Page 137 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Raw and brutal.

He couldn’t stay here.

He couldn’t stay with her.

He looked up at Cienna again, finding her still watching him.

“Many are on the receiving end of injustice every single day. A choice was taken from you. It’s not right, and it’s not fair. But you get to decide how to move forward. That choice is still yours. You get to decide how it shapes you. You will not be the same on the other side of this,” Cienna said. “But you get a choice on who that person will be. Your path is not yet decided. Fate waits to make her final choice for you. Choose wisely.”

With those parting words, the Witch left.

Choose wisely.

She’d said those same words to him months ago in the Underground caverns, and look where he was now. Exactly where he’d feared he’d be.

But he could make sure his worst fear didn’t come true.

He could make sure he wasn’t a threat to Kat ever again. That he never took from her in a moment of weakness. That he never watched the life dim from her eyes.

Happy, safe, and whole.

That was what he needed her to be.

That was what he’d sacrifice anything for.

Because she was his.

His to have.

His to protect.

His to love.

With another press of his lips to her brow, he slipped from the bed. He placed a blanket over her, letting his palm linger on her stomach.

He didn’t belong here. Not anymore.

He quickly scrawled a note on some scratch paper, leaving it on the nightstand. Then bent to kiss her temple one last time.

“I can’t keep all my promises, kitten,” he whispered against her skin. “I can’t come back for you, but I need you to keep yours. I need you to try to be happy, and I promise to keep you both safe.”

Another soft kiss.

Then he left to make his way to the Underground and back to the people he now belonged with.

PART TWO

SACRIFICE DEMANDS

25

TESSA

“Tessa, stop,” Theon rasped, blood seeping from beneath his hand where it was pressed to his side.

Tessa stood over him with a gold dagger in her hand, and she twirled it between her fingers.

“Tessa,” Theon tried again. “It doesn’t?—”

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