Page 72 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
She felt unbalanced.
“Okay,” he said calmly. “Okay, Tessa. Just… Take a breath.”
It was only then she realized her power had surrounded her. An armor between him and her.
“Let’s just take a moment,” he said. “We’ll figure all this out.”
“There is nothing to figure out,” she said, her words cold and void of all the emotions she was feeling. “He doesn’t want us. You don’t want us. The only ones who want us, want to use us.Iwill figure it out. I am not your Ward.”
“But you will be,” he insisted. “We need to figure out how that will work.”
“We do not,” she replied, pushing past him. “I am not going to become your Ward.”
His brow furrowed. “Of course you will.”
“No, I won’t. I saved him for you. Or I’m trying to. But even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t bind myself to someone who doesn’t want me. I would never force you into something you do not want.”
He reached out, trying to grab her elbow to stop her, but then he hissed a curse as her power bit into him. She felt his eyes on her long after she’d disappeared into the depths of the cave, and she kept her magic in place just as long.
A barrier.
A physical blocking as much as an emotional blocking.
It was the only way she was going to survive this. She’d fucked up. She’d hurt him, but she didn’t deserve to be treated like a burden. And she’d meant what she’d said. She wouldn’tforce him into a Guardian bond because he thought it was his duty.
She was more than a duty. She was more than her power. She was more than the blood in her veins and the beings she descended from. She was no longer a pawn in the games of the Legacy, the gods, or the Fates.
Lifting a hand, her power swirled again, this time leaving a gleaming gold dagger in her palm. But it wasn’t just gold. There were silver and black etchings down the blade. Marks and symbols she’d never be able to read but knew what they said.
No, she wasn’t a pawn.
She wasn’t a Source.
She wasn’t a Queen or a Lady or a god.
But she was a reckoning.
She was vengeance.
She was chaos and fury and everything in between.
And even if she could choose it for herself, there was no one left to be her balance.
14
THEON
He’d made it from the Underground to the portal station in Castle Pines in record time, and no one had questioned him when he’d demanded an immediate portal to the Acropolis. He wasn’t sure how to substantiate the claim of the Alpha and Beta, but he figured there was no better place to start. More than that, he wanted to see the Pantheon for himself. If Tessa had really done what the rumors claimed, he wanted to see the devastation with his own eyes.
“Arius Heir,” a portal agent greeted with a small bow the moment he appeared in the Acropolis station.
But this wasn’t his normal greeting. Beyond the agent stood a handful of Celeste sentinels, those that patrolled the Acropolis, but there were more mixed in. A sentinel from each kingdom, save for Arius, stood among them.
“Arius Heir, your presence has been requested by Lord Jove and the Ladies of Devram,” said the Achaz sentinel, taking a step to the front of the company.
Adjusting his shirt cuffs, Theon sent him a dark glower. “You can tell them I decline the request. I do not have time for their frivolity today.”
Several of the sentinels shifted uneasily, but it was none of them who answered. A female voice floated from behind them, the large bodies stepping aside to make a path for her.
