Storm of Secrets and Sorrow (Legacy #2)

by Melissa K. Roehrich

“Not yet.” That was what the female said who appeared at her side, crouching down to peer at her. Her violet eyes were hard and narrowed. Her shiny mahogany hair was braided down her back, and she wore close-fitting black clothing. “Lost for so long, but not much longer. Fate changes, moment-by-moment, and I can’t keep up. But it is not time for this, for chaos and death. Much can change. Much will change. That war will come.” She reached out and placed a hand over Tessa’s heart, and faint light flared as she murmured, “It slumbers still. Now is not the time for this. Not yet.”

But it would be nice, just once, to know what it was like to be so important to someone that they chose her above all else.

“But for the sake of clarity, should you learn she is indeed a Legacy and the Source bond cannot be severed another way, it is not an Achaz Legacy whose life will pay that price. That is the cost of this kindness we’ve extended to you.”

“One female will not be the downfall of an entire realm,” Theon snapped. The masked face tilted to the side. “No, but the two of you together will be.”

“I’m saying you need to decide you’re worth it. Even on the hard days. Even on the days you feel like giving up. Even on the days where it feels pointless. You need to decide you are worth it.”

“You’ll have to forgive my negligence. I’ve been a little busy with your needy cunt, beautiful.”

“Her father is a god. Her mother may as well be one. She is as powerful as a Lesser,”

Death seemed peaceful. Comfortable. Freeing. Something she’d craved for so damn long. Theon is death.

“I know you think it feels freeing to let your power have you, Tessa, but what have I told you from the very beginning? I want everything you have to give. Your power does not get to have you. I do,” Theon said.

“You don’t get to do this,” she interjected, lightning cracking in her eyes. “You don’t get to lock me in the dark, tell me you’d do it again, and then tell me I matter to you. You don’t get to whisper lies disguised as sweet words in a bid to win me over and get me to play nice. You don’t get to play on my emotions because you feel them now when you were too inept to understand them before. And you certainly don’t get to ask for my affection because you are jealous of Luka.”

“Villains don’t bargain, Tessie. They take what they want and refuse to settle for anything less.”

yelling at her, but it was Luka’s voice echoing in her mind. Start fighting for yourself. Fight back. But she didn’t know how. No one had taught her how to fight back. She’d only been taught to submit. To be less than she was. To shove all that she was down—all of her light into the dark—so that someone else could shine. She’d only been told she wasn’t enough. Too wild. Too impulsive. Too much of a hassle. Uncontrollable. So she became what was expected of her, and she let her power out. All of it.

in the archives. “This contends that the Fae were created to keep the balance.” “Then the Fates would have been involved.” “Or the Fates required something be done, and this was the answer.” What if the Fae were the answer to something that needed to be corrected? What if the Fae were never meant to serve the Legacy at all? What if, in the end, the Fae had saved them?

“You may have stolen her Guardian from her, but that only means you must now deal with me.”

“No, little one,” he said, shaking his head. “You need to feel.” “Feeling hurts,” she said on a gasp as she sobbed harder. “Everything I do is so that I don’t feel, and this is why.” “Feeling is what keeps us from becoming the monsters, Tessa.” “Maybe I want to be the monster!” she cried.

“You wish the Fae had more freedoms? Then give me this one. Let me make this choice. If it’s something you want⁠—” “If it’s something I want? For fuck’s sake, Kat, I’ve wanted since the moment I laid eyes on you. Before that even. If Theon feels a fraction of this draw to Tessa, I understand the obsession, because I am obsessed with you. It’s why even though I know this is a terrible idea, I’m going to let you have it. I don’t even know what this is, but I know I could never deny you a godsdamn thing.”

“You will be the beginning of endings.”

“This contends that some descendants of Sefarina could move among the winds like she can. The winds would carry messages and secrets that only they could hear,”

Not only was she not supposed to be yours, she wasn’t even supposed to be in Devram. Yet here we are. All of us drawn to her light like moths to a fucking flame from the very beginning.”

“I will always fight for you, Tessa. I will always come for you. You will forever be mine.”

He and I were always meant to destroy one another.

know she was meant to be a tempest of wrath and vengeance in this world.”

“Nothing has been logical from the moment I laid eyes on you, Katya. Claiming you wasn’t logical. Letting you have my room wasn’t logical. Arguing with you, sleeping beside you, kissing you. None of it is logical. And it sure as fuck isn’t logical that you consume me just by godsdamn existing, but you do, Katya. I cannot explain why. I’ve stopped trying. I’m a disappointment to many people on so many levels, but please, Kat. Please let me do this. Please let me keep you safe because it is the only mercy I can offer you in this godsforsaken realm.”

“But you asked what it would have been like. What a casual night in would be like if you were those things to me.” “I did,” she agreed on a breath, a slight tremor to her voice. “Our nights wouldn’t be spent like this,” he answered, and he watched her face fall a little at the words. “Our nights would be spent on balconies under the stars talking or on sofas before fires watching a Chaosphere game. Our nights would be more than fucking fruit, cheese, and crackers. 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 anything but whatever the fuck this is.

monsters don’t settle, Tessa. They take their happy endings, even if they leave a blood trail in their wake,”

“I know all about how you two formed this little organization together. I know all about how he left, and I know all about how you have been trying to kill me since the first Tribunal hearing.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I crave destruction at your hands, clever tempest. If that’s what it takes to keep you, then so be it.”

“What do you need, Theon? My power? You can’t have it. The bond? It’s still there. My cunt? You just had it. My loyalty? You never had it. My help? You never let me actually do so. My trust? You were close, but you lost it.”