Page 228 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Fuck!Theon snapped.

Where are you?Tessa demanded.

But there was no response, only their own emotions of fury and wrath and…fear? She’d never felt that from them before. Where were they?

A scream from an Augury member drew her attention, faint black shadows fading as the Hunter withdrew his blade from his chest. An Arius Legacy then.

“What have you done?”

Tessa turned just in time to see three arrows fly from Auryon’s bow where she now prowled around her. The Hunter who had been guarding her snarled at Auryon’s appearance, his lip curling back.

“Huntress,” he hissed. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Auryon’s smile was razor sharp as she nocked two arrows, letting them fly before Tessa could blink.

The Hunter had already disappeared.

Auryon let out a shrill whistle, and a moment later, Nylah and Roan leapt from the melee.

“Find the females,” was all Auryon said, all while releasing two more rounds of arrows.

The wolves were gone once more, taking down Augury members as they moved and somehow avoiding the Hunters at the same time. Then again, the Hunters truly weren’t focused on them as much as they were on certain Legacy.

Arius Legacy.

It was their purpose. It washerpurpose. She wanted them all dead. If they were slaughteringallthe Augury members, shewouldn’t have cared, but this was…not what she had told them to do.

The thought seemed to flip a switch in her soul, fury bubbling up at being disobeyed. “Stop!” she cried, rushing toward the nearest Hunter. Her hand went through him, so she reached for his blade instead. Her fingers wrapped around it, and she hissed as it sliced into her flesh, more blood dripping to the ground.

Summoning only more Hunters.

Stumbling back, she pulled her hand to her chest, trying to staunch the bleeding.

“What is happening?” she cried, turning to Auryon, who shoved an arrow into a Hunter’s chest before nocking it and directing the same into another.

“You assumed you had control over something you do not understand!” Auryon seethed. “I told you to stop summoning them. I told you to never summon themhere.”

“I didn’t know?—”

“Youdidknow,” Auryon snapped, shoving a handful of arrows at her. “I told you. Repeatedly. We’ve all tried to tell you that the path you are on only leads to destruction, and now you will witness it. The least you can do is try to diminish the damage. If you won’t use your power, use those.”

Tessa stared down at the arrows in her hand. This was her fault. She understood that. Some dark, sadistic part of her didn’t care. They could all die. Devram could waste away, and she wouldn’t give two fucks.

But not with Nylah and Roan still here.

And there will still be innocents.

And she hadn’t survived so much just to die with the rest of them when she’d been promised freedom from this realm.

But that freedom would come onherterms. Not those of a lord or a god.

Auryon glanced over at her, a look of satisfaction flashing in her eyes at whatever she saw. “There she is,” the Huntress said in approval. “The fury of your mother. Use it.”

And Tessa did.

She stalked forward, moving only on instinct. It was how the wild and untamed survived; it only made sense that such instincts were innate for her too. She sank into fury as she drove those arrows into the chests of Augury members and Hunters alike. She didn’t care. One wanted her dead; the other had tricked her and used her. Both had preyed on her, and she took her vengeance in flesh.

For the next few minutes, sounds of life and death filled the air. Shouts of defiance and screams of agony. Growls of determination and pleas for mercy. A song that she knew in her soul because it was who she was. She knew all the steps to this dance.

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