He clasped his hands behind his back, rocking on his toes. “Are they all places for the Legacy to come and fuck? Yep.”
“There are mortals here.”
“Sure are,” he answered, wandering around the room.
“And the Fae?”
“Are assigned to serve the Sirana bloodline,” he answered, but she’d already known that. Jasper had told her exactly where she would have ended up if she hadn’t been…whatever she was.
“And Legacy just…”
“Come here to fuck? Yep. Place orders for exactly what they want. Didn’t you notice none of the Fae or mortals had these?” he asked, holding up his hand where the rose gold ring sat on his pointer finger. “Some of the Legacy even forgo them. They say it makes the experience more intense.”
Her fingers curled into fists, her magic winding tighter around her arms, her chest, her middle.
“What’s on the third level?” Tessa asked from between her teeth.
It was the first time Brecken’s expression changed. This entire time he’d been frank and apathetic, but now something flickered in his dark eyes. “The Fae trying to conceive and those with child.”
“How do you know all this?” Tessa demanded. The eerie ring to her voice had Brecken taking a step back.
“That’s a long story we don’t really have time for right now,” he replied.
“You better fucking make time, Brecken,” she spat, the air in the room stirring.
“I can either tell you a story or give you somewhere to release that fury, Tessa. Your choice,” he answered.
A choice.
That had her pausing.
“Aren’t you supposed to be…”
“Controlling you? I told you before, you were always Dex’s concern. Never mine,” he said, making his way across the room. He reached up, sliding a vase of pink roses on a decor shelf to the side, and a panel in the wall slid open. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “You coming? After your little display of power, they won’t dare come check on you for at least a few hours.”
“And the others?”
“I swore to Dex I’d keep an eye on you while they went to find Lord Jove and Desiray,” he answered. “So I suppose you better come with me so I can keep my word.”
She eyed Brecken, her power still needing a release. Or maybe that was her? “Where does that lead?”
“To some underground tunnels that take us to another villa beyond the manor,” he answered.
“Underground?” she repeated.
Not to mention deeper into the Dreamlock Woods.
“The only way to overcome a fear is to face it,” he said.
“I’m notafraidof going underground,” she bristled.
Brecken arched a brow. “I suppose not. You’re just afraid of being trapped down there. You’re letting your fears become your limits, Tessa. Be who you were meant to be.”
“Stop saying that,” she hissed, making her way to him. “I don’t want to be whoever I was meant to be. I want the freedom to be whoeverIwant to be.”
“Then take it,” he said before he disappeared into the passage.
19