Page 215 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“To check on Tessa and see if she’s ready to tell us what happened. Then we need to track down Auryon,” Luka answered, heading downstairs.

He made his way to the lounge to find her sitting next to Lange, but the moment they entered, Lange and Corbin shot to their feet. Luka was surprised they’d even been sitting with Axel in the room. The two Fae were jumpy and cautious, not that he could blame them.

Tessa looked up at him from her seat on the sofa, blood still splattered across her face and clothing. Splashes of red marred her golden hair, but those bands of light were still around her wrists.

“You didn’t clean up?” Luka asked, his gaze sweeping over her like it always did.

“Neither did you,” she tossed back.

“I wasn’t stabbing someone repeatedly with a sharp object,” he deadpanned.

“Stabbing?” Axel asked, looking between the two of them. “Time to fill us in, baby doll.”

They sat and listened while Tessa told them about being dismissed early, Cordelia, the Augury, and the way Auryon had fought their way out of the building.

“And the stabbing?” Axel asked, looking at Tessa.

She only shrugged.

“What does it mean, ‘the wolves are yours?’” Katya asked.

Tessa shrugged again. “No idea.”

“Was Cordelia killed?” Theon asked from where he stood near her.

“I didn’t see her body, but I wasn’t exactly looking with the whole nearly passing out thing and all,” she drawled. “You’ll have to ask Auryon.”

“She’s never given us a way to contact her,” Theon replied.

“Those messages. Like Scarlett uses,” Tessa said. “You send her one of those. Why do you think Devram never used them to begin with? They seem far simpler than a phone.”

Theon was rubbing at his brow when he muttered, “I don’t know why, Tessa.”

“What if you don’t have any paper?” Axel cut in. “How is that simpler? Do you just carry paper?—”

But he stopped speaking when Tessa lifted a hand. With her finger, she drew a quick pattern with her light before there wasa flare of that golden mist. She looked at Axel as she said, “No paper necessary.”

“Where did you learn that?” Theon demanded.

“Auryon.”

His gaze slid to Luka. “What other things has she taught you?”

Tessa shrugged again. “History of Devram. Like she’s supposed to.”

“Somehow, I doubt that is all,” he replied tightly. “What did your message say just now?”

“It was a request to bring a book to the Solstice service tomorrow.”

“I was unaware she would be at the service,” Luka cut in.

“I don’t know if she will be,” Tessa answered.

She got to her feet, rubbing at her face and smearing dried blood across her cheek, Luka tamped down on the barrage of emotions that assaulted him from that one action. Anger that she was covered in blood to begin with. But by the gods, seeing her splattered in blood? Knowing it was there because she fought back? That was pride and satisfaction, but more than that, it made the dragon beneath his skinwant. It was a feeling he’d been shoving down more and more lately, and when he couldn’t, he found someone to satisfy it. Or he had until he’d been dragged into this Source Mark debacle. Since that time, the idea of being with someone else had become…unappealing.

“Can we get pizza and watch the Chaosphere game tonight?” she asked, turning to Theon.

Theon’s face twisted into one of visible disgust. “Why?”

---