Page 116 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

“You don’t… I don’t understand,” Theon said.

“It’s not for you to understand,” he answered. “The point is, I’m here. Helping you. Because if Tessa continues on thepath she’s on, we’ll have much bigger problems than the underhanded politics of Devram.”

“Explain that,” Theon said, his fingers clenching around the hilt of the short sword he still held.

“You know all this already,” Tristyn said in annoyance. “Auryon told you if something happens to her, her parents will come for you.”

“Because it will be my fault?”

Tristyn appeared to debate that for a minute before saying, “That’s fair. They’ll come for the realm.”

Theon sighed, a faint throbbing starting at his temples. “We’ll come back to…all of that. Right now, tell me what the fuck happened with the Shifters twenty-three years ago.”

Tristyn shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it over a nearby chair. Pushing a hand through his hair, he said, “When Tessa was brought here, she became lost.”

“Who brought her here?”

“I can’t tell you that,” he answered. “But we were trying desperately to find her. I went to the Alpha and Beta to ask them for aid. Shifters are excellent trackers. The next best thing to an actual Tracker. Outside of this realm, the Shifters favor Temural, as do most animals, and he favors them. I didn’t give them details. Only that I was searching for a missing child. Kylian and Giselle wouldn’t leave the Underground, but Kylian’s sister, Khari, agreed to help.

“Every lead we found eventually led to a dead end, and after two years, we were both getting anxious. I was watching every request that came through Lilura’s Inquest hoping for a new direction to go in, but Kylian was demanding that Khari return to the Underground. It was getting harder to keep my real identity a secret because I couldn’t Travel or move around as freely with her. But more than that, about a year into our search, we had come across a Fae who was on the run, trying to makehis way to a rumored safe haven for the Fae. Khari fell in love with the male, a water Fae. She didn’t want to go back to the Underground. She wanted to stay with him.”

“That’s why they hate you?” Theon asked.

“No, they hate me because Khari was captured and held hostage for over a year. And apparently she had a child in that time,” Tristyn answered. When Theon only waited expectantly, he went on. “We were in the Celeste Kingdom following a lead. Knowing what I know now, we were so close to finding her, but we were attacked. Not for me. Not even for the Fae, but for her. Somehow they knew she was a Shifter. Long story short, they killed the Fae, I was incapacitated, and she was taken.”

Theon’s brow furrowed. “Taken where?”

“The Sirana Villas,” Tristyn said, looking anywhere but at Theon. “I don’t know how much you know about what goes on there?—”

“I know what happens at the Villas, but Tessa mentioned there are other Villas behind the manor.”

Tristyn nodded. “They…” He pushed out a long breath, his hand going through his hair again. “They basically do experiments there. Force Fae to conceive with Legacy. Try to create stronger Fae.”

“That’s forbidden,” Theon said automatically. Because it was. There were laws against it. It was why the Fae were given their contraceptive shots regularly.

Tristyn gave him a mocking look. “Because those who run this realm clearly follow their own laws. They’re as hypocritical as the gods. The Sources of the Lords and Ladies? All of them have Legacy blood. No one else knows. They had them specially bred for this exact purpose.”

“That can’t be true,” Theon said, but even as he spoke the words, he knew it was. It sounded exactly like something the rulers would do.

It sounded exactly like something his father would do.

“Anyway,” Tristyn said when the silence lingered. “Khari was taken and housed there. Apparently they succeeded in forcing her to carry a child.”

“Are you saying there is a half-Shifter, half-Legacy somewhere in Devram?” Theon asked. “That’s who we’re looking for?”

“I don’t know who the father would be. Could be Legacy. Could be Fae. Could be another being,” he replied with a shrug. “But to start, we should try to speak to Khari.”

“Like that’s an option,” Theon scoffed. “They practically kicked us out of their home after I made the bargain with Kylian.”

“I would be willing to speak to Khari if the Alpha and Beta are open to it.”

They both turned to find Katya in the doorway.

“No,” Theon said immediately. “It’s too dangerous.”

She gave him a small but challenging smile. “I think we’re well past this, Theon, don’t you?”

“Axel is already going to kill me for letting you take that Mark,” he said. “There is no way I’m letting you speak to Khari on your own.”

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