She could see her in the window reflection too, her gaze catching Tessa’s and holding. Tessa popped an orange slice into her mouth, waiting for the witch’s reply.
“I think we cannot interfere here anymore,” she finally said.
And Tessa smiled.
Wise choice.
She turned on her heel, crossing the room without ever uttering a sound. She didn’t acknowledge any of them as she left and found her way back to the stairs. Taking another bite of her orange, she climbed to the room she’d been staying in.
They had made plans, but she had her own.
And now she could finalize them to fulfill her purpose.
2
LUKA
At least Tristyn waited until they all heard the door to her room click shut on the floor above before he rounded on Luka.
“That’s it? What the fuck, Luka? We need to do something,” Blackheart spat, hurling his cup of coffee across the room.
The ceramic mug shattered where it hit the wall, and Luka couldn’t help but smirk. He’d been handling the tantrums of the St. Orcas brothers and the Arius Lord for over two decades. Males who were used to commanding a room and being obeyed without question. He should maybe be concerned that Tristyn was a deity, and maybe he would have been if he hadn’t also been dealing with Tessa the last several months.
“I told you not to coddle her,” Luka replied in a bored tone as he made his way to the food spread. “She can see right through that shit.”
“We need to draw her out of herself, not give her more reason to sink into her power,” Blackheart retorted.
“You all act like she’s going to go off any second.”
“Sheisunpredictable. Do you not remember what happened at the Pantheon when Theon left?”
A warning growl rumbled from his chest at the mention of that day. As if he needed any sort of reminder of what had happened. He relived it every time he closed his eyes. Every time he slept, which was only when she was sleeping, he hoped Tessa would draw him into her dreams so he could see what exactly was going on in that mind of hers, but it never came. She clearly didn’t trust him anymore, and the feeling was pretty fucking mutual. The problem was that since he wasn’t pulled into her dreams, he instead relived the nightmare of that day repeatedly.
Of watching his best friend, histruebrother, walk out of that chamber. Of Tessa thrashing in his arms. Trying to talk to the others over her shrieks of fury and her power that flared more and more. Gritting his teeth against the shocks of energy that rippled off her, sinking into his being and power, trying to latch on to anything it could. It had wanted to take, and she had let it do whatever it wanted. His power hadn’t been enough to counter it, just as Theon’s had never been enough by itself. Razik had helped, the power of two grandsons of Sargon at least containing her, but it had taken the addition of both Tristyn and Cienna to finally stop her.
And stop probably wasn’t the best word to use.
The siblings had combined their gifts from their father, Pax, the god of peace and calming, and their mother, a powerful witch. They’d managed to put Tessa into a deep sleep, and Luka had felt a twinge of guilt the moment she’d gone lax in his arms. And while Tessa may have been in a magic-induced coma of sorts, he could still feel her magic thrashing in her soul.
Angry.
Vengeful.
Chaotic.
Everyone else had wanted to leave right then and there. Eliza was already at the mirror preparing to summon her queen when Luka had stopped her. He was the real reason they hadn’t leftDevram yet. He was the reason they were still here two weeks later. Everyone thought it was because of Tessa, and it was in a way, but he was admittedly dragging his feet on this.
He’d initially argued it would be a mistake to take Tessa from the only world she knew when she was already volatile. She’d wake up in unfamiliar surroundings in a new world, reeling from everything that had been said in that chamber, and her power would consume her. It might have been true; it might have been an exaggeration. Either way, everyone else eventually agreed, more afraid of her than they needed to be. And while it drove him mad she hadn’t uttered a single word to anyone since she woke a day later and all the days since, he hadn’t had to argue about staying when she was displaying just how unstable she was at the moment.
His arguments may have been about Tessa, but in truth, he was trying to think of a way out of this. He knew Theon’s orders, but the idea of leaving his best friend behind in a world that would be destroyed? His family? His brothers he’d been raised with? Suffered and survived with? All those years of plotting and planning? He wasn’t sure he could live with himself if he didn’t at least try.
But he’d come up short and patience had clearly run out.This morning, every single person, including his father, had said it was time to go. They’d tried to include Tessa in the decision, and Luka had hoped she’d finally argue, but of course, there’d been nothing from her. Just her watching, listening, and learning everything she could.
Still following Theon’s orders to this day.
Except she’d learned to be just as cunning and vicious as the Arius Heir too, and while it made her a bigger pain in his ass, it also made the dragon in his soul want her even more. Once again, he was at odds with the thing, especially now that they’d had a taste of what could have been with her.
“You have nothing to say?” Tristyn demanded as Luka layered deli meat onto slices of bread.
