Page 21 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Silver eyes slid to him as if she could hear his thoughts. Her facial expression didn’t change. Her body language remained still. That snake continued to glide around her. He wouldn’t kneel before her, but he did give her the courtesy of being the first to break the stare, dropping his eyes and bowing his head as he would to a Lord or Lady.
Until the goddess said, “Xan, it has been some time.”
Luka’s head snapped back up, looking at his father.
“It has, Serina,” Xan answered.
Serina?
His father was on a first-name basis with her? Not only a first-name basis, but a familial name of endearment?
“Sargon is growing anxious,” Serafina said.
“Understood, my lady.”
What did he understand? He’d been so worried about Tessa and Theon these last weeks, he hadn’t had spare time to sit down and talk with his father about anything. When they did talk, it was all of them trying to convince him they needed to go and stop wasting time. Or rather, it was them trying to tell him he needed to deal with Tessa and convinceherit was time to go.
A few more seconds of tense silence passed before the goddess said, “You all may rise.” Her gaze moved over them again, stopping to his right. “Tristyn Blackheart, your dealingsdo not involve me, but I can still see your deepest desires and dreams. Taika will be interested in this report of events.”
Luka watched the male’s jaw tense, his fingers curling into fists at his sides, but he said nothing. His father was a god. What sort of dealings did the male have with another goddess? This was all getting too messy, and quite frankly, he didn’t care about their dealings or the mysteries of the gods. The only thing he wanted an answer to was what she’d meant by a genesis and why Tessa was asking this of her in the first place.
Tessa was apparently in agreement because the bands of light at her wrists were glowing and snaking up her arms, only now there were flecks of darkness among the light.
“Enough,” Tessa snapped, stepping closer to the mirror once more. “This isn’t a reunion with souls who found their way to a realm you care nothing for. What did you mean ‘to start a genesis?’”
That’s our girl.
Luka thought it before he could stop himself.
Godsdammit.
Serafina refocused on her granddaughter, lifting an arm so the snake could coil around it. “Devram was created millenniums ago,” she said. “Much has happened since that world was cut off from the rest.” Silver eyes scanned the room again. “And much history has been forgotten. If not forgotten, altered, depending on who is telling the tale.”
“Then how am I to believe anything you say?” Tessa demanded, her hands flying to her hair.
He wanted to step forward and stop her, but he hesitated, unsure why. He could say it was because she hadn’t asked for his help. That he was letting her do this on her own unless she asked for him, but he knew that wasn’t the only reason. His dragon knew it too, snarling internally.
She’s not ours,he snapped at the creature in his soul.She betrayed us.
Of course the possessive dragon side of him didn’t care. Once it claimed something, there was really no going back.
Which just made her an even bigger pain in his ass.
“You do not have to believe me,” the goddess was saying to Tessa. “But you summoned me for a reason, so I would gather you will, at the very least, listen to what I have to say.”
The power winding up Tessa’s arms flared again, but then Roan was there, rubbing along her legs, and her fingers sank into his fur. Grounding her. Giving her something to latch onto.
Luka ignored the guilt coiling in his gut.
Serafina’s eyes dipped to the wolf, a small smile lifting on her lips. “One of my son’s own,” she said.
“Roan ismine,” Tessa retorted. “As is Nylah.”
“Because you are of him,” the goddess answered simply.
Luka heard the scoff from Tessa before she said, “Tell me your version of history then, goddess.”
Serafina’s smile morphed into something tight and cold. A smile he’d seen on Tessa’s face more than once. “Careful, child. Family or not, I am still a goddess.”
