in alongside Nylah and Roan. A fine dusting of ash from the dragons above mixed with the steady rain. Blood splattered, magic flared, and feet slipped in the mud.

Tessa dropped to a crouch as three enemy forces came for her. Thunder rumbled and lightning struck. Or she did. Her Chaos took it once more, striking true, and a crevice cracked open, much like it had done months ago in a garden. Hunters didn’t crawl out of it this time, though. Instead, Achaz warriors fell in. Fae fighting nearby clearly had earth magic as vines and roots snaked out, keeping them in the crevice and dragging more in—those on the ground and those flying low.

She stood still, awed as she watched them work, and after there were several dozen bound to the walls of the crevice, those Fae came together and closed the earth.

Holy gods.

She was powerful, but that was…

“Kat! Katya!”

Tessa whirled at the sound of Axel’s desperate voice calling for his wife, and she was running without thinking, following that sound. She heard Theon call after her, but it was overpowered by Axel’s cries.

“Kat, no! Kat!”

She ran, her power clearing a way as she followed those pleas. Scrambling up a small hill several feet from the mayhem, she reached the top and her heart stopped. She didn’t find Kat or Axel, his voice still pleading somewhere nearby, but she did find Tristyn.

On the ground with a blade in his chest.

“Tristyn!” she cried, sliding down the hill and rushing to his side. She dropped to her knees, looking him over. Black pants and shirt. Leather armor like Eliza wore. Sheaths empty where they’d once held blades. Numerous cuts and scratches, and his eyes were a faint sage green when she took his face in her hands.

“Tristyn? Tris, can you hear me?”

“Wild fury,” he gasped, coughing with the exhale. “Didn’t expect…you to find me.”

“What do I need to do?” she demanded, panic in her voice as she released his face to focus on his chest. “Pull it out or leave it? I can— I’ll get Cienna. We can⁠—”

Tristyn coughed again, wincing with the movement. “There’s nothing… I failed,” he rasped.

“No.” The word a denial, she shook her head frantically. “No. No more. I will not⁠—”

Tristyn’s icy fingers grasped hers, squeezing. Or trying to.

“How?” she demanded. Screamed it at him. “You’re a deity! You can’t just— No. No!”

“Can you tell her—” He coughed again, blood coming up with it. “Tell her I’ll save her that dance, yeah?”

“No!” Tessa cried. “You tell her. You tell— Tristyn?”

Because his eyes were no longer glowing. They were still and vacant, and his chest wasn’t moving. And he couldn’t just die . He was a fucking deity. He couldn’t. He⁠—

A roar pierced the air, breaking through her panic, and she looked up to find a midnight blue dragon with black wings and a dragon a few shades lighter. Xan and Aiyana. It was the two of them against twenty or more seraphs. Black flames met magic attacks, both sides taking hits. Aiyana dove suddenly, as if going after something, but then she banked hard, narrowly avoiding a…

Tessa pushed to her feet, running several feet and peering around a small clump of bushes. Seraphs were there, loading a contraption with bolts of white stone. That was what Aiyana had barely avoided. They had weapons against the dragons.

In her next breath, her power erupted. It crackled in the air, latching onto any seraph it could find. Veins and wings lit up as Tessa took their last breaths, watching them all scream and writhe before her. Too consumed by her fury to notice that her power was killing, but it wasn’t taking. Those deaths weren’t refilling anything.

“Kat? Kat, where are you?”

She spun around. Where in the fuck was he? It sounded like he was right here. Like he was⁠—

Another sound had her spinning to find a body rolling down the small hill, coming to a stop face down in the mud. Dark hair. Tall. If that was Axel…

Her feet were moving of their own accord, and she felt like she wasn’t in her body. Felt like she was hovering above, watching herself walk far too calmly across the space to the unmoving body. Watching her muster all her strength to roll him over.

And then watched her magic explode when she found not the younger St. Orcas brother but Theon.

She was screaming, and she was burning with fury. This wasn’t… He was as powerful as she was. He couldn’t be.

No.

No, no, no.

She’d save him the same way she’d saved Luka. That was what she’d do.

Her hands on his chest, she ripped at the gear he was wearing. His shirt. Her power shredded through it all as she lost all control. Lost herself completely to her magic. Anyone who came near met an end, and she wasn’t even sure if they were all Achaz forces at this point. If Theon was taken from her, they were all enemies. If Theon was taken from her, she was going to destroy the realm herself. If this didn’t work, she was⁠—

Tessa paused, her gaze landing on his left arm. His left wrist where a union mark was…missing. That couldn’t…

She glanced at her wrist where the Union Mark was still fully intact.

She blinked, trying to understand. Because that Mark wouldn’t fade in death. And even if it did, hers was still there. And she could…feel his power. Strong and unyielding. Not as strong as it could be because he’d been using it all day, but still…

This wasn’t right.

Tessa pushed slowly to her feet, her heart hammering and breaths coming too fast. The world around her was blurred on the edges as she took in the surroundings. Her Chaos was churning in her soul, stretching and taking. Feeling that other power pulsing around her. Then, as if reaching out a hand, it peeled back a layer of magic.

That was Dex on the edge of the clearing, watching her with a smirk on his face. In his hand was a stone collar, just like the one she’d seen in her last vision. He was just standing there as if waiting for something.

She looked down where Theon’s body lay, only it wasn’t there. Dragging her gaze across the space, she found Tristyn’s body gone too. No screams from Axel. No roars of dragons overhead.

This entire thing had been Dex luring her away from the others. Altering her reality. Making her expend her magic on nothing. That was why her reserves weren’t refilling when she’d set it free earlier.

Tessa watched him a moment longer. He hadn’t seemed to realize that his magic wasn’t affecting her anymore. Her own Chaos had countered it so carefully, had turned it back on him, that he thought he was still watching her lose herself over Theon. His own reality altered.

Trembling with a fury she couldn’t have described if she’d tried, she pulled a dagger from a swirl of her magic. A long, thin onyx blade with a hilt just as dark. A blade that had taken the life of Brecken.

A blade created to end seraphs.

A blade Tristyn had brought to her after he’d taken care of Brecken’s body.

A blade she’d been saving just for this.

It wasn’t until she was standing directly behind him that she let her magic shatter his completely. Let it sink in with claws and teeth. Let it shred that power to nothing.

Dex straightened in alarm, likely at not finding her sobbing over a body. His head swiveling around frantically, she waited until he turned.

Then she plunged that blade into his chest.

“Tessie?” He gasped, eyes dropping to the blade she still had her hand wrapped around, then slowly dragging back up to her face. “What are you doing?”

Her smile was sharp as she gripped the hilt and twisted. “Cleaning up my own fucking mess,” she snarled.

Dex staggered, dropping to his knees, and she stepped back. Reaching up, he yanked the dagger from his chest, examining it before asking, “Where did you get this?”

She was circling him now. Hunter and prey. Light and dark swirling at her fingertips.

“Apparently you didn’t clean up your own messes very well,” she sneered. “Oralia was rather slighted that you kept denying her a power.”

“Oralia gave you this?” he demanded sharply, and her smile grew when he tried to hide the pained gasp he sucked in.

“She killed Brecken with it,” Tessa said darkly. “And after I killed her, I kept it.”

The tips of his pristine wings were already turning grey as death came for him, but this wasn’t enough for her.

“After all these years, this is what it’s come down to,” Dex spat, chucking the dagger aside. “When I’ve been there for you. Tried to help you. Laid the fucking world at your feet.”

The bark of laughter that left her was shrill. “I didn’t need you to lay the world at my feet. I’m taking it all on my own, Dexter.”

“A puppet of Arius,” he said with disgust, sagging onto his hands and knees as death seeped into him more and more. Those eyes too dark against the sickly grey skin. Feathers decaying. Cheeks sinking in.

“I’m no puppet,” she said darkly, circling back to stand in front of him. Summoning a black sword, she used the tip of the blade to tilt his chin up. “You, however, know all about being a puppet, don’t you? What was Achaz going to give you? Had he promised this world to you the same way he promised it to Rordan?”

He pressed his lips together in a clear refusal.

“I’d answer that question, Dex,” she sang. “I can become incredibly…wild.”

His lip curled back, but he couldn’t hide the wince when he dragged in another breath.

“Last chance,” she offered, her blade still poised at his throat.

“You are a disappointment,” he growled. “And for what? Achaz will deal with you himself. The outcome will not change. Look around you, Tessa. When has the outcome ever changed?”

But then he was bellowing in pain as the blade sliced not through his neck—no, that would have been far too fast for him—but down his back, cleaving a wing and letting it fall to the ground. She left the other wing, bringing the blade down on his arm, slicing it clean off at the elbow. Then a foot. An ear.

“All you had to do was do as you were told,” she mocked with each swing of her sword. “Answer a fucking question.” She struck out with her foot, forcing him onto his back, and then she shoved her blade straight through his gut, pinning him to the earth.

“I’m done being who you wanted me to be. Now? I’m who I was meant to be,” she snarled, letting her power wind around what was left of his limbs, his torso, up his throat. She wasn’t waiting for the blade to take his last breath. She wanted it. Wanted him to know that his life would only fuel her more.

Standing over him, she shoved her power into every crack of his soul. Listened to his bellows of agony. A song that gave her life.

And when he fell still and silent. When vacant dark eyes were staring blankly at nothing. When her chest was heaving from the adrenaline of everything, she whispered coldly, “To fury you lost.”

“Tessa?” a low voice said carefully. Black flames and silky darkness licked at her soul, calling her back. Calling her home.

She turned, finding Luka and Theon standing there, both wide-eyed and staring at her in a way she couldn’t read.

“So fucking vindictive,” Luka growled, prowling forward while Theon stayed back, alert and clearly keeping others away.

“We felt…too much coming from you,” Theon ground out, his magic undulating around him. “Grief and agony. Heart-wrenching sadness. And then…”

“Fury,” Luka supplied. “Ungodly fury, and then we found a goddess exacting her revenge.”

She smiled weakly, working to take back control. That same unsettling feeling from this morning was back.

“Look at you,” Luka went on, circling her now. “Once more covered in blood.”

Look around you, Tessa. When has the outcome ever changed?

Luka paused, feeling her sudden panic. “Tessa?”

She spun, taking in the surroundings.

The stormy skies casting everything in grey.

Dead grass and scorched earth.

Bodies everywhere.

Blood and mud.

The rain.

It hit her then.

That thing that had been nagging at her since they’d come here as she looked around at the fighting and the fallen.

This was her vision.

Every godsdamn time.

This was it.

And they never won.

Not a single time.

A hand cupped her chin, forcing her to look into emerald depths. “What is it, Tessa?” Theon demanded.

“Only one can be left standing,” she whispered, just as blinding light erupted.

She scrambled, casting her power out to grab Theon and Luka. She felt them both, their power reaching for her too.

Then that light swallowed them whole.