Page 216 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Burning it will be pointless,” Dex muttered. “His wife controls flames. Then again, the only ones we need dead are the vampyre and the child.”
“No!” Tessa cried, once more trying to get to her feet.
“You are trying my patience, Tessa,” Dex snarled, his hand moving from the collar to her hair, fisting it sharply and yanking.
“Let’s just leave,” Tessa cried. “Dex, please! We’ll use a mirror gate, and I’ll go to Achaz willingly. I’ll?—”
“No!” Luka snarled. “No, you will not.”
“Enough! All of you!” Dex bellowed. “This is not a fucking negotiation. An entire First bloodline must be eliminated from this realm in order for Achaz to come here. There are three left of the Arius line.” He looked down at Tessa. “You are other and do not count, but you will let Achaz enter once this is done.”
She shook her head. “No. No, I won’t. I?—”
He crouched down before her, taking her face in his hand. “You act as if you have a choice. How many times did I try to give you one? How many times did I try to help you?” Forcing her head to turn, he leaned in and whispered, “And now you can watch them die knowing it’s all your fault because Chaos can never reign.”
And she screamed as the seraph shoved a blade into Theon’s back and he went still.
“Tessa, hey. Little storm, you’re all right.”
His voice cut through everything, and her eyes snapped open. Theon and Luka were both leaning over her, but she launched herself at Theon, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his torso. Tears were streaming down her face as she buried it in his neck, and she had no doubt she’d been screaming based on how raw her throat felt.
“Easy, beautiful,” he murmured, holding her just as tightly.
Luka was there too, his hand smoothing down her hair, and once she was able to catch her breath, she turned to look at him. Resting her head on Theon’s shoulder, Luka reached over and swiped her tears with his thumb. At some point, he’d draped ablanket over her and put on pants. They’d all been naked when they’d gone to bed.
They were back on the third floor of the townhouse, the familiarity of the room somehow comforting despite having not been in here since she’d discovered Felicity in it. Too tired from the day, they’d come back here. Food had been prepared and delivered as promised, and thank the gods, because she’d been famished. Roasted pork, salad, rice, and bread. Everything full of flavor, and nothing like what she’d been served the first time she’d been here. She’d fallen asleep on the sofa while Theon and Luka had discussed plans. She’d tried to stay awake and be part of them, but the next thing she knew, she was nestled against Luka’s chest in a warm bed.
“Tell us, Tessa,” Luka said softly, gathering her hair and pulling it back over her shoulder.
“We’re going to fail,” she whispered. “It’s the only vision I have repeatedly. It changes, but not enough to matter. Either I die or Theon does, and everyone else… Never once do I see us all survive.”
“The future is ever-changing,” Theon said, still letting her cling to him.
“I know that,” she said, listening to his heart beat beneath her ear. “I’ve seen evidence of that, but this one is different. It’s always in the same place. It always starts the same. And this time, they were searching for Axel’s child. Luka and Xan were captured. I had a collar at my throat, and you…”
“I’m fine,” he soothed when she tightened her hold on him once more. “I’m going to be fine. We have a plan, remember? Let’s get up and make some coffee. You can tell us everything.”
A half hour later, she sat at the counter with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug. The guys were on either side of her listening while she told them how that vision had changedover the months. Starting with Theon killing her, then shifting to her killing Theon, and now this.
“Why does Achaz want to come here so badly?” Theon asked. “It’s been centuries and centuries since Devram was created.”
She shook her head. “He wants something here, but I don’t think that’s all of it. He believes it’s his purpose to rule the realms. All of them.”
“You’ve seen him in your visions?”
She hesitated, keeping her eyes fixed on her coffee cup.
“Tessa,” Luka said in that voice that said he knew he wasn’t going like what she had to say.
“Yes, I’ve seen him in visions, but I’ve also…talked to him in a mirror,” she answered.
“You’ve what?” Luka demanded at the same time Theon asked, “When?”
“When I was with Rordan. It was the same day Luka came to the Tribunal.”
“You were in the loft, and you left,” Luka recalled.
She nodded. “And I went to the Pantheon, found my way to the mirror, and called him.”
