Page 251 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Not personally,” he answered slowly. “I cannot interfere with the Fates.”
“Back to the godsdamn Fates,” Tessa muttered.
“Okay, so we save the killing for later,” Axel said. “We need a place to hold her. Or ideas on how to do that.”
“Well, the ideal place would be the cells beneath the Pantheon, but…” Tristyn trailed off.
“Yes, yes, they were destroyed,” Tessa sighed, but then she froze. “But were they?”
“You did it, Tessa,” Luka said flatly.
“Yes, I destroyed the mirror and the Pantheon, but can’t we still keep herbeneaththe Pantheon? It’s still the center of the continent. It’s still a nexus,” she insisted.
“What do you know of nexuses?” Theon cut in.
She waved him off. “Not now, Theon. That would work, right, Tris?”
His russet eyes were studying her as he said, “I suppose, but you’d have to get her there.”
“So we Travel.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know what it’s like under there,” Tristyn argued. “If it’s just rock and rubble and nowhere to stand or move or breathe, what are you going to do?”
“Do you have a better idea?” Tessa shot back.
Tristyn rolled his lips. “No. Your idea is actually brilliant if we can pull it off.”
“You go make sure a cell is ready, and I’ll go with them to get her,” Tessa said.
“Not without us,” Theon interjected again.
She flicked her eyes to him once before glancing at Luka. “You two have babysitting duty with someone other than me tonight.”
“No, Tessa,” Luka said tightly.
“I’m not sure when you two decided I needed your permission to do anything,” she said casually, shuffling papers around and pulling out a book from the bottom of the stacks.
“Since you and Blackheart got yourselves in trouble. Do you need a reminder of the cost of that night?” Luka retorted.
Her head whipped to him, eyes flashing. “This is different, and you know it. You know where I’ll be, and they have been planning this. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment choice, and I can call you through the bond if we need help.”
Axel smirked, leaning against the side of the sofa and watching this little power struggle play out.
“Tessa, you’re the Arius Lady,” Theon started, clearly trying another angle.
“Correct,” she said, flipping the pages of the book.
“You can’t just?—”
“I believe because I am the Arius Lady, Icanjust,” she interrupted. “I couldjustuse your own magic to keep you here while I go help stop the person trying to kidnap your nephew, but I’m not. I’mtellingyou so you can be prepared if anything goes wrong.”
“I call that growth,” Axel piped in.
“Shut up, Axel,” Theon grumbled, shifting Maddox onto his shoulder.
“How about if Theon stays with Maddox, and I go with,” Luka tried.
Tessa shrugged. “This isn’t my mission. Take it up with them.”
