Page 229 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Her magic thrashed in her veins, begging and pleading to take and take and take, but she couldn’t do it. Not with Roan so close. She knew it made her weak, but every time she came close to summoning any of her magic, fear locked it down tight. She had something to fight for now, yes, but she also had something to protect.

“Dammit,” she muttered when she was down to her last arrow.

Frowning, she wiped the bloody tip on her pants while she looked around for Auryon. She’d been so lost to the song that she hadn’t kept track of everything around her. She wasn’t a warrior like Luka or a trained Huntress like Auryon. She just…was, so she hadn’t noticed that they weren’t exactly winning this battle. It was messy and chaotic. She wasn’t sure why she thought bloodshed would be anything other than that. She’d taken enough lives these past months to know there was nothing clean or organized about it.

But this was Hunters against…select Augury. Augury against her and the wolves. Wolves against the Augury. Auryon against Augury and Hunters, and her against everyone too. It wasn’t enough. There was no way, and certainly not without her power.

Ashes and smoke swirled to her right, Auryon stepping from them. Her wicked features were sharp and hard, and she looked exhausted.

“Cordelia and Cressida have disappeared. Again,” she said, slightly breathless.

Tessa couldn’t help the lightning that sparked around her at that statement.

“We need to get you out of here. Nylah and Roan are clearing a path,” Auryon continued, sending an arrow flying. Tessa was fairly certain she hadn’t evenlookedwhen she let it go. “We can take you to?—”

Her eyes went wide, and it was the first time Tessa had ever seen them still. The ash and smoke that usually swirled in them was frozen, and Auryon’s features twisted into feral rage. Tessa didn’t understand what was happening. Not until the female spun, and instead of arrows in her hands, two daggers appeared, the blades narrowing into wicked points.

A Hunter stood behind her, and before Tessa could blink, Auryon shoved both daggers into the Hunter’s gut, somehow cutting the being completely in half. Gold blood sprayed as he dissipated.

And Auryon sank to the ground.

“Auryon!” Tessa screamed, dropping down beside her. “No! No, no, no!”

There was no way this was happening again.

Auryon looked up at her with those too still eyes. Eyes that should be swirling in an unnatural way. She still looked fierce and wicked. The same way she’d looked every time she’d appeared to protect Tessa. To stand between her and whateverthis fucking realm was trying to do to her. Whether on her father’s orders or her own volition, all Auryon had ever done was protect her.

“You’re fine?” Tessa said, studying her for any grimace of pain. Nylah and Roan had appeared, circling them and keeping everyone else back, but they couldn’t hold out much longer.

Luka! Theon! Now!

It was a desperate scream down the bond, and she felt them both still and shudder at the anguish.

End this!Theon snarled.

Tessa didn’t know what they were dealing with, but gods, she’d never wanted to see his arrogant face more than she did right now.

Her eyes were frantically searching Auryon, trying to find a wound, any sign of blood, but there was nothing.

“You’re not hurt? I don’t understand,” Tessa said, her hands hovering over the female’s body trying to figure out what they should do.

“There will be no undoing this,” Auryon said, her voice somehow strong and fading at the same time. “Just as my arrows and blades are death for the Hunters, their blades bring the same to a Huntress.”

“But there’s no blood. You weren’t stabbed,” Tessa said, confusion and panic squeezing her chest so tightly she couldn’t breathe. “You’re fine. I’ll make a portal. You just need to get up and go through with me. We’ll figure the rest out. We’ll— What are you doing?”

Auryon’s hand had closed around the grip of her bow that she was now shoving towards Tessa. “You need to take this.”

Tessa shook her head, only then realizing her cheeks were wet. Everything was wet. The ground. Her clothing. Cloaks and fur. She was crying, and so was the sky.

“It is your birthright,” Auryon said, shoving the bow at her again.

“No,” Tessa said, shaking her head again so violently her hair whipped around her with the denial.

“Tessalyn!” Auryon snapped. “You are wildandfury, lightanddark. Once lost, you were found. The only one who hasn’t realized that isyou.”

“I don’t understand,” Tessa said, throwing out a hand and letting light flare when several Augury members broke through the fray.

She scarcely heard their screams as her power ripped away their life force.

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