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September 14 - September 17, 2025
“You have to let me win, Tessa. It’s the only way.” “I can’t,” she whispered. “I know.”
Even if she’d wanted to submit to him and his power, she couldn’t. Her magic wouldn’t let her. Until black flames were flaring around his darkness, drawing her light to it. Her magic didn’t know which way to go, who to follow, who to attack. It had been like this with the last Mark when Luka’s power had suddenly appeared. Her magic had been startled then; now it almost seemed enraptured.
Come on, Tessa. Give in. That was Theon’s voice in her head. Her entire body shuddered at the sensation, her power doing the same. Let go, little one. You don’t have to fight back here. Luka’s deep rumble sounded, his glowing eyes still on hers. More darkness. More flames. Her light delighted in it all. Let us fight for you, came Luka’s growl again.
She commented again about the Mark looking a little different,
After another round of vomiting, she settled back against Luka. One of her hands was in Theon’s. His other hand was dragging his fingers up and down her thigh. Luka had an arm behind her, ready to catch her if she moved too quickly. Two people here. Two people tending to her. Two people who actually cared. That’s what she let herself pretend.
“You were supposed to be mine,” she whispered, hardly able to keep her eyes open. “Not his. And he…” “He what, Tessa?” Luka asked, running a hand along her brow and smoothing back her hair. She didn’t have it in her to speak any more. She just wanted to pretend. So she let them hear her thoughts instead. He and I were always meant to destroy one another.
a tall male. He looked familiar. Sapphire eyes. The cut of his features. But Tessa was sure she’d never met him. He had a sword strapped down his back, as did the female standing next to him. Her red-gold hair was braided over her shoulder, and flames flickered in her eyes.
“Life must give, and death must take,” Theon said flatly. “There is no other way to interpret that. Not if we wish to save this world.”
Not as she got lost in dark emerald eyes and black hair. In a small dimple and lips she’d kissed more times than she could count. “I’m sorry I failed you, little storm,” Theon said, sorrow flashing in his eyes. “I tried. I tried to save you.” “I understand,” she whispered on another broken sob. “I’m sorry I loved you too late. But I’m yours. Every piece of me.”
“You may have stolen her Guardian from her, but that only means you must now deal with me.”
“I know she was meant to be a tempest of wrath and vengeance in this world.”
Not as his shadows held Pavil down, ropes of nothing but dark mist holding him to the ground and silencing his wails as he methodically cut off fingers and sliced off flesh. Any part of him that had touched her landed in a pile beside the male’s bleeding and mutilated body. He had to work quickly, which annoyed him. He would have liked to take his time with this. This was one of those times he’d told Kat about when he enjoyed the killing.
Tilting her face up, he brushed his lips across hers one final time. “Remember that living isn’t just logic and knowledge but feeling too, kitten,” he murmured onto her lips. “Remember that you are a good person, Axel St. Orcas,”
Luka retorted, stilling when Tessa edged closer to him.
“Tessa, you need to—” And to Theon’s absolute horror, she kissed him. He watched as if it were happening in slow motion. Her gaze dropping to his lips. Luka’s brow furrowing. Her pitching forward. The surprise that crossed Luka’s features. Her lips landing on his.
The stunned shock. The pleasant euphoria. The desire to taste her mouth again.
Her mental shields were up, keeping him locked out. That was fine if that was what she felt she needed to do right now.
“At least you can make your own light.” Tessa lifted a hand, letting a glowing orb grow in her palm. “There is that.”
It was there. A flicker of longing. He wasn’t quite sure what it meant, so he waited. Theon was too impatient for this part of her, and to be fair, sometimes she needed that. Sometimes she did need someone to take care of her. Sometimes she needed to not think, to be out of her head and simply told what to do. No decisions to agonize over. But she also needed someone to simply trust she could do things on her own.
He moved fast, and she lurched back in her surprise. Grapes rolled to the floor and dishes rattled, but he was stepping between her legs and taking her chin in his thumb and forefinger. A gasp escaped from her lips as her eyes snapped to his. “Luka, what—” “If you were my Match, I wouldn’t call you such a thing,” he said and her eyes darted to the side. Until he said, “I would call you my wife, my partner, my light. Anything but my Match.”
Our nights would be soft words instead of barbed ones to deflect and protect. Our nights would be intimate touches rather than frantic ones of uncertainty. Our nights would be my hands in your hair instead of your fingers pulling on the strands.
“Our nights would be dark, but you’d love it there because you’d realize we need your light as much as you crave the dark.” “I hate the dark,” she challenged. His lips curled in a knowing smirk. “You fear the dark because you crave it, Tessa. You hate it because you think you are alone there, but your nights would never be spent alone. Never again. That’s what it would have been like.”
Theon?” she asked with a shaky breath. “Would have been there too,” he said. “Because I think you know deep down it’s more than a bond. Always has been. It’s just that neither of you knows what to do with it.
“Because monsters don’t settle, Tessa. They take their happy endings, even if they leave a blood trail in their wake,” Luka said. “And what about you, Luka Mors?” she sneered. “Where do you fall?” “Don’t you know?” he asked, leaning down and whispering in her ear. “Dragons eat the monsters.” Then he backed away from her, watching her struggle as her eyes flared and she pressed her thighs together.
He’d finally beaten his father at something, and if his prize was unending agony, he’d suffer through it for her.
Music playlists and doughnuts. Running and warm coffee. Waking up between two warm bodies and a mouth and fingers that knew exactly how to give her what she didn’t even know she needed.
The floor was cool against her bare feet. She’d rolled up the rugs, stacking them in the corner earlier that day. She didn’t like the feel of them. They reminded her too much of socks.
That’s our girl, Luka coaxed, clearly feeling something down the bond. She couldn’t be that. Not anymore. Not now.
“We had to work around those little glimpses of the future you have,” Valter said, drawing her focus back to him. She didn’t know he’d known about them, about her Witch heritage.
was I supposed to explain that I’d had to keep him busy the night of your emerging when we realized who you were? That I had to give Rordan time to verify everything? Or at least, that’s what I’d thought.” Her legs were trembling at his admission. He’d been working with Lord Jove this entire time.
“For centuries we’d been waiting for you to come and fulfill the prophecies of the Revelation Decree. We felt it, you know. The day you entered this world. The entire realm trembled the moment you appeared here. We all did.”
“He does not bring war here. I am here to end the war.”
She thought about saying goodbye to them. Lowering those shields just enough to pretend she’d be missed, but in the end, she left her shields in place.
nearly translucent figures crawl up and out of the earth. They glided more than crawled, one after another. Far more than had appeared in the gardens. They floated a couple of inches off the ground, all identical. Pale skin. Tall and lean, with sharp, angular features. Short hair as white as the falling snow.
“Blood of death, yet blood of life,” he said, his voice unearthly. It was raspy and icy and a whisper that latched onto her bones as if trying to burrow in like an entrancing. “We serve at his bequest, and thus at yours.”
“Daughter of Fury and Blood of Beginnings, you were threatened. You summoned us in answer to that threat.”
being continued, her hair fluttering as she felt him draw his fingers through her hair once more. “At your command, we will do so.” “Will do what?” she asked, her voice breathy and uneven. He glided in front of her, reaching out and dragging a single finger along the Mark over her heart. She stared into white eyes that glowed. They had no pupils, just a faint light. The same light she commanded. “Defend you. Protect you. Fight for you,” he said.
There was no fighting against the beings. The weapons of the Augury went straight through them as if they were nothing but wisps of fog. The golden blades of the beings, however, were very, very real. Blood mixed with the falling frozen rain, turning everything red. Tessa had never felt more free as she moved among the death swallowing up everything around her. No one touched her. No one came for her, too busy trying to stay alive. And she smiled.
She went still as Auryon appeared. Not from a swirl of smoke and ashes, but stepping from the very air with Tristyn Blackheart. “I told you she could summon them,” Tristyn snarled
“They are Hunters,” he snapped. “They are not here to protect you. They are here to hunt down and kill any descendant of Arius.” “No,” she said, shaking her head. “That can’t be right because I—” She snapped her mouth shut before she said it aloud. But she didn’t need to. “Because you are a descendant of Arius?”
“Come back to Lilura Inquest with me. I’ll—” “Lilura?” Tessa repeated. “How do you know that name?” “It is the name of my company. You know this.” “Your company,” Tessa said, as more and more betrayal sank into her being. “How did you come up with it?” She saw his throat work and watched as he formed the lie right in front of her. “It is just a name,” he said hoarsely. “So if I tell you Lilura lives, that will mean nothing to you?” She could swear his knees almost buckled at the words, and he lurched towards her. “You’ve seen her?” “Who is she?” Tessa said, her voice low and cold and
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“They serve you because of whose you are,” Tristyn said, glancing at the wolf. “I am no one’s,” Tessa sneered. “I meant the blood in your veins.”
“We will come for your maker in time, Huntress,” the Hunter said. “Tell Temural his time will come.” “Temural,” Tessa said, feeling the blood drain from her face. “You know of Temural?” There was no regret on her features like there had been on Tristyn’s. No, there was nothing but an indifference that only added to the hurt as Auryon said, “No one else can send a Huntress to his daughter. We only answer to him.”
She turned just in time to see Tristyn disappear into the air, Auryon already gone. Of course Tristyn could Travel. Just another secret she’d collected.
throat. He glared up at her, nothing but malice in his eyes as he said, “You will be the downfall of this realm.” She lifted a hand, drawing in the air with her magic before the message flared and disappeared. “No,” she said simply. “I will be the downfall of the Legacy in this realm. I will be the downfall of the imbalance that has plagued this world. But above all, I will be the downfall of your entire bloodline, and I will let you witness it all before I take your life from you.”
She wore a thin floor-length skirt of navy blue that was so dark it was nearly black. The color reminded him of Luka’s scales. It was lightweight and sheer, and her top was the same. It tied at her nape, dipping low in front and leaving her back exposed, a sliver of her stomach bare. Her bands of light glowed faintly around her wrists, and he could swear streaks of lightning flashed in her violet eyes. Her golden hair was loose, peppered with the lightly falling snow, and her feet were bare because she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“How did you get here?” “A portal,” she answered, and he swallowed thickly because her voice had that eerie ring to it. “There are no portals to Arius House,” he countered. “It’s my own,” she answered simply.
“I’m not here to say goodbye to you,” she retorted. “I’m here to say goodbye to what could have been. Just one more…” She cleared her throat, lifting her chin. “No. I didn’t come to say goodbye. I came to tell you a story.”
“Achaz and Arius,” Theon clarified, trying to figure out where she was going with this. “They were the perfect balance, and they were entrusted to keep that balance. They failed. Or rather, endings failed.” She wasn’t looking at him, but rather had her attention fixed on the fire. “He betrayed them all,” she said. “Arius?” She nodded. “He betrayed all the gods, all the beings born of Chaos, when he took what did not belong to him.” She looked over her shoulder again, violet-grey eyes connecting with his. “A sin his bloodline continues to commit.”
because of that, a war that was meant to end continued.” That had him pausing. “The Everlasting War?” “They upset the balance. They could have ended one war, and instead started another. And now they must pay the price to right it.” “Who are they?” “Arius and Serafina.”
