Page 97 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

She hurried along, her now bare feet feeling the sting of the cold cobblestones.

“Slow down, Brecken,” she hissed.

“Can’t. If we get caught, you better be ready with that power of yours.”

A minute later, they were slipping in a side door that Tessa would have missed if Brecken clearly hadn’t known it was there. She felt the wards ripple around her, but Brecken was clearly granted free access here. Suddenly, he grabbed her elbow and dragged her into a small closet, the door snicking shut behind them. There was barely enough room for the two of them to both fit with the random cleaning supplies and shovels stashed in here.

“No,” she rasped, shaking her head and trying to push past him. “We cannot stay in here.”

Brecken rounded on her, crowding her against a stack of boxes. He took her jaw in his hand, forcing her to look up at him, and when her power wound around his wrist in warning, he didn’t even flinch.

“All those Fae and mortals you saw in those villas?” he said, his voice low and vicious. “They arehappythere because it means they are nothere.”

She went still.

“What do you mean?”

“It means for once in your life, Tessalyn, I need you to not focus on yourself.”

Her eyes went wide, anger immediately sparking back to life.

“Does that make you mad?” he went on, still holding her chin. “Piss you off a little bit? Good. It should. Because whileyou’ve had a shit life, those here have had it so much worse. If you weren’t who you fucking are, this is exactly where you would have ended up. So I need you to listen closely, because if we fuck up even one part of this, more than the innocent people here will suffer for it. Do you understand?”

She held his dark gaze for one second.

Two.

Three.

Then a slow, dark smile curled on her lips that had Brecken’s eyes going wide. She brought a hand up, curling it around his wrist. This time when he felt her power sink into his being, he tried to jerk back, but her power held. Seeking. Wanting.Taking.

“Tessa, stop,” he said, panic creeping into his tone.

She took a step forward. Another. Forcing him to step back as she crowdedhimagainst the wall. She reached up, pushing onto her tiptoes, to take his chin in her hand, her nails digging in.

“I needyouto listen very closely, Brecken, because ifyoufuck up even a little bit,youare the one who will suffer for it, and then you will not see the outside of this closet again. Doyouunderstand?”

He had gone utterly still, but his throat bobbed as he gave the barest of nods.

“Do noteverspeak down to me like that again,” she said. “I did not walk away from Theon to be used by someone else. I am not Theon’s Source. I am not Rordan’s to use and command. I am not Dex’s. I do not belong to Achaz or Arius or any other god. And I sure as fuck am not your pawn for some vendetta or vigilantism. You can tell me what you wish me to know, but rest assured, I’ll find the truth as I have with everything else. So lie or don’t, but know that whatever choice you make in this moment determines your salvation or destruction.”

“So much fury,” Brecken murmured, some of the tension bleeding from his being.

Tessa’s head canted to the side, not understanding why that would put him at ease.

“You got it, Tessie,” he said casually as her fingers slid from his jaw. He straightened his shirt, tugging at the cuffs. “I can’t tell you everything that happens here because I’m bound by an Oath, but I can show you.”

She eyed him, looking for the catch and trying to decide if she could trust him.

“But in order to do that, I’m going to need you to pretend to be what Cordelia raised you to be,” he went on. “Just long enough for you to understand. Then you can be your own vigilante if you want.”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you are playing me, Brecken, I will find a way to end you.”

His smile was slightly maniacal as he replied, “I’m counting on it.”

A mutual understanding seemed to pass between them before Brecken nodded once and pushed the door open. The moment they were in the hall, his hand clamped around her upper arm, and he led her around a corner to a much wider passage that led up a set of stairs. They passed a few Legacy on their way, but no one batted an eye at them. Not until they rounded another corner and came face-to-face with a male Legacy who stopped in his tracks. Light blue eyes raked over her, and there was no mistaking the hunger in them.

“A new one, Breck?” he asked, his tongue darting out and wetting his lips.

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