Page 209 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“I expect to encounter more as we make our way out.” Her swirling gaze dipped to Tessa’s wrists. “If I remove those now, your power will overcompensate.”

“Where is Theon?” Tessa asked as Auryon helped her to her feet.

“They are coming for you,” she answered, grabbing her bow once more. There was a swirl of ashes, and she nocked two arrows onto the string.

“Luka says you don’t keep those in a pocket realm,” Tessa said, still trying to get her breathing under control.

“Does this seem like a good time to discuss that?” Auryon asked, leading her to the door.

Tessa stepped over a body, trying to avoid the pooling blood. “I do this often during inopportune times, actually.”

“It is not a pocket realm. I can create them,” she answered.

“How?”

But the answer would have to wait as they rounded a corner and found more masked figures. Tessa wondered just how many people were in this organization, and where the fuck did they keep coming from?

Auryon released her arrows, nocking two more before the first two found their targets, but these Augury members weren’t afraid to use their power. A gust of air slammed into Tessa, and she was thrown backwards. Auryon appeared at her side a second later.

“Up,” she barked. “Get up. We won’t get through them. I might just have to—” The sound of howling cut her off, and Auryon smiled darkly as she said, “Finally.”

Screams erupted from behind the hooded figures, and it had them splitting their focus. Auryon took advantage of the distraction, letting more arrows fly. Within a matter of minutes, they were all down, and Tessa was staring as two wolves prowled forward.

One charcoal grey and the other one nearly white.

She knew they wouldn’t hurt her, just as she’d known the same that night by river. “Why do they always come when I’m in danger?”

“They are yours,” Auryon answered as the wolves rubbed against Tessa.

She was short, but they were huge. Their heads easily came to her waist, and Tessa tentatively sank her fingers into dark fur.

“Why do you think they are mine?” she asked.

“Again, not a good time for questions,” Auryon said. “Let’s go.”

They didn’t encounter anyone else as they made their way to the front of the building, and Tessa was starting to breathe a sigh of relief.

Until they stepped outside.

At least fifty masked figures stared back at them.

“Fuck,” Auryon muttered, adding another arrow to the two she had nocked. “Roan, stay with her. Niylah, you’re with me.”

The darker wolf darted forward, Auryon slipping into her smoke, but Tessa knew they would never be enough. Even with a wolf at her side, she was useless, and there were just too many of them. And gods, her power was swelling in her soul, trying to find a way out. She knew it from the thunder rumbling off in the distance. Knew it by the way Roan whined as he nudged at her hand. Knew it by the way she could hear her magic screaming in her mind, in her soul. So much anger. So much fury.

Or maybe that was just her at once again being helpless and controlled by these godsdamn bands. By yet another Legacy when she was more than that. By being abandoned in this godsdamn world in the first place.

Roan was crouched low, snarling as several Augury members drew closer. Then the animal leaped, snatching an arrow out of the air before Tessa even realized it was coming for her. The arrow snapped in half, and Tessa scrambled to pick up the half with the broadhead. It was better than no weapon, she supposed.

Where the fuck was Theon? Was he really not going to come for her?

Auryon was nothing but a blur of smoke and ashes, sets of footprints and falling bodies the only things left in her wake, but she was tiring. She had to be because more of the Augury members were getting past her defenses. Tessa couldn’t see Niylah in the mass of bodies, but she heard her growls and the screams of agony from her victims.

“For Devram!” one of the masked figures cried, lunging for her while Roan was busy with his teeth in the throat of another.

On instinct, she thrust the half arrow at the being. He knocked her hand aside with ease, grabbing her around the waistand hauling her back against his chest, but she fought. Gods, did she fight. All that fury poured into her as rain began to fall.

“You bring war,” the male hissed into her ear, lifting her off her feet.

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