Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance (Legacy #3)

1. Theon

1

THEON

“ F ucking son of Achaz,” Theon cursed when he slammed a drawer shut on his fingers.

He was in his father’s study at Arius House trying to find any possible clue as to where Axel could be. Not that he hadn’t searched it a dozen times already in the last two weeks. He’d combed through the study, his father’s private office in the other wing of the house, his father’s private rooms—much to his mother’s disapproval— and anywhere else his father had told him never to enter. He’d scoured the rooms beneath Arius House. Rooms where prisoners were sometimes held, and torture was handed out freely. Theon had spent plenty of time in those rooms himself—both as the victim and the one doing the torturing. Then he’d gone through other rooms that seemed too obvious. He’d gone to the Underground, searching all the known properties there, but there was nothing. Not a single indication of where he could have hidden Axel away. It was as though he’d simply disappeared.

His father’s advisors were no help, mainly because he couldn’t find them either. This entire situation was murky and unprecedented. Was he truly the Arius Lord if his father still lived? Apparently, most believed that was not the case. His mother tittered around the house, saying he would be back soon, and the nobles of the kingdom chose to ignore any and all communication. But even though he was not viewed as the reigning Arius Lord, it sure as fuck was enough to fulfill the Bargain he’d made with Tessa. A Bargain he’d made thinking he’d gained the upper hand only to have her flip the whole godsdamn thing upside down.

Again.

His gaze cut to the Mark on the back of his hand. Three interconnected triangles. The exact opposite of the Arius Mark he’d drawn on her skin months ago. She’d been vicious and spiteful, and he’d known she hated him. There was no going back. She’d made that perfectly clear when she’d taken everything from him and left him with half a title and no one to share the burden. Axel was missing. She was gone. He’d sent Luka to her and told him not to tell him a word. Axel had Katya hidden away. Blackheart wouldn’t answer his calls. All he was left with were two Fae, Lange and Corbin, and the-gods-only-knew if he could trust them.

And this fucking bond.

It was pining for Tessa in a way he’d never experienced. They’d never been apart this long, but this was more exaggerated than merely being separated by distance and time. The bond seemed to know they were irreparable at this point, and it was in utter agony.

Or maybe that was him.

Theon dropped into his father’s chair, eyeing a tablet he’d found in a desk drawer. He was assuming it was a backup of some sort, but he hadn’t been able to get into it. He was close to asking Corbin for help. Everyone kept saying he was adept at technology, despite being a Fae. But again, he was back to this trust thing. He only trusted two people implicitly, and both of those people were inaccessible to him right now.

With another sigh, he pulled Axel’s mirror from his pocket. He’d found it in his room at the townhouse in the Acropolis. It had fallen in between the couch cushions. He didn’t know how to use the thing like Axel did. Or rather, Cienna didn’t respond to him like she did to Axel. So he was left waiting, with nothing to do but search this stupid house and the estate manor near the Acropolis.

He’d never felt so alone in his entire life.

He’d also found Axel’s phone, his earbuds, and a book written in an old language. It would take Theon months to translate, and he could only assume Katya had been working on it. Why Axel had kept it, Theon wasn’t sure. Of course, he had no way of getting in touch with Katya either because, again, Blackheart wouldn’t answer his godsdamn calls.

A knock on the door had him spinning the chair to the sound. When the door didn’t immediately open, it took him a minute to remember his father would have punished someone for not waiting for permission to enter.

“Enter,” Theon barked, not bothering to stand.

A Fae male entered. Not Ford. That fucker was locked in a cell beneath the manor, where Theon had immediately escorted his father’s personal servant. He knew where the male’s loyalty lay, and it was to his father, not the Arius Kingdom as a whole. The male standing here now was another member of the house staff.

“You have a visitor, my Lord,” the Fae said, his head bowed.

“I do not have any appointments, nor am I seeing anyone right now,” Theon replied, already turning away.

“I understand, my Lord. He did say—” He flinched when Theon spun back to face him again.

Theon couldn’t blame him. His father would have already had Eviana hurting him for continuing to speak.

“Who is here?” Theon asked, trying to sound reassuring, but gods, he was not in the mood to see anyone.

The male swallowed thickly before trying again, his voice trembling. “He refused to give his name, but said that when you refused him, I was to tell you ‘salvation or destruction is your choice.’”

Tristyn. Fucking. Blackheart.

The male couldn’t bother to answer his phone, but he could show up here whenever he wished and demand to see him.

Theon stood, the male flinching back at the movement. He slipped the mirror back into his pocket before shoving the tablet back into a desk drawer. Brushing past the male, he made his way down the hall to the foyer where Blackheart was indeed waiting.

Tristyn’s hands were shoved into the pockets of his dark jeans as he studied a portrait on the wall while he waited. His brown hair was a little disheveled. Theon was used to it being clean-cut and styled impeccably. Russet-colored eyes lifted to meet his as he approached.

“Arius Heir,” the male drawled, looking Theon up and down. “Or is it Lord now?”

“What are you doing here?” Theon asked, stopping a few feet away. His darkness appeared, pooling at his feet and drifting closer to the Legacy before him. Tristyn glanced at it, but didn’t appear bothered in the least.

“I am here to bring you to those who can help with your…predicament,” he finally answered.

Theon scoffed. “As if you know anything of my predicament.”

Tristyn’s eyes seemed to flash, the russet color almost glowing for a second before it receded. “I was there when Tessa chose her side. I tried to bring her back to you that night. I tried…” He gritted his teeth. “I suppose it doesn’t matter what I tried. I failed. And now I am here to offer assistance.”

“You tried to bring her back to me? What the fuck does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I tried to bring her back to you. Well, both of you. Do you want my help or not?” Tristyn asked.

Theon studied him. He looked tired and worse for wear. His button-down shirt was untucked, and the buttons were mismatched. He wore a worn brown leather jacket over the top that seemed decades out of style. It didn’t even smell right.

“Fine. Where are we going?” Theon finally said, standing straighter.

“The Underground.”

“I’ll need to bring Lange and Corbin with us.”

“Bring whoever you want,” Tristyn replied. “Just be quick about it.”

Theon glared at him, but he turned to the Fae who’d come to announce Tristyn’s arrival and asked him to fetch Lange and Corbin. As they waited, he said to Tristyn, “It will take at least a full day of driving to get to the Underground.”

“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.

“How convenient,” Theon deadpanned.

“Quite,” he agreed as the sound of footsteps reached them.

Corbin and Lange looked wary as they approached, and Theon couldn’t blame them. They’d been shuffled around from the Fae dormitories to the townhouse and now here. Only now, they didn’t have Tessa or Katya to help guide them. Fuck, even Axel had seemed to be able to put them at ease.

Without a word, Theon motioned them forward. Tristyn made sure they were all touching, and then he felt a pull at his navel he’d never experienced. Luka had certainly never Traveled with him because Luka had kept that particular skill a secret for godsdamn decades.

“I cannot Travel directly into the Underground,” Tristyn said as they appeared near the main gates. “Most areas in Devram are not warded against Traveling because it is not an expected ability, but the Underground has always been different.”

“You know a lot of things, Blackheart,” Theon muttered, trying to swallow down the nausea. He’d had enough vomiting to last a lifetime after Tessa had tricked him with that last Source Mark.

Tessa .

The bond immediately strained at the mere thought of her, and Theon closed his eyes for a moment, tamping down on that desire too. But he could still picture her in that thin, floor-length skirt of navy blue that was so dark it was nearly black. Her hair loose around her and her light banded around her arms. Violet eyes full of malice and rapture as she tipped her head back, riding him and taking her pleasure.

Clever and exquisite.

Brutal and malevolent.

Salvation and destruction.

“While you have lived nearly three decades, I have lived well over three centuries. Too many of them spent in this godsforsaken realm. I should know a lot of things,” Tristyn answered as they ventured into the Underground passages.

“Then why not share what you know?” Theon countered. “This could have all been avoided.”

“Why do you keep your knowledge secret?” he countered, and Theon couldn’t argue with that. “But aside from secrets being currency, messing with fate is a dangerous game. I reveal too much, and it could be seen as me playing with free will in an effort to obtain a specific outcome. It is safer to not say anything at all.”

“But you have,” Theon argued. “You revealed pieces here and there. Why take the risk?”

Tristyn stopped, turning to face him. His eyes flared again, and he held Theon’s gaze when he said, “Because some things are worth the risk and more.”

They said nothing else as they traversed the tunnels of the Underground. He glanced back to make sure Corbin and Lange were still with them. They were quiet, hand in hand and keeping up. Theon wasn’t entirely sure why he’d brought them with, but he didn’t trust leaving them at Arius House. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them . It was that he didn’t trust anyone else. Tessa would be livid if something happened to her friends, and the last thing he needed was to give her yet another reason to hate him.

Not that it really mattered anymore.

“Since I am with you, I assume this is not your unaccompanied visit you bartered for?” Theon said as they turned down another passage. Theon didn’t know where they were going, and he was beginning to wonder how Tristyn knew how to traverse the Underground so well.

Tristyn glanced at him with a smirk. “Consider that debt paid, my Lord .”

Theon was about to snap something back in reply until they stepped into a spacious cavern he immediately recognized. Three work tables were in the center of the space, multiple shelves with herbs and ingredients lined the walls. There were three hearths, one with a cauldron steaming atop a fire.

“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.

“I wouldn’t mess with her things,” Theon warned, knowing full well what it was like to be on the Witch’s bad side.

“I can handle her,” Tristyn answered.

As if his words summoned her, Cienna’s voice carried from a side tunnel. “Never useful when I need you, and now you are messing with my potions.”

Theon felt his entire face go slack as Cienna and Gia, her lover, entered the cavern with two others. 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.

How many siblings do you have?

Those had been her taunting words. That arrogant silver-haired queen had known even then.

“Is she here then?” Theon asked.

“Who?” Cienna replied, shoving at Tristyn to get him out of the way before peering into the pot.

“Scarlett,” he answered.

“No,” the new female said. “She has been…forbidden to interfere here.”

“So she sent you two?”

The male sighed, as if he was utterly annoyed with everything happening. “She is incredibly adept at finding loopholes. It is both brilliant and irksome.”

“Must run in the family. Her cousin is the same,” Theon muttered, crossing his arms and leaning a hip against the table. “Are you her Guardian then? She mentioned one.”

The male made a face that told Theon he would rather swallow glass and bleed out of his eyes than be Scarlett’s Guardian. “No, but I am her brother’s Guardian.”

Theon nodded. “She mentioned a brother.” Glancing at the female, he asked, “Are you the sister that tried to kill her?”

Her brows knitted in confusion for a brief moment before understanding seemed to don. “No,” she said with a huff of laughter. “I wish I could call myself a Wraith of Death, but that would be Nuri. I am the general of the Fire Court.”

“Fire?” Theon said. “You are a fire Fae then?”

She nodded, eyeing him before her gaze slid to the others.

“This is Eliza,” the male said, stepping subtly closer to her. “I am Razik Greybane.”

“You are certainly more forthcoming with information than Scarlett is,” Theon answered.

“Scarlett doesn’t tell anyone anything,” Razik replied.

“That’s not true,” Eliza scoffed.

Razik sent her a frank look before turning back to Theon.

“You do not like Scarlett?” Theon asked.

“No,” he answered.

“Raz,” Eliza snapped, elbowing him in the gut hard enough to make him suck in a breath.

“I see no point in lying about it,” Razik replied, stepping aside when she tried to elbow him again. “Stop, mai dragocen . It is not as if this is a new revelation to you.”

Eliza rolled her eyes, crossing her arms before her grey gaze settled on Theon. “I am assuming you are the Arius prince or whatever?”

“Arius Heir. I mean, Lord.” He sighed, shoving a hand through his hair. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was at this point.

Eliza eyed him another moment before saying, “I am not very confident in your ability to lead a kingdom if you do not even know your title.”

“That is rude, Eliza,” Razik chided, but the twitch of his lips told Theon he was goading her.

Luka did the same godsdamn thing.

Eliza tsked under her breath, tossing a hand in Theon’s direction. “We were sent here to help him, and he doesn’t even know who he is, Raz. How are we supposed to work with this?”

“What, exactly, did she send you here to do?” Theon asked, glancing at Cienna and Tristyn who had gone noticeably quiet.

“That’s what you were supposed to tell us,” Eliza retorted sharply.

Theon’s brows rose at the address. “Do you always speak to Legacy in such a manner?” Then he glanced at Razik. “You allow her to speak to Legacy in such a manner?”

The female’s lip curled up, baring her teeth, and her hand inched toward a dagger at her hip. Those were definitely flames in her eyes as she replied in a voice that was lethally calm, “He does not allow me to do anything, and if you ever speak to him about my actions again, you will find yourself bleeding.”

“Do you remember how I was trying to explain how the Fae are treated differently here?” Tristyn interrupted, stepping back as Cienna pushed him away from her work tables again.

The female looked like she was about to say something else, but Razik stepped in. “She does not care and neither do I, but let’s discuss something else before she becomes violent.” Eliza glared up at him, crossing her arms again with a huff. He glanced down at her. “I did not say I would stop you if you chose to stab him, mai dragocen .”

The female muttered a curse under her breath, but she looked away, apparently done with the conversation.

“Now that that’s settled,” Razik said, bringing a hand to Eliza’s lower back. She immediately seemed to calm a little, some of that tension leaving her shoulders. Then her head tipped a little as if she heard something, and Theon narrowed in on the action. That seemed an awful lot like?—

“Perhaps we should discuss the female who should not exist,” Razik went on, and the words made Theon’s attention snap back to him.

“If you are referring to Tessa, I will be the one doing the stabbing,” Theon snarled, a short sword appearing in his hand from a swirl of darkness.

“I would assume so,” Razik drawled, looking as worried about the weapon as Tristyn had about Theon’s power earlier. “Isn’t that what this entire prophecy is about?”

“What prophecy?”

“For fuck’s sake,” Eliza groused. “Fae are treated as less than here, but the Legacy don’t know shit. How the fuck does that work?”

“That is not?—”

“He knows plenty. 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. “Who are they?”

Theon followed his line of sight and turned. Corbin and Lange were standing quietly by, taking everything in.

“They are Fae in service to the Arius Kingdom,” Theon answered.

Eliza’s eyes narrowed, and he could swear there were embers drifting through her red-gold hair, but he’d had enough of this.

Turning back to Tristyn, he said, “If this is the help you spoke of earlier, I’m afraid it has fallen flat. Unless you have information that is actually useful, do not contact me again.”

He was already striding for the exit. He didn’t know exactly how he’d find his way back through the network of the Underground, but he’d figure it out.

“Theon St. Orcas, you will sit and listen to what needs to be said,” Cienna called after him. “She told you of her dreams, didn’t she? Of you killing her?”

He went still, turning slowly back to face the Witch. “How do you know of them?”

Her smile was sharp and grim when she answered, “I think you should be more worried about those visions becoming reality because if something is not done, that will be the only way to stop her.”