Page 275 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“Fuck,” Theon cursed, trying to sit up again and failing.

“Is Valter at Arius House yet?” Luka asked.

“No,” Theon answered. “And he’s not going to be.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Theon let out a pained grunt as he forced himself into a sitting position. “Tessa has him.”

“What?” Luka nearly yelled.

Gesturing to his torso, he said, “Tessa has him. Said she fulfilled her side of the Bargain.”

“How does that fulfill the Bargain?”

“The Bargain was she would aid me in overtaking my father and once I ruled Arius Kingdom?—”

“But you don’t rule Arius Kingdom. If he still lives, he is the Arius Lord,” Luka argued.

“But if she indeed has him, I am now ruling in his stead,” Theon answered. “It was clearly enough for her end of the Bargain to be fulfilled.”

“She found a loophole,” Luka said in disbelief.

“She’s clever. More so than I ever gave her credit for,” Theon said. “I don’t know where we go from here.”

Luka swiped a hand down his face because what he had to tell him was only going to make things worse.

“I spoke to Blackheart today,” he said.

Theon tipped his head back against the sofa. “And?”

“He was trying to get a hold of you,” he continued. “When you weren’t answering your phone, he called me.”

“I was with Tessa.”

“I’m aware, but Theon…” Luka rubbed at the back of his neck. “Tessa is…”

“I know,” Theon said when Luka didn’t continue. “I already said we’ve lost her.”

“When we felt her panicking, she was being taken to an ambush. There were dozens of Augury members there, and she summoned things Tristyn called the Hunters.”

“The Hunters?”

“According to Tristyn, they are beings created by Achaz to hunt down the Arius bloodline.”

“How did they get here?”

“Tessa can summon them.”

“Because of her Achaz bloodline,” Theon said in understanding.

Luka nodded. “I didn’t want anything you said earlier to be true, but yeah. I think that’s why. They have golden blades.”

“Like the ones found in the gardens,” Theon said immediately. “She summoned them the day Pavil and Metias attacked her.”

“It gets worse. In answer to the Hunters, Temural and Anala came together and created Huntresses.” Luka paused before adding, “Beings who can move through smoke and ash and create weapons from nothing.”

“Auryon.”

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