Page 44 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Luka didn’t know how to answer that. Leaving is what would keep Tessa safest. It was what he should want, but…
He wasn’t upset. He should be, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t even entirely sure he would have tried to talk her out of it. If he was upset about anything, it was that she hadn’t included him in her plan. Irony at its absolute finest.
“Can I speak plainly?” his father asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
He glanced at the sofa to find Razik gone. The only reason he nodded was because they were alone. He had a feeling this wasn’t a conversation he wanted anyone else around for.
“An inevitable bond is not forced, Luka,” Xan said. “There is a pull you both feel. It is overwhelming, but it is not like a twin flame bond. It is not something destined by the Fates. It is as wild and untamed as the Chaos it comes from, and it only appears when two souls need it most. But in the end, it is still a choice.”
“And you think I would be foolish not to choose it,” Luka said bitterly. “That I would be throwing away something others will only ever long for.”
“You put words in my mouth, son,” Xan said, pushing off the counter. He paused, gripping Luka’s shoulder and squeezing. “I think you have experienced much loneliness, loss, and torment in your short years, and it has shaped how you view the world and what you value. And I think the hardest part of all of this for you is that you know she is the same. A mirror of what you are. The hardest part for you is that if you fault her, you must also fault yourself.” He squeezed his shoulder once more before releasing him. “You still care, and that eats away at you. You feel out of control, drawn to something you don’t want to want, but torn between what you believe is your duty. So I will say this: remember the bond only comes to be when two souls need it most. It is a bond born of Chaos.”
He left Luka standing in the kitchen, crossing the room and making his way to the passage that would lead to the cave entrance. But he paused before he disappeared from view, turning back to Luka once more.
“For what it’s worth, she still claims you,” he said. “In the only way she knows how.”
“She doesn’t know what it means to claim someone,” Luka retorted scathingly.
Xan’s only answer was a resigned nod that made a sense of shame crawl up Luka’s spine. He could tell his father was disappointed, but he didn’t understand. He let Razik hold his grudge, but faulted Luka forthis?
With a growl of frustration, he stalked towards his room. He needed to fly. He needed to breathe. He needed to talk to his godsdamn best friend.
And he needed to get away from the temptress that had upended his entire world.
She wasn’t the one for this. Just like he’d said all along.
9
TESSA
“Idon’t need you, Keeper,” Tessa said as she followed Tristyn farther down the passageway.
“Of course you don’t,” Tris replied over his shoulder with a smirk. “You don’t need anyone, right, wild fury?”
She frowned at his words, pausing for a moment, and her fingers flexed against the wall, her light winding around the digits like fine threads.
“That’s not what I said,” she finally retorted, resuming her pace. She wasn’t trying to keep up with Tristyn, but she couldn’t…stay still. There was too much…
There was justtoo much.
It thrummed in her veins, the power constantly seeking more, and with so many powerful beings around her all the time now, it took every piece of her to keep it at bay. In retaliation, it had sunk its claws deeper into her, dragging her down and holding her in this perpetual place of feeling like she was going to crawl out of her skin. Of wanting more and pushing them away. Of needing but not being able to have. Of knowing eventually she wouldn’t be able to keep it confined. Not without a balance.
Knowing that in the end, the prophecy about her would come true, and Chaos would reign.
Neither of them spoke again as he continued to lead her along. Xan always took her outside, which she appreciated, but Tristyn was leading her deeper into Luka’s cave system. She hadn’t ventured beyond the spaces he’d shown her— the main living space and the guest rooms. There were far more rooms and passages, but she’d already shattered his trust in her. She wouldn’t disrespect him further by intruding on his space when he clearly didn’t want her here in the first place.
A duty.
A burden.
A constant reminder of betrayal and what she’d stolen from him.
That was all she was to him now, and in the end, she wouldn’t let him bind himself to her to become her Guardian. Xan had told her how that bond worked and how it was created. She’d refuse and give him the freedom from her he so desperately craved.
Despite Tristyn leading her deeper into the mountains, the path was sloping upwards rather than down. Somehow being here, it didn’t bother her quite as much that they were underground. She still longed to see the sky though, and as far as she could tell, there were only two ways into the cave. There was the main entrance and a secluded balcony off Luka’s room.
“Pick one,” Tristyn said, coming to a stop with two rooms on either side of the hall. Neither had a door, and she came up beside the male and peered into them.
