Chapter 38 Tessa #2
“That vision isn’t going to come true, baby girl,” Luka finally said, reaching for her mug to refill her coffee.
“You can’t know that,” she argued, biting into the egg.
But Luka only shook his head. “We will be left standing when you come to reign.”
She was pacing back and forth before the fireplace, her hand dragging along the mantel mainly so she wouldn’t pull at her hair.
It was afternoon now. Theon and Luka were in casual clothes.
Or what was considered causal to them. Black pants and button-down shirts rather than suits and ties.
She was in leggings and a long-sleeve shirt, her bare feet leaving prints with each pass she made.
Razik, Eliza, and Tris were here.
And Xan.
Xan who was telling them once again their best option was to bring her mother here.
Did she want to see her?
No. Yes. No.
Gods.
She turned again, trying to focus on the smooth marble of the mantel. She knew they were watching her. All of them were watching her, waiting for her to go too far.
“You say she’s the best option, but how do we get her here? Use a mirror gate?” Theon asked.
“No,” Tessa muttered. “No, no, no. Something will follow her through.”
“She’s right,” Tristyn said, toying with a roll of lull-leaf in his hand. “Akira is powerful. Something will follow. Or a god will use the opportunity to send something else here.”
“Which is why we need to destroy them,” Tessa said. She met Tristyn’s russet gaze. “We could go back tonight—”
“No,” Luka and Theon both snarled at the same time.
“You’re the Arius Lady now,” Theon added. “You can’t simply go to another kingdom, Tessa.”
She rolled eyes. She didn’t give a fuck about the title she suddenly carried.
The Arius Lady.
How ridiculous.
“We’ll deal with the mirror gates in a bit,” Luka said. “But if we can’t use them, how else do we get Akira here?”
“Tessa can bring her here,” Xan said. She stilled her pacing, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. “But it has to be Tessa,” he added.
“Why?” she asked, wishing she sounded more confident than she felt. “Because of my Chaos?”
“Because of your father,” Xan corrected. The male held up his hand, a ring on his finger with a large onyx stone in the center.
It looked exactly like the one Theon used to wear. The one Axel still wore.
“The ring?” Theon asked. “What will that do?”
“By itself, nothing,” Xan answered. “But when the stones from the three are fused, they create a portal key.”
“What the fuck is a portal key?” Theon asked at the same time Razik said, “Why haven’t you said anything before now?”
“Portal keys have various uses,” Xan said. “But there aren’t any whole ones left. Only pieces of them.”
“They are like the mirror gates in a way,” Razik interjected with a glare at his father. “They can be used to create portals between the realms. They came into existence after the World Walkers were defeated and the power to walk the realms was close to being lost.”
“Three pieces then?” Theon asked. “You have one. Axel has one, and I…” He turned to Luka. “Gave you mine for the bargain with Rordan.”
Tessa watched him, and it was perhaps the first time Luka’s emotions slipped. Fury and regret streamed down the bond. “That fucking bastard. We thought it was a power play.”
“Why would you think that?” Razik asked. “This entire realm is all about strategic moves to gain more power.”
“I thought it was an insurance policy of sorts,” Luka retorted. “Proof I wasn’t going to fuck him over. The goal was to get to Tessa at that point.”
She winced internally. Another thing she was responsible—
No, Theon said firmly down the bond. We’re not doing that, Tessa. We all played a part in this.
“Wait a minute,” Tessa said. “None of this makes sense. How did Theon and Axel get two of the rings?”
“I found them,” Luka said. “Gave them each one.”
“You just found these two rings?”
Luka hesitated, as if debating his answer.
“He stole them,” Xan answered, fighting a small smile, clearly proud of his son for this.
Tessa looked at Luka expectantly.
“I found them someplace I wasn’t supposed to be.
Valter found me, but I’d heard him coming and hid them.
He demanded to know where they were, and I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about.
I took a beating for it too, but in revenge, I gave them to Theon and Axel.
We later discovered they can’t be forcefully taken.
Only found or willingly given,” Luka said.
“Which is how you still have yours. Why Rordan couldn’t take it,” Tessa said, turning back to Xan.
He nodded. “But these three have a companion. Temural altered them with the help of Anala and Taika. They will open a portal, yes, but they will only portal to each other.”
“Not necessarily a place, but a person,” Eliza said in realization, but Tessa was still holding Xan’s stare.
A person.
“She has it, doesn’t she,” Tessa said, the words void of any emotion.
“She does,” Xan confirmed. “Temural and Akira’s story is…
dark. They knew Achaz would discover them at some point, so Temural hunted down a set of portal keys with his Trackers and Huntresses.
When they finally found one and altered it, he gave half to Akira and he kept half.
So he could always find her and get to her. But then there was you…”
She could feel everyone’s eyes on her now, and she didn’t know what to do with herself.
“Temural sent me to Akira because he couldn’t get to her.
Another story for another time. You were born, and she sent me here with you to keep you hidden until you came into your power.
The rings were supposed to take us back to her when the time came.
But when things went so wrong upon our arrival…
” He shifted where he stood. “The portal key was split in the enchantment. I found the three pieces and had them forged into rings. Cienna put an enchantment on them that only my blood could stumble upon them by accident, which is how Luka found them.”
“And I have to be the one to use it because?” Tessa asked, her arms wrapped around herself tightly.
“Because the key was altered to bring them to each other, but it does so by blood. It’s all Blood Magic, Tessalyn, and you are both of them. Wild and Fury.”
There was too much. She was feeling too much. And she had questions, but she didn’t want an audience for them.
“I’d like to speak with Xan alone,” she finally said, keeping her eyes fixed on the male.
“Tessa, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Theon hedged.
“I wasn’t asking, Theon,” she said quietly.
There were a few seconds of tense silence before Theon said, “Yeah, all right.” Everyone started making their way to the kitchen, but Theon stopped beside her, tilting her face up to his. “You call us if you need us.”
When it was just her and Xan, she dropped her hands to her sides. Her power was floating around her, breathing and stretching, and she curled her fingers into her palms when she said, “No riddles and no half-truths. Just answers.”
Xan gave her a soft smile. “I couldn’t tell you things when you were wavering on your loyalties, Tessa. Your father is still my Ward, and I guard what is his as if it were my own.”
“And yet you left her in another realm,” Tessa countered.
“It is not only Akira I guard.”
Tessa scoffed, crossing her arms once more as her eyes bounced around the room. “So she was the one who ultimately sent me here?”
“To keep you safe and hidden,” he replied, leaning back on the arm of the sofa. He braced himself on his hands, crossing his ankles.
“Why not send me to Temural?”
“Because that was the obvious place, Tessa,” he said quietly. “It was the first place Achaz would go when he learned of your existence.”
“So she abandoned me instead?” she demanded, trying to swallow down the tears that were threatening to pool in her eyes.
“That wasn’t the intention, Tessa. I was supposed to be with you. Raise you with Luka. Make him your Guardian. Don’t punish them for my failures.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Don’t give me excuses for them,” she cried. “They could have fought for me. They could have tried. They could have done anything. Instead, she chose to send me to a realm where Temural couldn’t even come for me. She cut me off from everyone who was supposed to care.”
“Just because they’re gods and Furies doesn’t mean they’re perfect. Just because mistakes were made doesn’t mean they weren’t doing what they thought was best,” he said gently.
“Everyone is always thinking they know what’s best for me,” she sneered. “Maybe it’s just more pretty words. Maybe I was never wanted from the beginning.”
Xan moved then, suddenly in front of her.
He gripped her shoulders, bending down to peer into her face.
“We make mistakes, Tessa. Even when trying to do what we think is best at the time. Look at your last months. And I don’t say that to shame you, only to prove a point.
You have hundreds of years ahead of you.
If you think you won’t make more mistakes, you are in for a rude awakening. ”
A lone tear broke free, sliding down her cheek.
“I am not saying your feelings are not valid, but I am saying this may be one of those things you will not understand until you have a child of your own. Until you are so desperate to keep that innocent soul safe from the monsters of the stars that you sacrifice a piece of your own heart in an attempt to do just that,” Xan said.
“Only to one day learn that sacrifice was a mistake you will pay for dearly the rest of your years.”
“Do not project your relationship with Razik onto me and my lack of relationship with Temural and Akira, Xan Mors. We are not the same,” Tessa whispered harshly, swiping at the tear.
Xan straightened, taking a step back. A tense silence hung between them before Xan finally said, “It is your call. I will help you bring Akira here, but only if that is what you wish.”
“It doesn’t appear I have any other option.”