Page 27 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

She blinked several times before she said, “I just told them you were intelligent, and here you stand, making me a liar. She may be impulsive, but even Tessa has intention behind her actions, Theon.”

“This was anything but impulsive, Katya,” Theon retorted. “This was a calculated move.”

“Exactly,” she replied, taking another sip of her liquor.

He didn’t have time for this. Turning back to Razik and Eliza, he said, “Can I see what your Source Mark looks like? So I can compare it to ours?”

With an exasperated sigh, Eliza pulled back the sleeve of her shirt. Of course, the female made him come to her, and Razik stood far too close, as if he thought Theon would hurt her.

Eliza’s Source Mark was on her forearm, and it looked… Well, it looked similar to thelastSource Mark given in Devram, which only served to further their theory that the first three Source Marks weren’t Source Marks at all.

“When Scarlett was here,” Theon said, continuing to study the Mark on Eliza’s arm, “she became upset when she saw Tessa’s first two Marks.”

“So I was told,” Razik muttered. “Do you have Ash Riders here?”

“I don’t know what that is,” he murmured, seeing exactly how the Guardian Mark had been incorporated with their final Source Mark.

“They can move through ashes and smoke. Believed to be of the Anala bloodline,” Razik went on.

Theon glanced up at him, finding his eyes narrowed across the room. “Are you talking about Auryon?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Thatis a she that can move through smoke and ashes, but it was random you brought her up now,” Theon answered.

“Because she’s here,” Razik replied.

Theon whirled around. He hadn’t seen the female since well before Tessa was taken from him, and he had so many questions for her, starting with why the fuck she’d kept her real motive for being here a secret.

“Where?” Theon demanded, looking around the room and not finding a trace of her.

“By the window,” Razik answered.

“There is nothing there,” Theon said.

“She’s there,” he replied. “I haven’t seen her leave yet.”

“But you saw her enter?”

Razik nodded. “Only because I am used to watching for them.”

Theon hadn’t felt her cross the wards though. He’d had to alter them for Tristyn, which he’d done begrudgingly, but it made the most sense. With his newly revealed Traveling abilities, he could come and go without others knowing. The gods-only-knew the turmoil it would cause if it was learned Tristyn Blackheart, founder of Lilura Inquest, was seen aiding and playing favorites with the Arius Kingdom. No, his involvement in all of this would need to be kept a secret just as the male had kept his identity a secret for decades.

The wards had never been designed to keep someone like Auryon out though. Because why would they? She wasn’t a Legacy or Fae, and that was what these wards were designed to detect. The female had been able to access almost anywhere whenever she wanted in Devram. If she was here now, how many conversations had she listened to or encounters had she watched?

“Auryon,” Theon seethed. “Are you too much of a coward to even face me now?”

His hand snapped up to catch the arrow he’d been expecting, the thing inches from his chest as the female stepped from smoke. Her long black hair had ashes drifting among the strands, and swirling grey eyes were glaring at him. Her leathers were in place over her black pants and top, ashy footprints left in her wake as she stalked towards him.

“Call me a coward again, Theon St. Orcas,” she snarled, another arrow appearing from smoke. She had it nocked on her bow in the next blink.

“What else would I call someone who came to another world and hid her true motives?” he retorted, his own power rallying. Darkness writhed around him, tendrils reaching for the female while some of his magic wrapped around him, preparing to defend.

Luka and Tessa apparently felt it too. He felt both of them pause down the bond, but Luka didn’t reach out, thank Arius. The last thing he needed right now was Tessa hearing them interacting. And Tessa? She was probably hoping whatever was happening would finally be his end.

“I owed you nothing, descendant of Arius,” Auryon sneered. “You asked if I was here for her, and the answer was yes.”

“Yet you came to me for permission to get to her,” he countered. “You knew even then you needed my trust?—”

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