Page 273 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Right. It was the only way they could come up with to track down his mother. A Blood Mark that would lead him to a blooded relative.
The others studied the house for a way in while he drew the Mark he’d practiced for days on his forearm. When he finished, they made their way to the side of the house. The front door was obviously out, but there had to be other entrances. Except they couldn’t find a single one. In fact, there wasn’t even a front door.
“He must shadow-walk here,” Theon said.
“So we Travel in?” Tessa asked.
“But you can’t Travel to somewhere you haven’t been.”
“I can’t Travel somewhere I don’t know,” she corrected. “If I look in the windows…”
He didn’t like the idea one bit, but they were wasting time. The longer they fucked around out here, the more likely they were to be caught.
Tessa and Luka crept to the lowest window they could find and peered in. Then they both ducked down in a rush, crawling to another window before making their way back.
“The first window was to your father’s study,” Luka reported. “He’s in there.” His eyes flicked to the Fae. “So are Eviana and the child.”
“My mother first, then them,” Theon said pointedly to the males.
They clearly didn’t like that, but the plan was set. They weren’t changing anything now.
Tessa took Lange and Corbin while Luka grabbed his elbow and Axel’s shoulder, Traveling them inside. They all froze for nearly a minute, releasing a collective breath of relief when no one appeared in the room they’d entered.
“You’re up,” Luka said, looking at Theon, and he concentrated on the Mark.
In the end, it ended up working similarly to the Tracking Mark they had on Tessa. A pull in his soul had them creeping out of the room and up a set of stairs. They ran into no one, not even a servant. He wasn’t entirely surprised by that. His father hadtoo many secrets here to keep a full staff. There was likely only two or three trusted servants here, and they would all be busy with their daily tasks.
Continuing down a long hall, they came to a dead end, only the stone wall to greet them.
“A closet?” Axel asked when he turned to a small door.
But Theon didn’t answer, following the pull of the Mark. Sure enough, they opened the door and found a narrow stairwell, making their way up.
“This can’t be right,” Theon muttered.
They were all crammed onto a small landing. In fact, Corbin and Lange weren’t even able to fit on the landing, still standing on the stairs.
“It’s just a wall,” Axel said.
“I can see that,” he snapped.
But the Mark was still pulling him closer, insistent and warming his soul. As if what he was seeking was just out of reach on the other side.
“It isn’t just a wall,” Tessa breathed, placing both her palms on the stone. “Can’t you feel that?”
Theon and Luka glanced at each other. “No?” Theon said.
“There’s power here,” she whispered, chaos seeping from her palms. “Lots of power.”
“Tessa, you’re going to trigger something,” Luka growled, reaching to grab her.
“Wait,” Theon said, holding up a hand to stop him. “Look.”
There were tiny fissures crackling along the stone. As thin as strands of hair, they raced out from beneath her palms.
“There’s power on the other side,” Tessa hummed, slipping into that eeriness as her power took over. “We want it.”
“Be ready to stop her,” Theon warned.
