Page 25 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Then she spun, turning her back on all of them, and barefoot, she walked away from the ruling families of Devram. She’d burned their godsdamn castle to the ground.
Luka moved to her side, and he felt the others fall into a formation of sorts behind her. Tristyn and Cienna were done hiding. His father was free and choosing their side. Devram was about to be divided.
Chaos was about to reign.
“The Fae are safe,” she said suddenly, not seeming to care about the rubble they were maneuvering through. It had to be slicing up her feet.
“What do you mean they are safe?” he asked.
“I sent word ahead of time. To make sure the Fae were removed from the Pantheon before we arrived. Only Legacy went to the After this day,” she replied.
“How?”
She shrugged. “I watched. I listened. I learned everything I could.”
“You just declared war, Tessa,” Luka growled. “Without consulting anyone. There will be consequences. They will retaliate.”
“I will not live in a realm where Fae are forced to serve. This world deserves a war. Devram deserves a reckoning,” she bit out as they crossed out of the courtyard.
“And you believe that is your call to make? To pass such judgment?”
She stopped, turning to look up at him. “I believe my purpose is a genesis. More than that, I believe my purpose is to at least try when no one else is doing a godsdamn thing.”
He blinked at her, unsure how to respond to that, but before he could say anything, Tristyn and Cienna approached.
“We cannot return to my penthouse,” Blackheart said. “We made a statement following Tessa out of there.”
“I’m aware,” Luka muttered, still eyeing Tessa. Her eyes were still too dark; she was still too lost to her power. And he couldn’t decide if it was her magic talking or her.
“Do we go to the Underground?” Tristyn pressed.
“It is the first place they will look,” Cienna said. “We need some place few know of.”
His head whipped to her, finding her piercing gaze fixed on him. “No,” he growled.
“We need some place where we will not be disturbed. We need a plan, and she needs to be brought back from the brink,” the Witch countered.
Godsdammit.
He knew she was right, but by the gods, did he fucking hate it.
“Fine,” he grumbled, an arm winding around Tessa’s waist and pulling her in close. For once, she didn’t fight him. He held out his other hand, Cienna taking it. Making sure they were all connected, Luka Traveled them to his cave to try to figure out how they were going to survive when there was no way to control the uncontrollable.
5
THEON
He was working on borrowed time.
He knew that.
Not only from the Fates, but from his father.
Luka had told him his father had been freed when they’d rescued Xan. He’d told Luka they didn’t need to come up with a plan, that the Fates would take care of it, but who knew when that would be. While the warnings from the prophecy all seemed to be aligning, indicating that it would be sooner rather than later, soon could be days or decades for immortal beings. Theon was certain the only reason he hadn’t run into his father yet was because he was off searching for Eviana. He didn’t know the specifics of why he couldn’t find her. There’d been no time for detailed explanations before he’d left them all at the Pantheon. If he’d waited any longer to leave, he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to do it. Tessa’s screams had echoed down the passages as he’d left, and now they haunted him. Waking. Sleeping. It didn’t matter. He heard them all the time.
Theon had been staying at the penthouse in Rockmoor, trying to formulate some semblance of a plan. And he had one. Sort of. He’d tied up some loose ends, moved funds aroundin accounts, and stocked up on blood rations, because without a Source, he was going to need them. More than that, he’d purchased a new phone, shutting off his old one. He couldn’t risk being tracked, and Luka kept trying to contact him. A male could only resist temptation for so long. This needed to be a clean break. The only thing he couldn’t control was the bond between the three of them, and wasn’t that ironic? The thing was broken, and he was both grateful and irritated by that. It was a double-edged sword. He wanted to know if they were all right, but he needed to let them both go. He’d entrusted her to Luka, and he couldn’t interfere with that. Not anymore. Besides, they should be long gone from the realm by now. It’d been two weeks. It was the last thing he’d asked of Luka.
But now he was ready to track down Axel in the Underground. He needed to fill his brother in on what was happening, and honestly, he wanted to be with the only two people he considered family with Luka and Tessa gone. If their world was going to end and he was going to meet Arius, he wanted the remaining time to be spent with them. So he’d watched Arius House from afar for the past several days, making sure his father hadn’t returned. Once he was certain only the staff remained, he’d gone in under the cover of night.
