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December 14 - December 17, 2025
We’ve made it to the end. There will be emotional whiplash. There will be redemption. There will be long-awaited deaths. There will be balance.
She’d told no one she was coming here. Only one knew. The one who’d helped her get here. But perhaps she should have brought Roan or Nylah just to help keep her grounded. It’d been decades since she’d been in this world. She hadn’t thought it would still make her … feel. But she should have known. It would forever make her feel. Because it was the last place she’d seen him. Because it had always been more than a bond.
“You broke me when you walked away from me!” she cried, finally letting that fury win. To fury they both lose. “You promised. You were the one person—the one person—who never balked when I showed you my worst. You promised I would always … You were my only constant in the end, and you walked away from me,” she finished.
“You broke me too,” he called after her, making her pause. “In ways I never could have imagined. So hate me, Tessa. Hate me and break me and make me feel it all, but would you save me? If you could?”
What am I going to do with you? Dex had said it. Theon had said it. Luka had said it. They would do nothing with her. Not a godsdamn thing. But her? She was ready to fulfill her purpose her way.
“I don’t know what that looks like. I don’t know how we do that after the betrayals we’ve faced here.” Because in the end, that was what he felt. Betrayed by Tessa. A thousand times over. But he also felt betrayed by Theon. For thinking he could walk away from him after decades of surviving together. How that betrayal was what ultimately made him feel like a failure. He was just as furious with Theon as he was with Tessa.
“I know he’s the one you need right now. I don’t know how to be that. He’s the one who’s always protected us from ourselves, and I know you need him. You hate it, but you know it too.” He fell silent, the seconds stretching on filled only by her humming. Then he said in a voice so low he didn’t even know if she could hear him, “I don’t know how we live without him.”
“Resist it just a little longer,” the female—Em—said. “If you go to it, he’ll find you and the balance will never recover.” “There is no such thing as balance,” Tessa retorted, taking another step forward. “There is,” Em insisted. “But if he finds you, he’ll just add you to his collection that keeps him in power. Is that what you want?” Tessa faltered, unsure of who or what they were talking about. “That’s what he does,” Em went on, noticing her hesitation. “He finds. He creates. He cages. He will keep you.”
“We are out of time,” the female said, her voice fire and power. She never slowed, coming right up to Tessa. “You must go. Find the one who chose Death. She has your answers.”
“You chose him. Chose Endings over Beginnings,” Tessa said. “Why?” The female’s eyes softened a touch as she looked at Tessa, never breaking her stare. The snake moved, its tongue flicking in and out as it tasted the air. But no one spoke. There was no other sound, and the silence stretched on for so long, Tessa was wondering if she was going to reply. But she would have her answers one way or another, and the goddess seemed to understand that when she said, “To start a genesis.”
Serafina’s eyes dipped to the wolf, a small smile lifting on her lips. “One of my son’s own,” she said. “Roan is mine,” Tessa retorted. “As is Nylah.” “Because you are of him,” the goddess answered simply. Luka heard the scoff from Tessa before she said, “Tell me your version of history then, goddess.” Serafina’s smile morphed into something tight and cold. A smile he’d seen on Tessa’s face more than once. “Careful, child. Family or not, I am still a goddess.”
“I do not care,” Tessa said. “I have been forgotten and discarded, used and abused. You think I have any care for what you are? For my own wellbeing at this point? I have nothing to lose anymore. I’ve already lost it all. I am the villain in everyone’s story, including my own. I am the excuse for everyone’s actions, and I am the power everyone seeks. I stand at a crossroads. Salvation or destruction. So either tell me why you chose your path or leave. I will make a choice either way. You can decide if your knowledge is valuable enough for me to consider before I take that next step.”
“He abandoned me. I could not care less about him,” Tessa spat. The goddess leaned in, as if she wanted to whisper into Tessa’s ear. “You are powerful, but you are not immune to my gifts, Tessalyn. Is that what you believe happened? That he wanted nothing to do with you? That he left you to the Fates?” “Worse,” she sneered. “He left me alone. Everyone did. It is what I have lived and what I know. Alone in a damned world. Wishing someone would care …”
“We were losing, and in our desperation, we thought if we could create a powerful child, stronger than any other being to exist …” “You and Achaz were going to create … Why didn’t you?” Tessa asked, inching a little closer. “It is a long tale. One we do not have time for this day,” Serafina answered. “But there came a time when we disagreed with Achaz. He was consumed by victory and power. We knew the balance was going to tip either way. The Fates stepped back and provided a choice.” “Salvation or destruction,” Tessa murmured, her hands opening and closing at her sides.
“Two could come together and change the course of history. A terminus and a genesis. It was left up to them to choose it. Since that time, there have been other crucial moments offered to two souls that could alter history. Some chose the genesis. Some did not. Some do not realize they have even chosen it. But the Fates do not intervene beyond ensuring their paths cross.”
“You just declared war, Tessa,” Luka growled. “Without consulting anyone. There will be consequences. They will retaliate.” “I will not live in a realm where Fae are forced to serve. This world deserves a war. Devram deserves a reckoning,” she bit out as they crossed out of the courtyard.
Her lip curled into a sneer of her own. “I raised you even though you weren’t mine. You won’t kill me, Theon, because killing me will kill the one who actually birthed you. Then you will never have answers to questions you didn’t even know you had.”
LUKA “Stop touching things,” Luka growled, coming back into the main living space of his cave. Everyone was here. Everyone. There were too many people near his things.
Luka stalked over, swiping it up. “Stop looking at things,” he snapped, heading to the kitchen and setting it on the counter. Away from his brother.
“I think the lucky one here is you, Razik Greybane. You have a home you will do anything to return to. More than that, you have people who want you. People who want you despite you not returning the sentiment. I’d be careful with that. Eventually they stop trying and stop wanting you, and you realize too late you wanted them all along.”
So I will say this: remember the bond only comes to be when two souls need it most. It is a bond born of Chaos.”
“Get some sleep, Theon. Apparently, we’re going to start a godsdamn revolution.”
“But you will be,” he insisted. “We need to figure out how that will work.” “We do not,” she replied, pushing past him. “I am not going to become your Ward.” His brow furrowed. “Of course you will.” “No, I won’t. I saved him for you. Or I’m trying to. But even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t bind myself to someone who doesn’t want me. I would never force you into something you do not want.”
The car pulled to a stop, and Tana placed a hand on Gatlan’s thigh to halt him as he reached for the door. “Tread carefully today, Theon. Survive this, and perhaps we can continue this discussion.”
“It doesn’t. Eliza forced me to try to … do whatever this is.” Luka almost let the huff of laughter slip. “Are you saying your bonded forced you to try to bond with me?” “Don’t say it like that,” Razik grumbled. “What, exactly, do you want to know?” Luka went on. “My favorite color? Favorite food? Stuffed animal I had growing up?” “Why the fuck did you have a stuffed animal growing up? Did you at least hunt it properly first?”
“Say it,” he whispered, the words low and dark and full of sinful promises. One finger found the hollow of her throat, dragging down between her breasts, along her stomach, lower. “Say it, and I will give you everything you want, clever tempest.” “Yours,” she gasped out, her head tipping back with the single word. “I’m yours. Every piece of me. As much as I am his.” “That’s right, you are,” he growled, another gasp escaping her as he gathered her roughly into his arms.
“Did you get that out of your system?” Theon asked dryly. “No, you dick,” Luka retorted. “For weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. How to find you. What to do with Tessa. She’s been … She didn’t speak to anyone for days, Theon. Not a single word. Do you have any idea how godsdamn unnerving that is?” “I am well-versed in Tessa not speaking to me, yes.” “And then she destroyed the Pantheon.” “I heard.” “After she summoned a fucking goddess!” Luka continued. “She summoned a goddess, Theon. Not just any goddess. Serafina.” He was pacing now, long strides back and forth on that small,
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“This Mark on my chest makes no difference to me. We may as well call it our Union Mark for all I care.” “Okay,” she whispered. “That’s not very convincing,” he replied dryly. “You realize that if something happens to me, if I die, you die too, right?” “Considering that would put a great deal of distance between us, I understand that just fine.
Kyra was last, her flames burning wings while Theon shoved a blade into the chest of a seraph. Blazing amber eyes held his as she said, “Welcome to the revolution.” Then she tugged her Source through a fire portal.
Caris Emersyn. Once, she was to be a Lady of Arius Kingdom. Then she became the caretaker of the Heirs, and now she was locked away until Valter needed her bloodline.
“You’re nervous,” he teased, his thumb sweeping over her pulse point. She always reverted to logic when she was nervous. “A little,” she admitted. “I think this will be different from when you drank from my wrist at the House of Four.” “Undoubtedly,” he nearly growled. “There will be fucking involved this time, kitten.”
