Page 100 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

Her light collided with power, and the force of it sent him flying into the arena wall. He felt the agony in his side that was likely ribs cracking, but he scarcely registered the pain. Because her power hadn’t crashed into his darkness or Luka’s black flames.

It had collided with flames of pure white, shadows and somethingotherdancing among the fire.

Two figures had appeared out of the very air.

One in black clothing that was…not modern, but somehow elegant and fitting for the male. Fine gold and red thread ran along the edges, and he wore boots that Theon was certain had aknife slid down the side. His gold and silver mask hid half of his features. But the other figure?

She had silver hair.

Her black dress had deep slits up the side, and when she moved, Theon could see the daggers strapped to her thighs.

She had panthers of pure shadow prowling around her as white flames poured from her, going head-to-head with Tessa’s golden light.

Theon was scrambling to his feet, and so was Luka, but as they moved towards the female, the male stepped in front of them. The small smirk on his lips was all threat as he shook his head in warning and lifted a hand, fire appearing—flames of gold and red and the hottest blues.

“She won’t hurt her, but if you distract her, I will be forced to intervene,” the male said, a slight accent to his voice that Theon couldn’t place.

“She’s attacking my Source. I’m going to fucking distract her,” Theon snarled.

The male’s brows rose. “She’syourSource?”

Who the fuck was this male? How did he not know the Sources of the realm?

Glancing back at the females, two very different kinds of light were winding and dancing. Tessa didn’t seem to be panicking or in pain. In fact, down the bond all he could feel was a twisted sort of curiosity mixed with the fury.

It didn’t matter. He’d never seen these people before, which could only mean they were here for Tessa.

“Yes, she’s my Source, so if you value the life of the female, you’d better do the godsdamn distracting,” Theon retorted, stepping forward again, but one of those shadow panthers turned. Bright eyes of the same white flame locked on him, and the thingsnarledat him. When he looked back at the male, flames flickered in his amber irises and?—

And he was holding a sword with flames igniting down the dark blade. “She gets excessively violent,” the male sighed. Glancing over his shoulder, he added, “I’m assuming it runs in the family. I swear she’s helping, not hurting.”

“If you don’t put that sword away, I’m going to get excessively violent,” Luka growled, smoke flowing when he breathed out.

“Just give her a moment, and then she’ll explain as much as she can, but?—”

A loud growl interrupted the male. They both spun just in time to see the light grey wolf lunging at a cloaked figure with a pearlescent mask on.

The fucking Augury was here.

The wolf sank its teeth into the figure’s neck, the person letting out a garbled scream as the animal shook its head viciously.

“I am going to assume he is not on our side?” the male asked.

“Ourside?” Theon repeated. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are.”

“Valid point,” he conceded.

An arrow suddenly whizzed by, embedding in the figure’s chest, effectively silencing them. Luka stalked forward, yanking the arrow from the chest. “Where the fuck…”

But he trailed off as more masked figures began emerging from the shadows. Theon looked up, finding more lining the upper decks overlooking the arena.

They were so incredibly fucked.

The silver-haired female was suddenly there, snatching the arrow from Luka’s hand.

“Do you not know what to do with this?” she drawled, a bow appearing from a swirl of shadows. The tip of the arrow burst into white flames, and she had it nocked and sailing through the air at one of the cloaked figures before Theon could blink.

In the next moment, the bow was gone, and she was holding an elegant sword. Looking between Theon and Luka, she said, “I cannot tell which one of you belongs to her.”

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