Page 280 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Another whimper from Priya, and Eviana knew she was hearing far too much.
“Shh,” she murmured, smoothing a hand down her hair. “You’re safe. I promise, you’re safe. They won’t hurt you.”
“I’ve got it.”
Eviana looked up to find Lange there, reaching for the girl. His hands covered Priya’s where they were clamped over her ears.
“All she can hear now is the sound of the wind,” Lange said.
“You stole everything from me,” Axel was saying, coming around to stand before his father. “And I want to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Valter spat, once again trying to reach for the knives and dagger, but Theon’s magic snapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. “For what? Making you weak enough to give in to bloodlust?”
“For making me strong enough to keep getting back up, even when it feels fucking pointless,” Axel returned, his hands sliding into the pockets of his pants.
Valter scoffed. “You are nothing but a slave to the dark now, vampyre.”
Axel’s lips tilted in his signature malicious smile. “And yet the sun still rises because the dark does not hate the light. It makes it clearer. A balance. Fire and shadows.”
Valter huffed a derisive laugh, dismissing his younger son and turning to Theon. “And you? How else will you fail me today?”
“I won’t fail you,” Theon said, too calmly. Too controlled. “I will return you to your beginnings. Deliver you to your beloved Arius, and you can fall at his feet and proclaim howyoufailedhim.”
And for the first time, Valter stilled, as if only now realizing what his death would mean. Who he would have to face and how that would end.
Eviana blinked as she realized the male had truly thought himself invincible. Then again, all the rulers of the realm did. They were the gods here, forgetting that Devram was the forgotten world of the stars, and in the grand scheme of things, they were minuscule.
Theon strolled forward, pure dominance and power, and he slapped his father’s cheek patronizingly. “BecauseIcontrolyourfate, and I can think of nothing better than letting Arius fall asleep to your screams of agony from the Pits of Torment every. Fucking. Night.”
He stepped back, nothing but hatred on his face as he looked down at his father. “And while I could be the one to end you, because I am, after all, far more powerful than you?—”
Valter snarled, and Eviana knew Theon’s words were hitting harder than any blade embedded in her Master’s flesh.
Theon’s lips tipped up in a knowing smirk. “I have my own vendettas against you, but they’re nothing compared to Axel’s when you went after his wife and child.” He paused, taking a step to the side. “Or Luka’s.”
“Luka?” Valter spat. “That ungrateful bastard. He?—”
But then Valter was bellowing in pain. Eviana couldn’t figure out why until she saw the smoke rising from Valter’s shirt as it slowly burned. A perfect hole right over the top of his chest. And it wasn’t just his shirt that was burning, but his skin. Bone. Muscle. A cavity slowly burning deep into his chest with dragonfire until they could see his heart beating far too fast.
Axel snickered where he stood nearby, having poured himself a glass of scotch. “I truly thought there would be nothing there.”
Theon slapped his father’s cheek again, much harder. “Stay awake, Valter. We’re not done yet.”
“That’s for my father,” Luka snarled, not moving from his place at Tessa’s side. “And for my wife.”
“Your wife?” Valter gasped, wild eyes jumping from him to Tessa to Theon. “Somehow you manage to disappoint me even more, Theon.”
“As if I give a single fuck,” Theon replied casually, taking the glass of liquor Axel passed to him.
“So what now?” Valter spat. “You leave me filleted wide open? Since no one seems to have the balls to carry out their threats? Weak. All of you.”
“Your death is not ours to claim,” Theon said simply, sipping his scotch.
“I suppose it’s the cunt’s you share with the dragon?”
Eviana gasped when Theon shot forward, gripping Valter’s hair and yanking his head back. Valter opened his mouth with a pained groan, and Theon poured his drink down his throat, Valter coughing and gagging.
“I told you not to speak of her again,” Theon snarled, that control gone. “The only one who deserves to claim your death more than me is my mother.”
