Page 141 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

“But only one can be left standing when Chaos comes to reign.”

26

THEON

He shifted in his seat, finding the chair far more comfortable than he’d anticipated. Although he should have expected such a thing. The rulers of the realm wouldn’t have settled for anything less. Of course the seats on the dais at the Tribunal building were luxurious, while the benches everyone else sat on were hard and uncomfortable.

The side door opened, and the Achaz Lord and the Serafina Lady appeared with their Sources. They each moved to their seats, the other Ladies already here and settled. Rordan sat back, crossing one leg over the other and folding his hands across his chest as his gaze fell on Theon.

“Heir St. Orcas. How kind of you to grace us with your presence,” Rordan said tightly. He held Theon’s stare, clearly waiting for something. An apology? An explanation?

He’d get neither.

His father might be a fucking bastard, but he’d made sure Theon was more than prepared to hold his own among these people.

Sitting back in his own chair, his legs sprawled wide in a casual fuck-you as he leaned an elbow on the armrest. “I had nochoice in the matter,” Theon said calmly. “Apparently while I’ve been busy tending to the power transition in my kingdom, you have let the Sirana Villas become a graveyard.”

Rordan went eerily still. “Are you suggesting I had something to do with that?”

“Of course not,” Theon said. “But the Villas are in your kingdom. They are your responsibility to keep safe just as the other kingdoms keep the Estates safe, and we keep the Underground confined and controlled. The Villas are your territory.”

The room fell silent.

There was no audience today. The benches were empty. No heirs or nobles. Only the rulers and their Sources. Theon didn’t even have an advisor with him. He would have brought Axel, if only for appearance’s sake, but his brother had disappeared, leaving only a fucking note. When he’d learned of his leaving, Theon hadn’t said a word. He’d gotten in a vehicle, driven to the banks of the Wynfell River where everything always seemed to go wrong, and unleashed everything.

His wrath.

His frustration.

His desperation.

His sorrow.

His despair.

His darkness had coated the ground, seeping into everything. Surrounding vegetation withered as life seeped from its leaves and roots. The earth turned grey and desolate. His vision was nothing but black, obscuring everything from the stars and the sky, to the earth and the water.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, his power pouring out of him and the world dying around him. But when his vision finally cleared, the waters before him?

They were as dark and as black as the Night Waters in the eastern part of Arius Kingdom. The entirety of the Wynfell River was black, and he didn’t know what to make of that.

But now he sat here, alone in a room full of people who clearly didn’t want him in this seat, trying to figure out how and where he was going to fit into everything.

Tension filled the air after his last response to Rordan, the Lord’s stare boring into him as Theon held his own. Gold mist floated around the Lord, and Theon let wisps of darkness appear in answer.

When Rordan said nothing in response, Theon said, “At least tell me you have suspects? A lead? Some type of information as to what happened there?”

“You meanwhohappened there,” the Celeste Lady cut in with a sneer.

“Who?” Theon repeated.

“Yes, who,” she snapped. “Let’s not play coy. We all know it was your Source.”

“Who I’ve been told is no longer mine. She was taken from me,” Theon said, gesturing to the Achaz Lord.

“But she is still bonded to you as a Source, is she not?” the Falein Lady asked.

“Seeing as I do not have a new Source at my side, that is clearly the case.”

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