Page 136 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
She nodded, turning back to Luka, but she heard Kat’s whispered, “Axel, stop.”
“I don’t like her here. You know that,” he replied.
She couldn’t blame him. He’d tried to come to her for help, and she’d sent him on his way with only promises of death. Of course he didn’t want her here when he had a child involved. At least, she assumed the child in Kat’s belly was his. With the depravity of Devram, she couldn’t rule anything out.
“One thing at a time, Tessa,” Theon said softly, leaning down to speak in her ear. “Luka first. Then we’ll worry about Axel.”
She nodded again, but she would leave if that was what Axel wanted. As soon as Luka was well enough, she would go.
Lifting a hand, her fingers wound into her hair. Her power was free, pacing in her soul, yet somehow content. It wasonly then she realized Theon’s darkness was drifting around her, brushing along her skin and soothing her restless magic. Calming her anxious soul.
“You are truly all right?” she asked him, still watching as Cienna examined a wing and Tristyn’s hands hovered over a wound on Luka’s side.
“Feeling him…” he started, and she felt him shudder against her. “It was an agony I didn’t think I would survive, but that faded and continues to do so with each passing minute.”
“You weren’t hit by anything?”
“I was higher up,” Theon said. “The others said they Traveled out, but I couldn’t… I watched the two of you fall and knew I wouldn’t be fast enough to do anything.”
“Do we know what happened?”
“You destroyed a mirror gate.”
They both turned at the sound of Brecken’s voice. He had a few battle wounds himself, but he was already healing. His wings were gone, and he stood off to the side, away from everyone else. As though he wasn’t sure where he belonged. Something she thoroughly understood.
“What do you mean I destroyed a mirror gate?” Tessa asked.
“Each kingdom has a gateway into the realm. The Celeste Kingdom’s was in Lake Moonmist. There is a tunnel that leads to a chamber beneath the lake. Or there was,” he explained. “When you threw that cuff into it, the power it had absorbed from you sought out the power from the mirror gate.”
No one spoke, all of them falling silent as Cienna continued to instruct Tristyn and Gia.
Her plan had always been to destroy a mirror gate. It was why she’d sent a note to Dex and let him take her. Granted, she’d expected to be taken to the Achaz Kingdom. She’d had an idea of where to look for the mirror gate there, but when she’d found herself at the Celeste Estate, she’d thought her planshad been thwarted. She’d just assumed the mirror gate was in Arobell where Lady Candra resided. She’d assumed the ruling Lords and Ladies would keep their mirror gates close, but that was apparently not the case.
Tessa broke the silence, trying to keep her mind busy because why was this taking so long? There werethreeWitches working on him. They had gifts of healing. All three of them. It shouldn’t take this long.
“Do you know where the other gates are?” she asked, Theon’s fingers toying with the ends of her hair. Simple touches to keep her grounded.
“I’ve been searching. When I would go to find Fae for Dex, I would search while I was gone,” Brecken answered.
Tessa nodded, her breath stalling as Cienna stood and came toward them, features tight and emotionless as always.
“He’ll live,” she said. “But you already know that.”
“I didn’t,” Tessa retorted, a breath whooshing out at the words ‘he’ll live.’
“You must have,” Cienna replied, the words short and harsh. “He lives because of you.”
“I didn’t… I don’t know what I did,” she managed to stammer. “But if it saved him, then I don’t regret it.”
“There’s always a cost, and you are playing with life and death.”
“Iamlife and death,” she said, an eeriness settling over the room as her power flared.
Cienna took a small step back, but that was the only sign of unease she let show. “You say you are prepared for the cost, but there are things far worse than death, daughter of wild and fury. Best you remember that in the coming days.”
27
AXEL
