Page 196 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

“Was?” Tessa asked.

Eliza smiled darkly. “Another killed them. I killed him.”

“Sounds satisfying.”

“It was,” she replied.

Turning back to Theon, she asked, “Luka said Katya left?”

Theon nodded, darkness drifting across his eyes. “Apparently with Axel.”

“And you don’t know where they went?”

Theon and Luka exchanged a glance before Theon said. “We’re assuming the Underground. Axel…” He pushed out a harsh breath, pulling on the back of his neck. “He’s transitioning into a Night Child.”

Tessa stared back at him, blinking several times before she said slowly, “I don’t understand. Axel is going to be a vampyre?”

“Yes,” Theon answered.

“And he took Kat with him? How is that safe?”

But he’d come to her. Axel had come to her to ask for her help, and she’d sent him away.

When no one answered, she said, “So Axel won’t be a Legacy anymore?”

“No,” Theon answered tightly.

She didn’t expect the flood of relief that coursed through her. She wasn’t supposed to care, but she did. She cared that she wasn’t going to have to kill Axel. Gods, shecared.

“He’ll take precautions to not hurt Katya,” Theon said, mistaking her sudden rush of emotions for worry.

Tessa nodded. She believed that. He’d come to her for help, and she’d dismissed him.

“And I’ll figure out a way to bring them both home,” Theon added.

She didn’t reply because in the end she still had to kill him. In the end, there wouldn’t be a home to bring them back to.

Because while they were her villains, she was theirs.

It took her a minute to realize that Luka had Traveled them back tohisroom and not hers when they went back to Faven. He dropped her hand and went into his ensuite without a word. She stared after him, unsure of what was happening. He hadn’t spoken much at the Arius manor, especially after learning he was a grandchild of Sargon. It had mainly been Theon and Razik tossing around theories and history with occasional insight from Eliza. Tessa had listened to every word, absorbing it all.

You are not supposed to exist.

Those had been Razik’s words, and they’d stung. She’d been told her entire life she was wrong. An inconvenience. Wild and reckless and difficult.

Not supposed to exist.

Just like Arius and Serafina weren’t supposed to have children.

But if that was the case, and Serafina was to be with Achaz, was that not the same plan? Would that not also have upset the very same balance? Would Arius then have the same vendetta against Achaz?

None of it added up.

She wandered to the dresser along the wall, pulling open the top drawer. She’d expected to find socks or underwear, not…rings.

Rings being corralled in place by an empty picture frame.

She picked up one of the rings. It was simple. A solid silver band. Nothing special.

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