Page 218 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
And Xan.
Xan who was telling them once again their best option was to bring her mother here.
Did she want to see her?
No. Yes. No.
Gods.
She turned again, trying to focus on the smooth marble of the mantel. She knew they were watching her. All of them were watching her, waiting for her to go too far.
“You say she’s the best option, but how do we get her here? Use a mirror gate?” Theon asked.
“No,” Tessa muttered. “No, no, no. Something will follow her through.”
“She’s right,” Tristyn said, toying with a roll of lull-leaf in his hand. “Akira is powerful. Something will follow. Or a god will use the opportunity to send something else here.”
“Which is why we need to destroy them,” Tessa said. She met Tristyn’s russet gaze. “We could go back tonight?—”
“No,” Luka and Theon both snarled at the same time.
“You’re the Arius Lady now,” Theon added. “You can’t simply go to another kingdom, Tessa.”
She rolled eyes. She didn’t give a fuck about the title she suddenly carried.
The Arius Lady.
How ridiculous.
“We’ll deal with the mirror gates in a bit,” Luka said. “But if we can’t use them, how else do we get Akira here?”
“Tessa can bring her here,” Xan said. She stilled her pacing, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. “But it has to be Tessa,” he added.
“Why?” she asked, wishing she sounded more confident than she felt. “Because of my Chaos?”
“Because of your father,” Xan corrected. The male held up his hand, a ring on his finger with a large onyx stone in the center.
It looked exactly like the one Theon used to wear. The one Axel still wore.
“The ring?” Theon asked. “What will that do?”
“By itself, nothing,” Xan answered. “But when the stones from the three are fused, they create a portal key.”
“What the fuck is a portal key?” Theon asked at the same time Razik said, “Why haven’t you said anything before now?”
“Portal keys have various uses,” Xan said. “But there aren’t any whole ones left. Only pieces of them.”
“They are like the mirror gates in a way,” Razik interjected with a glare at his father. “They can be used to create portals between the realms. They came into existence after the World Walkers were defeated and the power to walk the realms was close to being lost.”
“Three pieces then?” Theon asked. “You have one. Axel has one, and I…” He turned to Luka. “Gave you mine for the bargain with Rordan.”
Tessa watched him, and it was perhaps the first time Luka’s emotions slipped. Fury and regret streamed down the bond. “That fucking bastard. We thought it was a power play.”
“Why would you think that?” Razik asked. “This entire realm is all about strategic moves to gain more power.”
“I thought it was an insurance policy of sorts,” Luka retorted. “Proof I wasn’t going to fuck him over. The goal was to get to Tessa at that point.”
She winced internally. Another thing she was responsible?—
