Page 219 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
No, Theon said firmly down the bond.We’re not doing that, Tessa. We all played a part in this.
“Wait a minute,” Tessa said. “None of this makes sense. How did Theon and Axel get two of the rings?”
“I found them,” Luka said. “Gave them each one.”
“You justfoundthese two rings?”
Luka hesitated, as if debating his answer.
“He stole them,” Xan answered, fighting a small smile, clearly proud of his son for this.
Tessa looked at Luka expectantly.
“I found them someplace I wasn’t supposed to be. Valter found me, but I’d heard him coming and hid them. He demanded to know where they were, and I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. I took a beating for it too, but in revenge, I gave them to Theon and Axel. We later discovered they can’t be forcefully taken. Only found or willingly given,” Luka said.
“Which is how you still have yours. Why Rordan couldn’t take it,” Tessa said, turning back to Xan.
He nodded. “But these three have a companion. Temural altered them with the help of Anala and Taika. They will open a portal, yes, but they will only portal to each other.”
“Not necessarily a place, but a person,” Eliza said in realization, but Tessa was still holding Xan’s stare.
A person.
“She has it, doesn’t she,” Tessa said, the words void of any emotion.
“She does,” Xan confirmed. “Temural and Akira’s story is…dark. They knew Achaz would discover them at some point, so Temural hunted down a set of portal keys with his Trackers and Huntresses. When they finally found one and altered it, he gave half to Akira and he kept half. So he could always find her and get to her. But then there was you…”
She could feel everyone’s eyes on her now, and she didn’t know what to do with herself.
“Temural sent me to Akira because he couldn’t get to her. Another story for another time. You were born, and she sent me here with you to keep you hidden until you came into your power. The rings were supposed to take us back to her when the time came. But when things went so wrong upon our arrival…”He shifted where he stood. “The portal key was split in the enchantment. I found the three pieces and had them forged into rings. Cienna put an enchantment on them that only my blood could stumble upon them by accident, which is how Luka found them.”
“And I have to be the one to use it because?” Tessa asked, her arms wrapped around herself tightly.
“Because the key was altered to bring them to each other, but it does so by blood. It’s all Blood Magic, Tessalyn, and you are both of them. Wild and Fury.”
There was too much. She was feeling too much. And she had questions, but she didn’t want an audience for them.
“I’d like to speak with Xan alone,” she finally said, keeping her eyes fixed on the male.
“Tessa, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Theon hedged.
“I wasn’t asking, Theon,” she said quietly.
There were a few seconds of tense silence before Theon said, “Yeah, all right.” Everyone started making their way to the kitchen, but Theon stopped beside her, tilting her face up to his. “You call us if you need us.”
When it was just her and Xan, she dropped her hands to her sides. Her power was floating around her, breathing and stretching, and she curled her fingers into her palms when she said, “No riddles and no half-truths. Just answers.”
Xan gave her a soft smile. “I couldn’t tell you things when you were wavering on your loyalties, Tessa. Your father is still my Ward, and I guard what is his as if it were my own.”
“And yet you left her in another realm,” Tessa countered.
“It is not only Akira I guard.”
Tessa scoffed, crossing her arms once more as her eyes bounced around the room. “So she was the one who ultimately sent me here?”
“To keep you safe and hidden,” he replied, leaning back on the arm of the sofa. He braced himself on his hands, crossing his ankles.
“Why not send me to Temural?”
