Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance (Legacy, #3)

by Melissa K. Roehrich

“As for Luka, once you are gone, he can become my Guardian,” she continued as though they hadn’t been interrupted.

“You killed Auryon,” Theon rasped, his darkness swarming around the wound. Trying to heal him. Trying to save him. A pointless effort, but she’d let him waste that power of his. It wasn’t as if she needed him as a Source anyway. “I didn’t kill Auryon,” she scoffed. “Your Hunters did,” Theon amended. “At your command.” “Because she was trying to keep me from my destiny.”

“I didn’t kill Auryon,” she scoffed. “Your Hunters did,” Theon amended. “At your command.”

“Breathe, my light,” Luka coaxed down the bond.

“It’s more than a bond, and it cannot be.” Emerald eyes fell closed, acceptance filling features she had once thought she could love. For so long, she had wished for death, and now, in this moment, she didn’t want it. She’d found something to fight for, and then she was forced to sacrifice it.

“Their queen will seek her vengeance, Tessa. Make no mistake.” “We are counting on it.” “Her vengeance will know no bounds.” “Then she will know my wrath, just as you have.”

“I’m sorry I failed you, Tessa,” Theon said when they broke apart, sorrow filling in his features. “I tried. I tried to save you.” “I understand,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you all of me. Every piece of me.” And she sank that gold dagger into his chest. “But only one can be left standing when Chaos comes to reign.”

“I can Travel.” Theon blinked once. Twice. “How is it you can Travel?” “The same way Luka can. I wasn’t born in this realm. Therefore, the enchantments and safeguards put in place do not entirely affect me,” Tristyn replied.

“While you have lived nearly three decades, I have lived well over three centuries. Too many of them spent in this godsforsaken realm.

“You know Cienna,” he said in understanding, looking around for the Witch, but she was nowhere to be found. “Something like that,” Tristyn answered, walking over to a table and tossing some type of powder into a pot.

One was a female with red-gold hair braided into a plait over her shoulder. Definitely Fae, she had a sword at her back and more weapons strapped to what appeared to be some kind of leather armor. But the male? He looked just like Luka. His brown hair wasn’t nearly as long, but it was shaggy and curled around his ears. His skin tone was a little darker, as if he spent more time in the sun. But the square jaw and facial features? The sapphire blue eyes? The build and stature? It was impossible for them not to be related, but that also meant that this male was a dragon shifter.

I am the general of the Fire Court.” “Fire?” Theon said. “You are a fire Fae then?”

Then her head tipped a little as if she heard something, and Theon narrowed in on the action. That seemed an awful lot like⁠—

He simply knows falsehoods and inaccurate history,” Cienna cut in, and the room went silent at her interruption. “I still do not understand how that is possible for how advanced this world appears to be,” Razik said.

She was in the loft overlooking the Tribunal Hearing room. The last time she’d been here, she’d been down there. The Achaz Lord had told Theon that she was no longer his. She had been given her freedom.

The bond with Theon was insistent and demanding, but this was different. This was coaxing and left her wanting. This was⁠—

and yet here he was, looking like a Lord himself. A Sargon Lord, she realized, if such a thing were allowed to exist.

Sapphire eyes connected with hers, and her heart was beating too wildly. She shouldn’t care. She’d walked away from him. She’d finally won. Finally taken her freedom, leaving nothing but blood and desolation in her wake. Because that was what monsters did. It was the only way to survive in a realm full of villains.

For some reason known only to the gods that hated this realm, Oralia had been appointed to serve her. A Fae was serving her.

“Be who you were meant to be, Tessalyn,” he said, his voice low. “My freedom depends on it.”

Anala with her bright red-gold hair and golden eyes. Serafina with her silver hair and crown of white flames. Falein with her warm skin and black curls. Arius with his dark hair and emerald eyes and⁠—

This was the Keeper. But that wasn’t possible because the Keeper who had awakened her power, who had spoken to her, who had called those around her fools, had been unmistakably male. It was said no one truly knew who or what the Keeper was. That the use of glamours and spells kept their identity ever changing, but the Keeper was also never seen outside the Pantheon.

“You stand on the precipice of salvation and destruction, Tessalyn. Choose wisely.”

It appeared one of Theon’s first actions as the acting Arius Lord was to rescind the banishment placed on Cienna that had been keeping her confined to the Underground to avoid Valter’s death sentence. But that meant everyone who believed the Keeper was one person was wrong. There was more than one, and as of this moment, she was perhaps the only one who knew that secret.

the wards crackling against her skin but ultimately doing nothing to stop her. Wards had never been an obstacle for her.

A triangle inside a circle. A crescent moon atop a circle. One she could only describe as a tangled knot.

“A mirror? Is that what you think this is?” Achaz asked, a thread of amusement in his voice. “These are vessels of power. They were not always this, but it’s what they have become over time.”

“That it is,” Achaz agreed, and she could hear just how pleased he was with that answer. “And tell me, granddaughter, what does correcting the balance mean?”

But you, blood of my blood? You have the power to change that, don’t you? And beyond that, even if I can never step foot in Devram, you can certainly leave the realm.” “How?” “Fulfill your destiny. Find me again when it is done,”

You are the one she asks for. You are the one she likes to be able to see. You are the one…” He trailed off for another long moment before saying, “You’re the one who has always known she wasn’t the one for this, and now I know why.”

“Except the ability to summon storms. That is neither of them,” Luka said, getting to his feet and moving to a wall of empty frames.

“There is no way they know she’s essentially Achaz, Zinta, Arius, and Serafina.

and yet all he could think about was the look on Tessa’s face when she’d seen him in this form the first time. Awe and wonder had filled her features as she’d reached out and run her hand along his scales, her fingers gentle and cool against his hot skin.

she answered, reaching to sheath her sword down her back, the gold glinting in the gloomy day. “I want nothing to do with this godsforsaken world.”

Actually, she looked like another version of Auryon, only with blades instead of arrows and light instead of dark. “You are not supposed to be here,”

But somehow, he’d also just been in one of Tessa’s visions, and he didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.

He tipped his head back against the wall, a warm-skinned Fae with black curly hair and amber eyes filling his mind.

A powerful Fae. So much power just there for the taking. Why wasn’t anyone taking that? She was just walking around. There for anyone to have. No, not anyone. His. She was his. His to have. His to take. His to make bleed…

He wasn’t supposed to want this, but he was supposed to want her.

“The gods sent their offspring here and left them with lies,” Bree sneered. Axel paused, his glass halfway to his lips. “Where were you born, Bree?” “Not here,” she simpered. “I was sent after the realm was created. The gods may not be able to interfere, but you already know that has not kept them from sending others to do just that.”

Theon didn’t miss how tense Lange was. He knew his power was there, just below the surface, and somehow he also knew that he would attack a Legacy to defend Corbin.

“We were in a war. My power was needed to win that war. I was needed for my power. She did it for the greater good, not for me.”

“No,” Katya said, moving deeper into the room. “Theon is actually quite academic and astute. He was simply never taught how to process his emotions.”

You made me bleed. Now I make you bleed, Theon. Then she shoved him out, putting that wall back up down their bond as her dark laugh echoed in his mind.

In the past weeks here, she still had not figured out how Dex had gained such a position in the Achaz Lord’s household. It was one secret she had yet to uncover, but she would in time.

“Someone at least close to your power level,” he replied. “And they should be training you to use your magic and fight at the same time.” “Why do you care?” “That’s what you’re doing here, isn’t it? Starting a war? If you’re going to start a war that will be the death of tens of thousands, you should at least have the common decency to fight in it,” Luka said, taking a step towards her.

Not as her light flared to life, a golden mist swirling around her. It tugged at her, reaching for Luka, and he fucking smirked at her.

“Look at what you can do,” came a gruff voice in her ear. It was low, and she could feel the rumble of it in her bones. Not only that, she could feel an admiration mixed with desire, and she shoved it aside, pushing him out.

This wasn’t just light and energy anymore. This was wind and rain. This was a storm. Her storm.

Luka’s hand slid up to her throat, fingers loosely clasping around her neck. There was no silencing the soft sigh that came from her as he soothed that last burn. He leaned over her, coming even closer, and she wanted— No, she needed this. But her lungs weren’t working, and she couldn’t suck in a breath. All she could think about was what it would feel like to feel his lips on hers. Anywhere on her body for that matter.