Page 269 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“No!” Dagian roared, lunging for her, but Rordan’s power wrapped around him too, suspending him in the air as Sasha screamed. His light twisted and coiled, taking the shape of a snake that wound around her before sinking fangs of pure power into her throat.
Her screams stopped, and the world was quiet save for the sound of Dagian being dropped back to the ground. Rordanhad subdued his son with scarcely any effort, and Dagian was powerful.
“Sasha!” he cried, crawling to her still body. “No! No, no, no!”
“And then there’syou,” Rordan said, his eyes sliding to Tessa and ignoring his son’s broken cries.
Tessa’s fury was palpable as she took a single step forward. “How incrediblyweakof you to pick a fight with someone you know cannot hold their own.”
“I am anything but weak, child,” he replied too calmly. “But you? We all know your weaknesses now, don’t we?”
“No!” she cried, and it took a second for Luka to realize what was happening. Rordan’s power moved too fast, and Luka didn’t know how he did that. But a wave of swirling golden mist was blinding them, as if the sun itself was laying siege, and Luka was being thrown back, flying through the air.
But not because of Rordan’s power.
It was the impact of Tessa’s magic colliding with it.
Luka hit the ground hard, banishing his wings a moment before impact. He felt the skin on his back peel open as he skidded across the ground, but he was scrambling back to his feet in the next breath.
“By the gods,” someone muttered. Maybe Razik?
Because Tessa’s chaos was arcing over everyone like a dome while Rordan’s light slid along it, looking for any cracks to gain entrance. Seraphs pelted that dome with magical attacks. Tessa’s hands were raised in front of her, power flowing and racing, reinforcing. In truth, Rordan had been stupid for waiting until now to attack. She’d been feeding her magic for hours. If he was going to be part of this, he should have been here from the beginning, when she was at her weakest.
Theon was running, clearly having been thrown as far as Luka had.
Tessa, draw from me! Do it, tempest!he ordered down the bond.
Luka was shoving people out of his way as he took long strides back to her too, and then he stumbled as there was a yank on his power. Because Theon was drained, and she was taking from him, forcing Theon to draw from him as his Guardian.
“Shit,” he muttered, finally reaching his side. “This can’t last forever.”
“I know, but it will give us a little time to…try to think of something,” Theon answered, looking around as if he’d find the answer somewhere.
They stood back, not wanting to get too close to her and be a distraction. Her features were twisted in concentration, and her power had her off the ground, so at least she wasn’t having to hold herself up.
“Where the fuck is Xan?”
Luka turned at the growl from Razik, and he dragged a hand down his face. “I don’t know.”
“He just fucks off in the middle of a godsdamn battle?” Razik demanded, Eliza looking just as furious at his side. Beside them was Dagian, holding Sasha’s body to his chest.
“He is going to come back to a massacre,” Razik snarled.
“Tessa is stronger than Rordan,” Theon bit back.
“Until her power gives out. Then we’re all fucked, even if Rordan’s gives out too. They have more forces. He’s draining her on purpose, and then we will be overwhelmed because he fucking abandoned us. Not that we should be surprised. It’s what he does,” the male sneered.
Even Luka had to admit this looked pretty fucking bad.
“Let’s just figure out what we’re going to do in the meantime,” Eliza cut in. “Travel out?”
“We need to do that now. We’re all drained,” Luka said. “We can’t afford to lose any more power and risk not being able to Travel. And we won’t be able to take everyone.”
“How do you decide who gets left behind?” Theon demanded.
Eliza’s lips were pressed into a thin line. “You just…do. This is war. Not everyone survives.”
“That’s not acceptable,” Theon bit back. “Look around you. They’re still fighting. We can’t just abandon them.”
