Chapter 32 Tessa
TESSA
“The day is finally here,” Achaz said from a throne at the front of a great hall. Two others sat in thrones on either side of him. Tessa didn’t know who they were. She didn’t even know where she was.
Turning in her seat in the front row, she found floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a sprawling city. It reminded her of the skyscrapers and the hustle-and-bustle of Rockmoor, but this wasn’t Arius Kingdom. This wasn’t even Devram. There were seraphs here, flying among the clouds.
She shifted, turning back to face the front.
Others stood on either side of the dais.
She scanned them, finding Dexter, his hands clasped behind his back and standing at attention.
Down the line was another seraph she recognized.
What had his name been? Illithor? And next to him stood another who looked similar.
She was certain she’d seen him before too, along with the female that stood beside him.
Her honey-colored eyes were locked on Tessa, a madness to them she resonated with.
While the seraphs were all in armor of some sort, she was all in black, from her boots to the hood over her head, an ashy-blonde braid snaking out of it.
The hood darkened her features, and she even wore gloves, as though she was a shadow herself.
“We have almost eradicated the last of the threats,” Achaz went on. “We have nearly restored balance to the realms, save for one final task.” Golden eyes flashed to another. “Bring them.”
Then Arius and Serafina were being herded to the front of the room, gasps of surprise mixed with sharp mutters of disapproval. Arius took a step in front of Serafina as though to shield her, but she stepped to his side once more. Stronger together than separate.
“This is a waste of everyone’s time, Achaz,” Arius drawled, clearly not phased by whatever was happening. “You cannot kill us. Killing a being that emerged from the Chaos requires more than magic and pretty words.”
“Do not mock me, Arius,” Achaz hissed, lightning flaring from his palms and skittering across the floor.
Instinctively, Tessa lifted her feet to avoid the shock, but she still felt it faintly through her chair.
“You think I do not know what is required to kill you both? You think I have not spent centuries planning precisely how to deal with your betrayal?” Achaz spat, gripping the arms of his throne.
“One remains, and I have found it. Taken there millenniums ago by betrayal just as deep. Thanks to our granddaughter,” his eyes flashed to Tessa, and she shrank back in her chair.
What did she have to do with any of this?
“Mirror gates still remain in Devram, and now that the last of a bloodline has fallen there, we can finally venture into that realm. I will find the last of the Requiem Swords. Then I will return and finally end this.”
“You will not succeed, Achaz,” Serafina said, lifting her chin.
Power hummed off her. Or maybe that was Achaz. Both? Either way, Tessa’s power was growing restless with all the power in this room.
“What makes you think I will fail?” Achaz sneered.
“Your dreams are full of corruption and deceit,” she answered, the silver of her dress glimmering in the low lighting.
“While others dream of compassion and harmony.” She spun then, her skirt flaring, and she looked out over everyone in attendance.
“And as long as those dreams live on, there is hope. Not until dreams die is hope lost.”
“Then I shall kill you last,” Achaz sneered, pushing to his feet. “You speak of compassion and harmony when your very actions caused this in the first place.”
“You forgot our purpose long ago,” Arius interjected. “In all things there must be balance. We cannot take more.”
“We are beginnings and endings!” Achaz bellowed. “We are the fucking balance.”
Arius shook his head. “This is an Everlasting War, Achaz.”
“It will be done with your own ending,” Achaz replied coldly.
Arius turned his back on him then, emerald eyes locking onto Tessa. “Or a new beginning.”
She gasped as she sat up, light and dark swirling around her as she choked down gulps of air. Sweat covered her, and her heart was beating far too fast.
“Easy, baby girl,” Luka said from her right, rough fingertips brushing down her back. “We’ve been trying to wake you for the last five minutes.”
Another hand cupped her chin, gently turning her head to meet emerald eyes.
Emerald eyes just like Arius’s.
“You’re okay, Tessa,” Theon said quietly, his thumb brushing along her skin. “It was a vision.”
His darkness was out too, hovering around him, and she glanced over shoulder to find Luka’s black flames doing the same.
“We were trying to reach you any way we could,” Theon explained, drawing her focus back to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head, pushing hair out of her face with a trembling hand. “I just want to shower. Rinse off,” she said, pushing away from both of them to climb off the bed.
“Tessa,” Theon called after her, but she waved them off, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Leaning against it, she let her head fall back, her eyes closing.
The mirror gates.
Those fucking mirror gates.
There was something here that Achaz needed, and he would use the mirror gates to come here and find it.
All the more reason to destroy them. She could destroy them all, save for one.
Those who wanted to leave, return home, could go, and then she’d destroy that one too.
The Fates wouldn’t be able to come here, and neither would the gods.
It would solve all their problems. She could do this. This was her destiny. Her purpose.
Lifting a hand, Chaos swirled, carrying a message to the only one who could likely help her.
It was fifteen minutes later when she stepped from the shower and a message returned. She plucked it out of the swirl of magic, reading the note:
Let’s start with the Falein Estate. Tomorrow night. Meet in the kitchen when your bodyguards have fallen asleep.
Setting the note in the drawer with her things, she pulled a brush through her hair before returning to the bedroom. She wasn’t surprised to find them both still awake, two sets of eyes watching her warily.
“What did you see, Tessa?” Luka asked as Theon pressed a bottle of water into her hand.
“Nothing important,” she answered before she took several long swallows and replaced the cap.
“I find that hard to believe. You were trapped in that vision. Has that happened before?” Luka pressed.
She pursed her lips because the answer was no. She’d never been trapped in a vision.
Except she had.
During assessments. But this wasn’t that. This was just her power being uncontrollable.
“Let’s go back to bed. We can discuss this more in the morning,” Theon said, his hand landing on the small of her back. He urged her forward, and she crawled back beneath the blankets.
Luka was immediately there, pulling her into him, his palm hot even through the thin material of the shirt she wore.
Theon settled in behind her, his arm draping over her waist and resting on her hip.
Normally this would settle her soul but not tonight.
Tonight her power was hungry and wanting.
Tonight she craved Chaos, and tomorrow she would have it.
She crept down the stairs, her bare feet light on each step.
It had taken Theon and Luka forever to fall asleep tonight, mostly because they were becoming more insistent about her telling them of her vision the night before.
But they didn’t need to be involved. She’d destroyed two mirrors now, and both times had been catastrophic.
Last time, Luka had nearly died. She’d go in, destroy the mirror, and Travel back.
She’d be back in bed before sunrise, and if they discovered she was gone…
She’d deal with that later.
She was under no obligation to report her actions to them. They didn’t own her. No one did.
The faint glow of the light they always left on over the kitchen sink guided her to the room, and she found Brecken there, leaning against the counter.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, pausing in the doorway.
“I asked him to come with us, wild fury,” Tristyn said, coming up behind her.
He brushed past her, dressed completely in black like she was.
He didn’t have any weapons strapped to him, but she was sure he was armed.
She had one of her gold daggers strapped to a thigh, while a black one with carvings etched into the blade adorned the other.
“You sure you don’t want to involve St. Orcas and Mors? ”
Tessa nodded. She didn’t want them anywhere near this. They’d done enough. Luka was barely recovered, only able to banish his wings again starting a few days ago, and Theon was the main reason she was destroying all the mirrors to begin with.
“You know where it is, right? It should be a quick trip,” she answered.
“I don’t know exactly where it is,” Tris admitted. “That’s where he comes in.”
He inclined his head to Brecken, and Tessa’s brows rose in surprise. “You know where the mirror gates are?”
“Not all of them, but some,” Brecken answered. “Honestly, I’m a little offended you didn’t think to ask me in the first place.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “I forget you’re actually on our side half the time, and the other half I spend wondering if you’re going to double-cross us.”
Brecken sent her a fake smile. “I already told you: I have no desire to return to my home world. You destroying the mirror gates aids in my cause.”
“Is that why you’ve searched for them?” she asked as the males crowded closer to her. “Were you trying to destroy them yourself?”
Brecken shrugged, taking her hand in his. “That was the hope. Some day. And it appears today is one of those days. Shall we?”