Page 166 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Eviana didn’t reply to that, the glass of wine in her hand beginning to bead with condensation.

“You can drink that. I didn’t poison it,” Tessa drawled.

“Does Theon know you are here?”

She smiled again, and it was a chilling thing. “He’s no longer my master.”

“That’s not possible,” Eviana said, watching for the lie. “Only death can sever a Source bond.”

“That is what they say,” Tessa sighed. “And perhaps if it were a real Source bond, that would be the case. As it stands, we are still bonded, but it’s broken. Everything is broken. We’re all broken.”

She sounded more mad the longer she sat here.

“What do you want? I already told you I can tell you nothing,” Eviana said tightly.

“I told you I wanted someone to chat with. Dex follows me everywhere right now.”

“Then where is he?”

Tessa shrugged. “I have a little more freedom within the palace walls. I told him I was going to take a nap.”

“You live at the Achaz palace now?”

“Live here? I don’t know,” she mused before draining her glass. “But I’m staying here for now. Similar to you, I suppose. I just have more freedom.”

“No one is free in Devram.”

“No one? Rordan seems pretty free. The Ladies seem to do as they please.”

Eviana shook her head. “They are the most trapped of all. They must always be looking over their shoulder. Someone is always waiting to kill them.” Then she added, “Or imprison them.”

Tessa hummed, pouring more wine into her glass. “And where do you fall on that scale?”

“What do you mean?”

“Would you save them or kill them?”

“I am bound to save my master,” she answered without thought.

“Bound to, yes. But if you had the choice?”

“I don’t.”

Tessa nodded, tapping her nail again. “How much time did you spend at the Villas?”

“Whatever was required of me.”

Resting her chin in her hand, she mused, “Have you been there since your daughter was born?”

“I don’t have a daughter.”

“No? Your name was on the file. A female. Nine years. Currently at the Serafina Estate?” Tessa asked, a knowing look in her eye.

Is that where she was? Valter would never tell her. Only used her as a threat whenever Eviana even thought about defyinghim. Everything she did was to keep that child from harm, and now she’d been told where she was.

And judging by the look on Tessa’s face, the female knew exactly what she was doing. A clever thing then. A little insane, but who wasn’t in Devram?

“I do not have a child,” Eviana said carefully, letting Valter hear this part of the conversation. He’d made it clear if she ever admitted to it, her daughter would be dead within an hour.

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