Page 9 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

And Dex and Oralia were lying to her. She just hadn’t figured out what they were lying about yet. If she couldn’t trust them, she certainly couldn’t trust Brecken.

Seeming to take her non-answer as a rejection of his offer, Brecken shrugged, bringing the roll back to his lips. “Where are you off to then?”

“Need to report back to Dexter?” she sneered.

Brecken huffed a laugh, tipping his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. “Your whereabouts have always been his concern, not mine.”

“Obviously. You are rarely around,” she muttered, growing restless. She couldn’t simply stand around in a back alley.

“Katya, however…” Brecken went on, ignoring her comment.

“Kat is fine. She is safe and protected,” Tessa answered.

“With an Arius Legacy?” Brecken mused. He huffed another derisive laugh. “Doubtful.”

“Axel is—” But she cut herself off. She couldn’t defend an Arius Legacy. Not with her destiny laid out before her. Clearing her throat, she said, “Katya will be fine. I’ll see to it.”

Brecken only hummed, dropping the last of the lull-leaf that was left to the ground and squishing it beneath his shoe. “What am I to tell Dex then?”

“Tell him whatever you want,” she retorted, turning away. “Rordan does not limit my movements, so Dex is in no position to be doing so either.”

“So muchfreedom,” he crooned, pushing off the wall.

“Fuck off, Brecken,” she snapped, feeling her power coiling as sparks of energy skittered along the ground at her feet.

He slipped his hands into his pockets, sauntering past her, but he stilled for a breath when he was beside her. “Be who youwere meant to be, Tessalyn,” he said, his voice low. “Myfreedom depends on it.”

Before she could ask what that meant, he was turning a corner, leaving her alone all over again.

3

TESSA

She may have been alone, but she didn’t mind. For the first time ever, she wandered around the Acropolis unaccompanied. She was being watched, of course. It was hard not to be noticed with a giant silver wolf at her side, but Roan had appeared the moment she’d stepped from the shadows and onto the street. Snow was gently drifting to the ground, and Tessa wrapped her arms tightly around herself. In her need to get out of the Tribunal building, she’d left her coat.

There was a large fountain in the center of the Acropolis, various enchantments keeping the water from freezing, and she stopped to watch it flow. A glittering sculpture of blacks and golds was in the center, water pouring from various locations. There was no rhyme or reason. It was just chaos feeding into the pool that had been sectioned off into six distinct areas, one for each kingdom.

Slowly, she circled it, her fingers dragging through the snow that was piling up on the lip of the fountain. A mosaic of what it was thought each god or goddess looked like was built into the bottom. Anala with her bright red-gold hair and golden eyes. Serafina with her silver hair and crown of white flames. Faleinwith her warm skin and black curls. Arius with his dark hair and emerald eyes and?—

Tessa gasped when she ran into someone. She started to splutter an apology and ask for forgiveness, the habit to take the blame for anything still ingrained in her being, but the words died on her tongue when she looked up.

The being she’d run into was wearing a cloak, the hood up and features hidden. They were tall, but the hand that had steadied her was unmistakably feminine. Before she could get a look, the figure stepped back, her fingers disappearing into the sleeve of the cloak once more. There was no pearlescent mask beneath the hood, and Roan wasn’t growling at her side. In fact, the wolf was sitting. His attention was pinned on the figure, but he was calm, clearly not sensing any danger.

Because this person wasn’t a member of the Augury.

This was the Keeper.

But that wasn’t possible because the Keeper who had awakened her power, who had spoken to her, who had called those around her fools, had been unmistakably male. It was said no one truly knew who or what the Keeper was. That the use of glamours and spells kept their identity ever changing, but the Keeper was also never seen outside the Pantheon.

“Who are you?” Tessa demanded, stepping back from the figure.

They only tilted their head, and she could feel them studying her.

She lifted a hand, lightning sparking between her fingers. She was past the days of not protecting herself, of blindly trusting, and of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. No, at this point she just assumed everyone wanted to use her, cage her, or sacrifice her. Perhaps all three.

“You will cause a scene,” the figure said, her voice as feminine as her touch had been.

Tessa slowly lowered her hand because she knew that voice. Definitely female, but harsh and unyielding.

---