Page 114 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“I don’t understand. She’s just been in the Anala Kingdom? This entire time? While I was…”
And he suddenly understood exactly how Razik felt about their parents. Because how could she have been one fucking kingdom away this entire time? For over two decades?
“I know what you’re thinking, and you are wrong,” Xan said, his voice sterner than Luka had ever heard it. “Your mothercares for you deeply. It has destroyed her knowing you were so close, yet impossible to reach. Returning to you would have resulted in her immediate death.”
“Was this before or after you were detained?” Luka asked, trying to remember something,anything, from that time, but he came up blank. The first real, concrete memory he had was Valter telling him of his parents’ deaths.
“Before, but not by much. A day to be exact,” Xan said, both of them having long since forgotten their food. His father shifted, almost appearing nervous about what he was going to say. “When we arrived, and after we lost Tessa, we went to the Arius Kingdom. It was only natural. As the son of Sargon, it is in my blood to protect Arius’s bloodline. We can sense them, although you have likely never realized it growing up around them your entire life.
“Anyway, Valter was thrilled to discover what we were since the Sargon Legacy of Devram had experienced a genocide centuries earlier. He immediately made me part of his council, giving me the singular task of finding Tessa. Of course, that proved to be far more difficult than any of us imagined it would be, but during that brief period, I spent a lot of time with Valter and his other advisors.”
“Julius and Mansel,” Luka said, his lip curling back.
“Among others,” Xan said, shifting in his seat. “Your mother and I kept our distance, and we kept you away as much as possible, despite Valter pushing you and Theon together constantly. But one day, we discovered you with another. A female. Same age. Dark red hair. Emerald eyes. She was said to be Mansel’s daughter, but your mother insisted she wasn’t. I knew she was right. I could scent it. Not just the Arius lineage, but the St. Orcas lineage.”
“What are you talking about?” Luka asked, not understanding. Because how could the child be a St. Orcas but also the same age as him and Theon?
“It took some time to figure it out. I kept working with Valter while Aiyana searched for answers,” Xan continued, but then he hesitated.
“What? I swear to the gods if you keep any more godsdamn secrets from me,” Luka said on a growl, smoke appearing on his exhale.
“No, you’re right,” Xan said. “I won’t keep it from you; it’s just going to come as a shock. The female was Cressida’s daughter. With Valter. Cressida is not Theon’s mother.”
The truth hung in the air between them as Luka stared back at his father, unable to say anything.
“Her name is Kasdeya,” Xan said, his tone a touch softer. “I don’t know the specifics. I don’t know why she was being raised in Mansel’s house rather than his own. But I had learned quickly what kind of male Valter was. I knew he was using the child to lord over Cressida, and I knew she was likely being kept and groomed for much more sinister things.”
He wasn’t wrong. Luka knew that. But all of this… That child wasAxel’sfull blooded sister, unless Cressida wasn’t his mother either?
“It is in our nature as Sargon Legacy to protect the Arius bloodline,” Xan said again. “And while Aiyana is not born of Sargon, she is still a dragon. Kasdeya may not have been hers, but she was an innocent child caught in the middle of things that were not her fault. Much like Tessa.
“We agreed to leave. To take you and Kasdeya and regroup. Your mother went first, but she couldn’t take both of you. She took Kasdeya, and I was to follow the next day with you. Except Valter learned of the betrayal, and he betrayed me in return, handing me over to Rordan in vengeance. And you? You becameas lost among it all as Tessa was. Different, yet still the same. Only you formed a bond with Theon. Something just as powerful as all the bonds in existence. Perhaps more so because it was chosen. And Tessa… Well, you know.”
“Yeah,” was all Luka could say.
He did know. She’d had no one. Was locked away in cupboards, forgotten and alone until Dex had shown up. Then he’d betrayed her. Her entire life was betrayal and manipulation. Sure, he’d given her a couple months of something more, but had he? She didn’t know how to be loved, but nobody had let her learn either. Did it matter in the end? She could have still chosen something other than what her life had been. But he hadn’t been enough to sway her. Whatever was between them hadn’t been enough.
And maybe in the end, that was what was keeping him from letting go of this. From being unable to move forward. His entire life he’d strived to make sure he was worthy of his lineage. The last remaining Sargon Legacy. He’d strived to be good enough.
And he hadn’t been enough to keep her from going over that edge.
“She’s still in the Anala Kingdom?” Luka asked, finally picking up his sandwich, mostly so he had something to do with his hands.
“She is. As far as I know. I do not have reason to believe otherwise,” Xan answered. “Although this collar blocks magic, including my bond with her. But I know they made it safe. I know she lives because even this collar wouldn’t have saved me the agony of my soul losing her. Beyond that, I do not know.
“Why there? Does the Anala Lady know?” Xan asked.
“Lady Kyra knows a great number of things,” his father answered, picking up his own sandwich. “Like everyone else in this realm, she has simply been preparing and waiting.”
“For what?”
“A beginning or an ending. No one really knows.”
23
TESSA
She could feel him. It was strange. She could feel him, but they couldn’t hear each other’s thoughts. It was as if only two of the Source Marks were working. Maybe they wouldn’t all work because they were missing a piece of their whole. Maybe it would forever be fractured, a constant ache that they’d become numb to but that would never really go away.
