Chapter 30 Theon #3
“You assembled quite the greeting party, Theon,” the Achaz Heir said casually, picking up a small knick knack from an end table and examining it as if the sheer amount of power in this room was nothing to him.
“We have an heir in our presence,” Theon replied. “We wouldn’t want him to be offended by the lack of welcome.”
Dagian huffed a dark chuckle. “You always were an arrogant ass. Something my father says is an Arius trait.”
He set the item back down, finally deigning to lock eyes with him. Theon said nothing, holding his stare.
Until that golden gaze slid to Tessa.
“Back where you belong, I see,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back.
“Don’t talk to her,” Theon snapped, stepping between them. “Your business is with me, Dagian.”
He scoffed. “And yet you have a small company here with you. Do you forget that without me, you would have been stopped before you fled with her to begin with? Now I am offended.”
“That proves nothing,” Theon retorted.
“What is he talking about?” Tessa asked, peeking around him before stepping to his side.
“Dagian was there the night Blackheart and I broke you out of the cells. He let us pass without alerting others we were taking you,” Theon explained, a fact that had slipped his mind. It had been utter chaos that day, and Tessa had been lost to the same.
“Why?” she asked, her head tilting as she studied the Achaz Heir.
“Because while you are the catalyst, you are not what will eventually call the Fates to this world for destruction,” Dagian answered, his attention solely on Tessa now.
“Of course she is,” Theon said. “It’s in the Revelation Decree.”
“I said she is the catalyst,” Dagian retorted, still watching. “She is part of it, has started it all, but she is not the thing that will drive the Fates to intervene. Not entirely anyway.”
“You need to tell me exactly what you know, and you need to do it without your fucking eyes on her,” Theon replied, letting his darkness loose to drift around him and her. Dagian only responded by letting some of his own power out. A gold mist to mirror the inky darkness.
Until similar light drifted among the onyx.
Theon clenched his jaw at feeling Tessa’s power mingle with his own. It was euphoric and chaotic and her. He’d missed this, and so had his power, suddenly being pulled in two directions, because it wanted her too.
“Speak,” Theon ground out, forcing himself to stay focused on the Achaz Heir.
“Tessa is not the only imbalance in Devram,” Dagian said, wandering around the room, examining pictures and trinkets.
His Source stayed rooted, but her eyes never left him.
“My father has been…collecting power for a few decades now.” He paused, looking over his shoulder. “Since she came and others followed.”
They all turned, some looking to Xan and others to Brecken.
“Has that one told you what his job is in the realm?” Dagian continued.
“I’m assuming you’re speaking of Brecken,” Theon said.
“I’m certainly not speaking of the dragon. Those are Arius’s pets.”
“Watch it,” Luka snarled, but he wasn’t the only one. Low growls came from Xan and Razik as well.
Dagian only smirked. “Back to the matter at hand. I was sent here with a purpose, but it allowed me to pursue one of my own.”
“Then spit it out,” Theon said.
Dagian sighed dramatically. “Your bloodline really isn’t known for its patience.”
“And yours is?”
He cast him an incredulous look. “Achaz has plans that have been in the works for millenniums, and my father, well… That’s why I’m here. He sent me to make some kind of meaningless bargain, as long as it included a matching ring to the one Luka bartered with.”
Theon glanced at Axel, the ring with a square onyx stone in the center.
His brother clenched his fist. Neither of them had any real attachment to them other than their father had asked where they came from and seemed to covet them himself.
They became a symbol of defiance and camaraderie after Luka found them, but—
“How many are there?” Tessa asked from where she’d been observing at his side.
“Three,” Dagian answered. “Either would do. He’s not picky.”
“But why? What are they for? Certainly not just to lord over them. They do something,” Tessa pushed.
“So clever,” Dagian mocked, and it was Theon’s turn to snarl, echoed by Luka’s low rumble. “Relax,” he sighed. “I wouldn’t be telling you all of this if I were here to betray you.”
“How am I not the only imbalance?” Tessa asked, and then he had to work to control his surprise because her voice was cold and icy. Power and chaos, and he had no idea why until she said, “Why could I not feel you before?”
“What?” Theon demanded, that single word carrying violence.
“Not like that,” Brecken intervened as Luka and Theon both took steps towards the heir. “It’s not a bond of any kind. He is powerful. Tessa can sense that somehow.”
“Power calls to power,” Xan added, speaking for the first time. “Her Chaos is sensing his.”
“But that would mean he has Chaos,” Kat said, her furrowed brow telling Theon she was trying to work this out as frantically as he was.
“All beings with power have Chaos,” Xan said.
“There are beings of Chaos who emerged directly from the Chaos, such as the First gods and goddesses, but Chaos is the undercurrent of all magic. It is Chaos that determines how powerful one’s gifts are.
Legacy are powerful, but that power is diluted by mortal blood.
Fae have traces of Chaos, created to balance the Legacy but never overpower them. ”
“But it could happen,” Razik added. “We’re seeing this in our realm. If two powerful Fae come together, their children could be…”
Xan nodded. “Yes. The Fae are monitored closely in all realms.”
“In our realm, there is contention about powerful Fae joining,” Eliza said.
“For good reason,” Xan replied. “If children came to be, they would be sought from all the realms if they were powerful enough.”
Eliza and Razik shared a look, but Theon didn’t have time to try to decipher it. “Fine. We’ve established why Tessa can…feel Dagian, but how was it hidden?”
“Elowyn is skilled, just like your own Witches,” Dagian said casually, casting a look at Cienna and Gia.
“A tonic then,” Tristyn said, toying with an unlit roll of lull-leaf in his hand.
Dagian nodded. “But returning to your previous question,” he said, his attention back on Tessa. “You are not the only imbalance because, like I said, my father has been collecting power. Power that one has been bringing to him.”
He jerked his chin at Brecken, and they all turned to the seraph. Well, most of them. Luka kept his attention fixed on Dagian, not willing to give him any chance to catch them off guard.
“Brecken?” Tessa asked, her power lingering around her as she held his gaze.
“You knew this, Tessa,” he answered solemnly. “You knew I was tracking down powerful Fae. Part of that was a search for you for a while, but after…”
“You knew this? That Rordan was taking their power?”
He nodded. “I saved as many as I could,” he said with a pointed look at Katya.
Kat started, struggling to sit up straighter. “What do you mean, you saved me?”
“I wasn’t supposed to take you to the Celeste Estate,” he answered. “I was supposed to take you to Faven. Same with Corbin and Lange.”
“Why didn’t Rordan just come take them?” Tessa asked, drifting closer. It took everything in Theon not to reach out and tug her back. Tuck her behind him and protect her, but he couldn’t protect her from truth.
“Once they entered the Celeste Estate and were processed as a completed transfer, it would have been too noticeable to move them again so soon,” Brecken answered.
“If they disappeared during transport, it was easier to cover up. There were other dangers, but that one, at least, was stopped. And then there was you. He wouldn’t risk revealing himself before it was time. You became their safeguard.”
“How is he taking their magic?” Razik cut in, studying Dagian. “The only way that can be done in our realm is if a goddess does it.”
“Only a being of Chaos can transfer magic from one to another,” Xan said. “The process is agonizing for the one losing their power, but if not willingly given, they do not survive.”
“But the gods cannot come here,” Axel interjected.
“There are other beings of Chaos,” Theon answered, his attention back on Dagian. “Aren’t you a being of Chaos, Xan? The son of a god?”
Xan shook his head. “My mother was mortal. As we discussed, that dilutes the power. To transfer magic, especially from someone unwilling… That would take a great deal of Chaos. A god or goddess. A Fate. A World Walker or a—”
“Seraph,” Tessa said. “A seraph is a being of Chaos.”
“Not all of them,” Xan said. “Just like not all dragons are beings of Chaos. They didn’t all emerge from the Chaos behind the gods, nor were they created from it like the Lessers.”
“Does it really matter how he is doing it?” Dagian interrupted.
“What matters is that he is. He is powerful. He’s taken so much power, he cannot be taken down by the other Ladies.
Or a Lord. Even Tessa will find it a challenge.
She might be more powerful, but defeating my father will drain her to the brink of death. She might not survive it.”
“Then we find another way,” Theon said immediately. There was no way in all the realms he’d let Tessa get to that point.
A dark grin lifted on Dagian’s lips. “I’m glad you say that,” he answered. “Because that brings me to my proposal. I will help you, but I require something in return.”
“What is it?” Theon asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“When this is over, my life is spared, along with Sasha’s. I want my family’s home in Coveyll.”
“You can have whatever home you like,” Theon said. “If Rordan is out of the picture, you will be the Achaz Lord.”
“I don’t want it. I never have. More than that, for this to work, I won’t be able to be the Achaz Lord anymore.”
“And why, pray tell, is that?” Theon drawled, waiting for the catch.
“Because I’m offering you my power willingly,” Dagian answered. “It won’t be enough, but it will be a start.”
The entire room fell silent as shock rippled through Theon. Surely he couldn’t have heard the male correctly.
“You can’t just give him your power,” Tessa blurted.
“But I can,” Dagian said. “I will. To stop my father.
If he continues, he will not only call the Fates here, but the gods.
They will not like him being as powerful as they are, and if the gods come here, Devram will fall.
All accords will be broken, and the Fates will destroy it all to wipe the sins from the stars. None will be left standing.
“So I want to live peacefully in Coveyll on the shores of the Asning Sea,” he continued, naming the city on an island in the Southern Achaz Kingdom. “I will give you my magic willingly in exchange. I will help and give any information I can.”
“Anything else?” Theon asked tightly.
“Yes,” Dagian said, his chin lifting a little more. “My mother will be left out of this.”
Theon didn’t care about Laila, Rordan’s Match. She rarely attended any events, only accompanying Rordan when tradition demanded it.
“Fine,” Theon said, pulling a dagger from a swirl of darkness. He sliced his palm. “It’s an accord.”
Dagian did the same, their palms meeting and the familiar tingle of a Bargain Mark marring his skin just below his shoulder blade.
“Now tell us how to transfer this power,” Theon said. He would do this. Anything to protect his kingdom, his people, those he loved. Anything to protect what was his.
“You need to find a being of Chaos to do the power transfer,” Dagian said again, wandering over to the alcohol bar and pouring a drink.
“Brecken?” Tessa asked, glancing at her friend.
He shook his head. “I’m not that, Tessa. Like Xan said, we weren’t born of Chaos.”
“Bring us whoever is helping your father,” Theon said tightly to Dagian.
Dagian clicked his tongue. “We just agreed not to involve her,” he replied, taking a drink.
“You said you would help in whatever way you could,” Theon argued. “We just agreed to it.”
“And we agreed not to involve her,” Dagian said calmly, passing his glass to Sasha. She took her own sip, still watching them all. Sasha, who was Fae. Or perhaps had some Legacy blood, but she wasn’t a being of Chaos, and the only other person involved in the bargain was—
“Your mother?” Theon asked in disbelief. “That’s not possible.”
“Yet here I stand,” Dagian said.
“Bullshit,” Axel interjected. “Your mother isn’t a goddess or a Fate.”
“No, but she is seraph,” Dagian said, something fierce and violent filling his features.
He took the glass back from Sasha, taking another drink as soft, feathered wings of golden mist appeared at his back.
“One of the original angels from the Chaos. Achaz sent her here to help my father, and she is to be left out of this as agreed to.”
“Then how the fuck am I supposed to take your power?” Theon demanded.
“That’s your problem, but I would start with Chaos herself,” he answered, tipping his glass towards Tessa.
“I don’t know how to do that,” she said simply. “And there is no one here to teach me unless Xan knows.”
“I do not,” the male answered, but when Theon turned to look at him, even he could tell there was something he wasn’t saying.
“But?” Theon pressed.
Xan sighed, swiping a hand down his face. “The gods can’t come here, and the Fates act first, examine facts later. Achaz keeps the original seraphs under strict security, and the dragons are in hiding.”
“Scarlett could come,” Eliza said tentatively. “She’d have to ask her mother how, but she could come.”
Xan nodded as best he could around his collar, but Cienna interjected. “She cannot. There is a reason she sent you two and did not return herself.”
“What other option is there, then?” Eliza asked. “Because from what I can tell, we’re fucked.”
“There is another,” Cienna said, locking eyes with Xan.
“That would be disastrous,” he said, shaking his head this time. “That would be—”
“Our only option,” Theon cut in.
“We don’t even know if Dagian’s power will be enough. He said himself it likely wouldn't be,” the dragon argued. “Doing this without certainty of the outcome is foolish.”
“Let me worry about that. Let me figure out how to make this foolproof, but if I can, what are we bringing here and how?”
“The how we can figure out, but the what…” He trailed off, swiping his hand down his face again. “The what is Fury.” Slowly, he slid his sapphire eyes to Tessa. “The what is your mother.”