Page 149 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Just say it,” Corbin said tightly.
“Your father was a Water Fae, but your mother was a Shifter. The Shifter part shouldn’t be a surprise considering what you know, but with the Shifters confined to the Underground, it was unexpected,” she said. “He was still debating how he wanted to use you.”
The silence that settled was deafening, but it was fine. Let them digest all that new information. The quiet didn’t stay for long though.
“While that information is…enlightening,” Corbin said, “it still doesn’t explain where we’re going and what we’re doing.”
“We’re going to the Serafina Estate,” she said simply.
“Why?” Lange asked.
But Corbin had the answer. Observant, introspective Corbin, who was always watching her with that penetrating stare.
“She has a child there,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
“Is that true?” Lange demanded. “You have a child? That’s what this is all about?”
She could hear the disbelief in his voice, and she couldn’t blame him. Imagine her, the cold-hearted bitch who didn’t care about them and constantly told them not to trust her, as a mother. It was preposterous, and she agreed.
“She is to be my replacement,” Eviana said quietly. “Valter is simply waiting until she is of age. Then I will meet my end like my predecessor, and he will take her. Break her. Make her what I am. I can’t…”
She trailed off, looking up at the sound of rustling and footsteps. Lange had pushed to his feet, rounding the fire before dropping next to her. Then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest, and she stiffened, not knowing what was happening or why he was touching her. Because the only touches she’d known for so long were greedy ones.
And still Lange held her to him when he asked softly, “Do you know her name?”
“Priya.” And why did she practically choke on the name? Why were her cheeks wet? Why was she leaning into him and letting him gently rock her back and forth? Why was her chest heaving?
Corbin had moved at some point as well, coming to sit next to them. He reached over every once in a while, swiping tears away from her face.
“I don’t know where I’ll take her,” she whispered into Lange’s shirt, unsure when she’d fisted the fabric in her hands. “But she can’t end up like me. I’m a terrible, unfeeling monster, but she doesn’t deserve that.”
“You’re not a monster,bellana,” Lange said gently.
“I am,” she said. “And I’m okay with that. Because I’ll be a monster for her so she doesn’t have to become one herself.”
“Then we’ll become monsters too,” he replied, a chaste press of lips brushing the crown of her head.
She should tell them no. They were too innocent to become what she was. Should tell them she couldn’t stomach the idea of plunging a dagger into their chests like she’d done for Lev to put them out of their misery when they could no longer live with themselves.
But she’d tell them that later because this touch was comforting, and she didn’t know it could be like that. She didn’t know she could be touched and held and not have to give anything in return.
She didn’t deserve what they were offering her, but in the end, she was still a monster. If they wanted to accompany her into death, she wasn’t going to stop them.
29
LUKA
Luka had woken up, finding the room empty other than Tessa. Her steady breathing was the only sound filling the space. The blanket draped over her was no doubt courtesy of Theon, and for her to be sleeping that deeply, Theon hadn’t left the room all that long ago either. She’d looked different. Rested. Unharmed.
Unlike him.
His entire body ached, even if all of his wounds were mostly healed. He felt like he’d fallen out of the sky, and his wings were still tender. He could banish them, but he hadn’t. Not yet. He wasn’t doing anything to them until he talked to Cienna, just to make sure he didn’t fuck something up.
Everything felt off yet somehow right, and he couldn’t explain it. Someone else would need to explain it to him because he didn’t know how long he’d been sleeping, or how they’d ended up at the Underground Penthouse, or what was going on in the realm. The last thing he remembered was Tessa’s tearstained face before his world had gone dark. He’d expected to wake up in the After, not the Underground.
So he’d let Tessa sleep and made his way to the bathroom, taking a long shower. He let the warm water soothe aching muscles, and when he was done washing, he just stood in the spray. He shouldn’t have survived, yet here he was.
When he’d woken, he’d immediately recognized the room as Theon’s, and with no clothing in there, he went across the hall with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Finding training pants, he didn’t bother with a shirt. Opening the door to go back across the hall, he stopped short, finding Theon leaning against the opposite wall, waiting for him. Neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to when they’d spent nearly every day together their entire lives. Then Theon reeled him in, careful of his wings.
