Page 83 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

He had a kingdom that wanted his Source, a father that wanted the realm, a secret organization that wanted his Source dead, an entire underground city of people who wanted revenge and were tired of waiting for it, and Tessa wouldn’t wake the fuck up. He did not have time to spend weeks figuring out Cienna’s riddles and hints at the future.

“Answers. That is what I need, Cienna,” Theon said, pulling his arm from Axel’s grip.

“Then speak your questions,” the Witch said tightly, straightening as her violet eyes narrowed on him. “I would hate to be an inconvenience to you. Perhaps if I were not stuck down here, I could be of more assistance.”

Theon ignored her sarcasm, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Tessa seems to know things.”

“Explain,” Cienna said.

“The attack where she was wounded. She knew it was going to happen.” Then he added, “Apparently, so did you.”

“I did not know how it would play out,” Cienna said. “Had you made the choice to listen to her, fate would have shifted.”

“Do not give me that fate bullshit. She could have been killed,” Theon snarled, taking a step closer to her.

Gia moved to step in between them, but Cienna raised a hand, effectively stilling her. Cienna’s head canted to the side, a dark smile tilting on her lips. “Had she been killed, entire destinies would have been changed,” Cienna replied. “Yours included. Perhaps you should put a little more stock in this ‘fate bullshit.’”

Theon wanted to pull his fucking hair out. “I need direct answers. Do you know her parents?”

“No.”

“Was she born in this realm?”

“No.”

“Is she a Legacy?”

“No.”

“Godsdammit, Cienna,” Theon seethed, using every bit of his self-control to not begin throwing things. “I need more than that.”

“You asked for direct answers. That is what I am giving you,” Cienna replied, and she was far too calm in her answer as that smile turned positively wicked, just like the Witch she was.

Inhaling deeply to calm his rising anger, Theon gritted out, “If you do not know her parents, how can you know she is not a Legacy?”

“You asked if Iknowthem. I do not. I have never met them,” Cienna said, turning her back on him and walking to a shelf lined with books. “Ask proper questions, and you will receive proper answers.”

Reining in his rising temper once more, he said tightly, “Do you knowofher parents? Her lineage?”

“I know pieces of it.”

“And those pieces are?”

Cienna returned to stand in front of them once more. She had a book in her hand that she passed off to Katya, but Theon was too close to answers to worry about that at the moment.

“Her father is a god. Her mother may as well be one. She is as powerful as a Lesser,” Cienna said simply. “That is all I can tell you. Any more and I will be tempting fate. I already am.”

“I swear to Arius, Cienna—” Theon started, but then he was cursing.

Cienna had moved. Theon didn’t know where she’d gotten the two long knives from, but he did know one was at his throat while the other pressed to his side. Her eyes flared, and she bared her teeth as she spoke low and vicious. “You speak of not having time for my games, Theon St. Orcas? I do not have time for yours. I am down here because ofyou. Do you know how much more I could do if I could leave the Underground? Do you know how many more answers I could find for you? I have limited resources and no freedom. Do not ask me to test fate when I have already done so and losteverythingbecause of it.”

Theon swallowed, feeling the blade at his throat when he did so.

“I can’t fix any of this without answers, Cienna,” he said carefully. The Witch couldn’t kill him with those blades, but she could certainly incapacitate him for an extended period of time. “I can’t change this; I can’t rectify the failures without answers.”

“I have given you answers, Theon. I have given you as much as I can, and what I cannot give to you, I’ve given you the means to find the answers yourself,” she replied, lowering her weapons and stepping back.

He knew it was foolish and only asking for more trouble. He knew she wouldn’t be able to give him a definitive answer, but he asked her anyway. “Have you seen how this turns out?”

---