Page 54 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

She hadn’t realized her hand was in her hair until she paused, the strands wrapped around her fingers. “What do you mean nothing? You just told me you wanted me to not side with the Light King. Who is that? Rordan?”

“No.”

“Achaz then?” He said nothing, and Tessa placed her palms on the glass once more. “How did you come to be in this cell?”

“I was detained for information.”

“That you have refused to give. Glad to know it isn’t just me you withhold information from,” she drawled.

“But I withhold it for the same reasons,” he replied.

“Yes, yes,” she sighed. “Because we are loyal to Achaz.”

“Not at all,” he answered. “I made a vow to keep you safe, even at the cost of my own life.” When Tessa only blinked in surprise, he added, “It is not only my son I have endured torture for.”

She didn’t know what to say to that because why would someone who didn’t even know her be willing to suffer so greatly for her? Be imprisoned for years? Leave his own son?

“He thinks you are dead,” she blurted.

A sadness flickered on his features. “I assumed that was the story he was told.”

“The Arius— Valter said you brought me to this realm. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To hide you from Achaz.”

“In a world the gods could not go to,” she murmured, pacing before his cell, fingers dragging on the glass.

The male nodded slowly. “But like so many others have discovered, one does not need to physically be in a realm to deliver chaos.”

She stopped suddenly. “Everyone is always trying to protect me. They think they know what’s best for me. But no one ever asks me. They just shove me into the dark and lock me in?—”

“Tessalyn.”

Her name was somehow both a command and a soft reminder, and his voice was so similar to his that it stopped her spiral into the madness that was slowly eating away at her.

“She loses herself to the chaos at times too,” he said just loud enough for her to hear.

“You speak as if you love her,” Tessa said, startling when Roan brushed against her legs. Always beside her, comforting her, keeping her grounded.

“Not in the way Temural does, but she is endeared to me, yes,” he answered.

“Then don’t you think I should know your name?”

“Ask me the next time you find your way down here.”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “Or you could just?—”

People are looking for you, Tessa,came a growl down the bond.

What people?

Does it matter? They are accusing me of hiding you away,Luka retorted.

That’s not my problem.

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