Page 102 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

“You want me to take her to a room until then?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine,” Darius answered, pulling his phone from his pocket and waving them off. “I’ll deal with her once I know her history.”

Brecken squeezed her arm in a signal for her to follow him, but she couldn’t make her feet move. He tugged again, and she only dug her heels into the floor.

“There’s quite a few people interested in my history,” Tessa said, and even she could hear the slight mania in her voice.

Good.

Darius’s head snapped up, ire flashing. “Did you just speak to me?”

“Simply stated a fact,” she replied, slowly undoing the buttons of her coat.

He stared at her in disbelief, his cheeks flushing with fresh rage. “Which Estate were you raised at?”

“What does that matter?” she asked, reaching the last button.

“Because you clearly were not taught your place, and I need to have a discussion with the Mother there,” he sneered, rising to his feet.

“My place? Beneath those more powerful than me?”

“Exactly,” he snarled, rounding the desk.

“Serafina Legacy,” Brecken muttered. He’d long since let go of her arm. “He can see your deepest dreams and desires and?—”

“Impossible,” Darius rasped before Brecken could finish. “You cannot exist.”

“And yet I stand in front of you,” she replied, slipping her coat off and handing it to Brecken. Her power was radiating now, swirls of light encompassing her arms, lightning crackling, and silver and gold ashes swirling around her.

Those were new.

But she didn’t have time to think about it. She may have only had five training sessions with Luka so far, but it was enough to give her control in this moment. One on one? She had the upper hand, and Brecken appeared to realize that as he took several steps back.

“I can see your deepest desires. I can— He’s been lying to all of us,” Darius continued to splutter, his pretty face draining of color.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Tessa said. “Everyone here is a liar.”

“He said he didn’t know your lineage. He said he was taking care of this. You— You’re?—”

Tessa struck, a whip of lightning in her hand before he could speak again. She snapped it out, wrapping the energy around his neck. He immediately dropped to his knees, fingers clawing at his throat. She yanked, and his palms hit the floor as he tried to suck in another breath.

She sauntered forward, dropping to a crouch beside the male and tilting his chin up with her nail. “Thisis how my Estate Mother disciplined me,” she said coldly. “Took away my ability to breathe. Locked me in cupboards. Withheld food. And you’re right. It still wasn’t enough.”

She moved quickly then, gripping his throat and letting her magic seep from her palm into the male. It flooded him, and she gritted her teeth as she kept it in line, making sure it stayed focused solely on him. It ripped his power from his veins, devouring and feeding. When she sent another bolt of energy into him, he screamed, rolling onto his back and arching off the floor.

And she smiled as she pushed to her feet and stood over him, watching him writhe in pain because all she could wonder was which of the Fae here hadhefucked?

“Do you decide all the pairings, or is there another?” she demanded suddenly, giving him a reprieve.

He shook his head, tears and snot leaking from his eyes and nose.

Tessa lifted a hand, her fingers glowing as light pooled. “To clarify, that was me speaking to you.”

Darius shook his head again. “She has final say.”

“Who?”

“Desiray,” he rasped, wiping his wrist across his nose and mouth.

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