Page 70 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Another thing Tessa could relate to.
Razik was back in far less time than it was taking her and Eliza to retrieve the arrows. He placed them into the quiver as Eliza yawned again.
“You need to rest,mai dragocen,” he said, with far more gentleness than he ever showed anyone else.
“I know,” she grumbled. Turning to Tessa, she asked, “Are you ready to head inside?”
“You two go ahead. I’m going to stay out here a little longer,” Tessa answered, Roan reappearing at her side and rubbing along her legs.
“My flames will go out. It will be dark,” Eliza said, her brow furrowing.
Tessa clasped her hands in front of her. “Yes, I’m aware.”
Eliza glanced up at Razik, uncertainty on her features. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave her out here alone, Raz.”
“She’s not alone. The two of you haven’t been alone this entire time, and I do not mean the wolves,” he answered, his eyes darting to the sky.
“Luka is out here,” she said in understanding.
He nodded, his hand dropping to her lower back as he guided her inside. “She’ll be fine.”
Tessa wasn’t sure iffinewas the word to use, but she’d also known Luka had been out there the whole time. With the waning moon, he wasn’t visible against the night sky, but she knew. She always knew when they were near, bond or no bond.
So it was no surprise when a giant dragon appeared moments later, settling down on a ledge above her. His glowing eyes seemed even brighter with Eliza’s fire gone. They were the only thing illuminating the night now.
“Do you want to hear a story?” Tessa called out as she sank to her knees, the cold earth biting through her thin training pants.
He didn’t answer, and she knew he wouldn’t.
“In all things there must be balance,” she started. “Beginnings and endings. Light and dark. Fire and shadows. But in bids for power and answers to challenges, we are never happy. We always want more and more and more. Guardians were created,” she murmured, and she heard him creep closer down the side of the mountain as her voice lowered. This story was more for her anyway. “Maraans were his answer. Hunters were created, and in turn, the Huntresses were brought into existence. And I…”
She picked up an arrow, slicing the arrowhead along her palm before she gripped the bow in blood. She’d wanted to be alone for this, and with Eliza gone, in a sense, she was.
“I am both, aren’t I?”
Luka roared in warning at the same time she recited the words Auryon had told her. Magic rolled out of her. Threads of light and dark. Glowing golds and silvers. Life and death. It all wound around the bow until she felt like it was a piece of her.
Innate.
Intrinsic.
Hers.
“Tessa, just wait,” Luka said, having shifted at some point and landing several feet away. Now he was taking long strides to reach her.
She looked up to find him shirtless, his wings still splayed, and gods, when was the last time she saw him like this? When they spent their time here, forgetting about the world for a few precious hours? But she remembered. Her body remembered. She knew every dip of his abdomen. Knew what his fingers would feel like when they touched her. She remembered when they’d needed to drown in each other because no one else understood. She remembered what it was like to have him look at her with something other than the hard indifference staring back at her now.
“You do not need to be here, Luka,” she said, gracefully rising back to her feet. “I am not your Ward.”
“But you will be,” he countered.
She shook her head as she murmured, “You still don’t see.”
“I see just fine, Tessa,” he replied, snatching up the quiver as she reached to grab an arrow.
“You do?” she asked in relief.
“I see you out here doing something incredibly reck?—”
