Page 81 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

“I understand that. You can’t stay here, but you also do not have to go backthere,” he said.

“Where else would I go?”

“Anywhere else.”

“There is nowhere else for me to go,” she said, all of her features hardening once more. “Not until I fulfill my purpose. Then I can leave this place forever.”

She brushed past him, pulling open the door and stepping into the hall, and as Luka followed her, he knew she hadn’t been speaking about Arius House with that statement. He also knew Theon would never truly let her go.

The thing was, the more time he was forced to spend with her like this, the more attached his dragon was getting to the idea of keeping her too.

Because he never gave back things that werehis.

17

THEON

Fifteen Years Ago

“Come on, Theon. Just play one game with me,” his brother begged, tossing the chaosphere ball back and forth in his hands.

“I already said no, Axel,” Theon gritted out, looking between his tablet and the open book in his lap and comparing the texts.

He checked the time again. Eighteen minutes. That was how much time he had before he needed to go back inside. He was due in his father’s study in thirty minutes. That would give him plenty of time to make sure he was early.

“You promised, Theon,” Axel said, and Theon could hear the irritation and disappointment. His tone was bordering on a whine at this point.

If Axel’s power had emerged, he’d likely have shadows drifting around him with his growing emotions. At least, they all assumed his power would be shadows like the rest of the Arius line. There was no reason he wouldn’t have thesame gifts, and they would emerge when his emotions were heightened. Eight years was too early. It was more likely to happen around ten years. Axel was counting down, and Theon was hoping his magic showed up later than other Legacy. When power appeared, that was when their father sent them for more intense training.

“I promised I’d come outside,” Theon corrected, grabbing a pen and underlining something in the book. “Here I am. Outside.”

“You’re an ass,” Axel retorted.

“Don’t cuss,” Theon replied, only half-listening to him.

“You and Luka cuss all the time.”

“We’re older.”

“Where is Luka anyway? He’ll at least play a round with me while you read your stupid books,” Axel grumbled, dropping the ball to the ground and kicking at it.

“You should read some stupid books,” Theon retorted. “Term starts next week.”

“I’ll read books then. Where’s Luka?”

“Not back yet.”

Truth was, he didn’t know where his best friend was. His father had started sending Luka to training camps that lasted days at a time. He was supposed to be home today, but Theon didn’t know when. He didn’t like it when he was gone. When they were together, he could at least try to keep things under control, but when he was gone…

“Theon, just one quick game,” Axel whined, bending to pick up the ball again.

“No, Axel,” Theon growled, his darkness snapping out and wrenching the ball from his brother’s hands. He sent it flying across the makeshift chaosphere field.

“I liked you better before,” Axel muttered, turning and wandering off to retrieve the ball.

Before what? Theon had no idea, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. One day Axel would understand. One day his brother would realize that he was protecting him. One day he’d see that everything he was doing was to keep everyone he loved safe, and he really only loved a handful of people: his brother, Luka, Caris, and Pen. As long as they were safe, he didn’t really care what it cost him. If it required disappointing them from time to time, so be it. Control the situation, and you control the outcome. That was what he was coming to learn. Do whatever it takes to keep control because control meant keeping everyone safe.

Which is why when he glanced at the clock again, he began gathering his things and placing them into his messenger bag. Book. Tablet. Pen. He checked three times to make sure his phone was still there. He’d only made the mistake of misplacing his phone once. His father had made sure of that.

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