Chapter 38 Tessa
TESSA
She blinked from her place on her knees in the mud.
Her hands were at her back, and at her throat was a thick band of metal.
She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it.
Knew the thing was the same material as the cuff that Dex had put on her wrist that day in the mountains that absorbed her power.
It would require the blood of three different First gods to remove it, and right now, it was containing and weakening her.
“Tessa,” Theon rasped. He was several feet away, and he was on his knees too. Blood was seeping from beneath his hand where it was pressed to his side. “Don’t listen to them. Don’t—”
He hissed out a curse as a seraph appeared behind him, a fist slamming into his other side.
“Theon!” she cried, lurching to stand, but a hand gripped the collar at her throat, yanking her back.
“You’ve done enough,” Dex hissed. “For the love of Achaz, stay put and stop creating messes for me to clean up.” She glared up at him, and he smirked. “The attitude is pointless. Look around you. You’ve already lost.”
Her eyes swept the scene, taking in the…carnage. It was utter carnage. Broken bodies and bloodstained earth. Seraphs were moving among the fallen, making sure the dead stayed that way. There were some Legacy still alive, but she was certain none of them were Arius Legacy.
She sucked in a gasp when she recognized the bright red hair of the Anala Lady, the light gone from her amber eyes. Her Source was nearby, along with another female who had an arm outstretched toward…
Luka.
Luka and Xan were off to the side, matching white-stone collars at their throats where they knelt. Luka’s eyes were on her, and it was the first she had ever seen him look so…helpless as he looked between her and Theon. His wife and his Ward. Xan’s gaze was fixed on the female reaching for them.
A seraph stopped in front of Dex, standing at attention.
“Speak,” Dex barked.
“We’ve been searching everywhere and can’t find them,” the seraph reported.
“They have to be there. He rules the Underground.”
Oh, gods. They were searching for Axel. Axel and Kat—
Her gaze whipped to Theon, where he’d been shoved face down. The seraph’s boot was on his back, but still he struggled. Still he fought, despite his power being completely depleted. He was the only one of them not yet bound.
“Burning it will be pointless,” Dex muttered. “His wife controls flames. Then again, the only ones we need dead are the vampyre and the child.”
“No!” Tessa cried, once more trying to get to her feet.
“You are trying my patience, Tessa,” Dex snarled, his hand moving from the collar to her hair, fisting it sharply and yanking.
“Let’s just leave,” Tessa cried. “Dex, please! We’ll use a mirror gate, and I’ll go to Achaz willingly. I’ll—”
“No!” Luka snarled. “No, you will not.”
“Enough! All of you!” Dex bellowed. “This is not a fucking negotiation. An entire First bloodline must be eliminated from this realm in order for Achaz to come here. There are three left of the Arius line.” He looked down at Tessa.
“You are other and do not count, but you will let Achaz enter once this is done.”
She shook her head. “No. No, I won’t. I—”
He crouched down before her, taking her face in his hand.
“You act as if you have a choice. How many times did I try to give you one? How many times did I try to help you?” Forcing her head to turn, he leaned in and whispered, “And now you can watch them die knowing it’s all your fault because Chaos can never reign. ”
And she screamed as the seraph shoved a blade into Theon’s back and he went still.
“Tessa, hey. Little storm, you’re all right.”
His voice cut through everything, and her eyes snapped open.
Theon and Luka were both leaning over her, but she launched herself at Theon, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his torso.
Tears were streaming down her face as she buried it in his neck, and she had no doubt she’d been screaming based on how raw her throat felt.
“Easy, beautiful,” he murmured, holding her just as tightly.
Luka was there too, his hand smoothing down her hair, and once she was able to catch her breath, she turned to look at him.
Resting her head on Theon’s shoulder, Luka reached over and swiped her tears with his thumb.
At some point, he’d draped a blanket over her and put on pants.
They’d all been naked when they’d gone to bed.
They were back on the third floor of the townhouse, the familiarity of the room somehow comforting despite having not been in here since she’d discovered Felicity in it.
Too tired from the day, they’d come back here.
Food had been prepared and delivered as promised, and thank the gods, because she’d been famished.
Roasted pork, salad, rice, and bread. Everything full of flavor, and nothing like what she’d been served the first time she’d been here.
She’d fallen asleep on the sofa while Theon and Luka had discussed plans.
She’d tried to stay awake and be part of them, but the next thing she knew, she was nestled against Luka’s chest in a warm bed.
“Tell us, Tessa,” Luka said softly, gathering her hair and pulling it back over her shoulder.
“We’re going to fail,” she whispered. “It’s the only vision I have repeatedly. It changes, but not enough to matter. Either I die or Theon does, and everyone else… Never once do I see us all survive.”
“The future is ever-changing,” Theon said, still letting her cling to him.
“I know that,” she said, listening to his heart beat beneath her ear.
“I’ve seen evidence of that, but this one is different.
It’s always in the same place. It always starts the same.
And this time, they were searching for Axel’s child.
Luka and Xan were captured. I had a collar at my throat, and you… ”
“I’m fine,” he soothed when she tightened her hold on him once more. “I’m going to be fine. We have a plan, remember? Let’s get up and make some coffee. You can tell us everything.”
A half hour later, she sat at the counter with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug. The guys were on either side of her listening while she told them how that vision had changed over the months. Starting with Theon killing her, then shifting to her killing Theon, and now this.
“Why does Achaz want to come here so badly?” Theon asked. “It’s been centuries and centuries since Devram was created.”
She shook her head. “He wants something here, but I don’t think that’s all of it. He believes it’s his purpose to rule the realms. All of them.”
“You’ve seen him in your visions?”
She hesitated, keeping her eyes fixed on her coffee cup.
“Tessa,” Luka said in that voice that said he knew he wasn’t going like what she had to say.
“Yes, I’ve seen him in visions, but I’ve also…talked to him in a mirror,” she answered.
“You’ve what?” Luka demanded at the same time Theon asked, “When?”
“When I was with Rordan. It was the same day Luka came to the Tribunal.”
“You were in the loft, and you left,” Luka recalled.
She nodded. “And I went to the Pantheon, found my way to the mirror, and called him.”
“By the gods, Tessa,” Theon muttered, swiping a hand down his face. “You are…”
She winced, waiting for it.
Impulsive.
Wild.
Chaotic.
“So fucking fearless,” Theon finally finished, and her head snapped up.
“But also, please stop summoning gods to the fucking mirrors,” Luka added, getting up to get more coffee.
She looked over at him in confusion. “Why?”
“Because it puts me on edge,” he muttered under his breath, and she huffed a laugh.
“I’ve sent a message to the others,” Theon said. His hand was on her thigh, fingertips absently dragging up and down her bare skin. All she’d put on when they came down here was a short robe.
“Oh?” Tessa asked, watching Luka gather some oranges and pastries before pulling a small bowl of hard-boiled eggs from the fridge and bringing them to the counter.
“We need to figure out how to transfer power,” Theon said.
She nodded, watching Luka peel an orange and hand slices to her. “From Dagian?” she asked.
“To start with, yes,” Theon answered. “Razik, Xan, and Tristyn are the most knowledgeable. I asked Kat to come, but Axel is too worried about her going into labor.”
Tessa nodded again. “That makes sense,” she said around her orange.
“But before we talk about that any more, we need to talk about yesterday.”
She frowned. “What about it?”
“You were a godsdamn vision, Tessa,” he breathed. “But there was a moment when you were— Can you…”
“I felt you yank on my power,” Luka provided, placing a plate of bacon in the microwave and starting it. “The other Ladies felt it too. So did Rordan.”
“Can you draw from them? Like you do from me? To refill your reserves?” Theon asked.
Tessa shook her head, thinking about it.
“No. I’m…” She sighed. “I’m Chaos. We all know that’s what my power is.
It’s drawn to power. It doesn’t choose. It calls to it, and I think—” She paused, trying to figure out how to put this into words.
“While my Chaos can’t take theirs, it can make them lose control of their own hold on their magic a little bit. ”
Theon stared at her, and she bit her bottom lip, waiting to see what he was going to say. But he only sat back on his stool, his hand still on her thigh.
“Gods, that makes so much sense,” he murmured. “My power was constantly drawn to you. I mean, yes, it was you, but also… Before your power was even allowed to emerge, there were times it felt like it was fighting me for control.”
She gave him a small smile, reaching for a muffin as Luka slid a plate of bacon, an egg, and more orange pieces to her.
Because Theon wasn’t staring at her like she was wild and untamed, too reckless or too other. He was staring at her like she was a goddess, and when she slid her gaze to Luka, he was watching her too.