Page 245 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“A dragon?” Luka cut in, sitting up straighter.

“The land in the sky,” she muttered, waving him off.

“Tessa.”

“The cages and the collars.”

“Tessa.”

“Beginning and endings. Light and dark. Chaos and death and?—”

“Tessa, stop,” he said sternly.

She did. She always listened when he used that commanding tone, but the look on her face when she met his gaze had him moving to her in a few long strides.

“I don’t know what any of it means,” she said, a note of anguish to her voice.

Luka pulled her into his chest and her brow fell against it as he smoothed a hand over her hair. “We’ll figure it out, Tessa.”

She shook her head against him. “We don’t. We don’t figure it out. It’s too late, and the visions…” She tipped her head back, and the look in her eyes had him sliding a hand along her jaw as she whispered. “I think I’m going mad.”

“You’re not, Tessa. You just came into your power a few months ago. No one is expecting you to have it mastered in such a short amount of time.”

“Theon does.”

“He doesn’t,” Luka argued. “Think about who has pushed for you to learn your craft. Who insisted on the private lessons? It wasn’t him, Tessa.”

She went quiet for a few seconds before she stiffened, stepping back from him. “Of course you side with him. That is where your loyalty will forever lie.”

Luka didn’t say anything because she wasn’t wrong. He was Theon’s Guardian. The Sargon line was forever bound to the Arius line. Sure she was Arius blood too, but she was just as much something else. Theon and Axel had been bred solely to strengthen the Arius bloodline, even with Cressida’s Nith heritage.

Tessa stepped around him, moving to the table and swiping up a cracker, chewing on it thoughtfully. “Have you seen Auryon since the Augury attack?”

“No,” he answered tightly, and it bothered him to no end. She’d known he could Travel, and he was very curious as to how she’d obtained that information.

She nodded, grabbing another cracker. “Is there anything else?”

“What?”

“Any other reason you are here?”

“Not particularly,” Luka said, holding her gaze.

“I’m sure Theon is waiting for your report,” she said casually.

“He likely is.”

“Then you better get back to him,” she said with a mocking smile.

A smile Luka could see right through.

Crossing his arms, he said, “I have time yet.”

“Time for what?”

“For you.”

An incredulous bark of laughter fell from her lips. “You don’t need to do me any favors, Luka Mors. I don’t need your pity.”

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