Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance (Legacy #3)

42. Eviana

42

EVIANA

“ Y ou need to hurry it up,” sounded a whisper from beyond the door.

“You need to shut up,” came a hissed retort.

Eviana sat in her chair, head tilted as she watched the door. Her hand slid down the side of the cushion, a shard of glass there should she need it.

When she’d heard the scuffling start, she had perked up, thinking it was Tessa. She hadn’t seen her in a while. The last time she was here, she’d suddenly become too warm in the room, shedding a long coat. It had looked ridiculous on her. She was so short, the hem of it reached nearly to Tessa’s ankles. But on her? It reached mid-calf.

Eviana had slipped it on after she’d left. The inside, along with the hood and cuffs, were lined with some kind of grey fur, looking elegant against the black fabric. This was a coat Cressida would wear. Extravagant and frivolous, but it was warm.

She’d turned the thing inside out, planning to slice pockets into the interior, only to find them already there. Seven of them. Only one of them contained anything though: a single piece of paper with a seven-digit code on it. She had no idea what it meant, but she’d slipped it back into the pocket before sliding one of the hair combs into another. Two of her makeshift weapons filled two of the pockets. She stored food in another. She’d left the final two open, folding the coat up. It looked like a small blanket draped across the back of her chair.

“For the love of Sefarina, Cor, get the fucking door open,” came the first voice again.

“Lange, I love you. But if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m causing a scene just to get us caught so I can have two godsdamn minutes of quiet,” came a snarled retort.

Then a laugh. “You’ve gotten more domineering since?—”

A click had the door opening, and two Fae rushed inside before closing the door behind them. The two seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief before spotting her near the window.

It was the one with the hair so blond it was white that stepped forward. She knew who they were—likely knew more than they did about who they were—but she didn’t speak. Always let them speak first. Let them ramble a little. See what they reveal.

“Eviana, right?” Lange said, shifting awkwardly on his feet when she continued to stare at him. “We were, uh, sent to…help you?”

She arched a brow. “Why are you asking me a question? I do not know why you are here.”

“That’s fair,” he murmured. “You’re just…a Source.”

Her smile was tight and joyless. “And you are a Fae serving the same kingdom, so what are you doing outside of it?”

Lange glanced over his shoulder at Corbin before he said simply, “Tessa sent us.”

“Tessa,” Eviana repeated.

Lange nodded. “Yeah. Theon’s Source. Kind of. Or she was, but isn’t now. I think?”

“I know who Tessa is,” she replied coolly.

“Okay…” He pulled on the back of his neck. “Because she kind of made it sound like you’d want us to come get you.”

“Listen, we’re working on limited time the way it is,” Corbin cut in, stepping up behind Lange. “Tristyn gave us ten minutes maximum, and we used too many of them getting through the security to your room.”

“Tristyn Blackheart is here?” Eviana asked.

That was interesting.

“Yes,” Corbin said. “Cienna said this would work if everything was timed perfectly.”

“The Witch?”

That was even more surprising.

Corbin muttered a curse under his breath. “Yes. The Witch. The Witch who told us our timing had to be perfect, and we are close to testing her warning. Do you want out of here or not?”

“To go where?”

“Back to the Arius manor for now,” Lange answered.

“Without my master?”

“That’s the plan.”

“He will remain locked up?”

“We’re not going to free him,” Lange replied.

Keeping her features expressionless, she reached out down the bond. Are you well, my Lord?

Am I well? he snarled. No, I am not well, Eviana.

She winced internally. He was angry. Something must have happened. It explained why he’d been so quiet these last hours. He always got too quiet when he was angry. He let it brew and fester until he could take it out on someone or something.

Usually her.

Is there something I can do from here? she asked, the knowledge that he couldn’t touch her right now the only reason she did so. If she were in the same room as him, she would have remained quiet and still in her chair, not daring to breathe.

Yes, Eviana, he snapped. You can do what is expected of you and serve your Master. Get me out of here.

Tell me what to do, my Lord.

You know what to do. Kill whomever you must. Fuck whomever you must. Do and sacrifice whatever is necessary. My kingdom is at stake.

Lange and Corbin were staring at her, clearly unsure of what to do.

Corbin pulled a small phone from his pocket, glancing at it before he said, “We need to go right now. You need to decide.”

“I just need to gather a few things,” she replied.

“There isn’t time,” Corbin insisted.

She ignored him, moving to pull the boots from their hiding place. Slipping them on, she grabbed the coat, unfolding it while she made her way to the bathroom and twisted her hair up, sliding the other comb into it. Lange and Corbin were fidgeting by the door, growing more anxious by the second.

She dropped to her knees, reaching under the bed.

“Fuck,” she heard Corbin whisper. “Someone is out there now. We ran out of time.”

Eviana stood, the broken neck of the wine bottle in her hand.

“Should we call Tristyn?” Lange asked.

“I could, but— Wait!” Corbin cried.

But she didn’t.

Eviana strode by them, pulling open the unlocked door.

“What the fu—” the guard started, and then he was gurgling. Bright red bubbled from his lips and dripped down his neck from where she’d shoved the jagged end of the wine bottle into it.

“That…won’t kill him,” Lange said weakly. “He’ll heal too quickly.”

Eviana smiled, and he shrank back into Corbin. “Not if there are too many wounds and a severed spinal cord.”

It took a matter of seconds for her to stab in strategic places. Creative places Mansel had shown her. The harder part was sawing a broken wine bottle through a spinal cord. It took some muscles she hadn’t had to use since being locked in that room. When she was done, she pushed back to her feet with a frown. It was messy. Valter would reprimand her for that if he was here.

But he wasn’t.

She shrugged, slipping the wine bottle into an outer pocket of her coat. “What is the plan for leaving?”

Corbin and Lange stared back at her. She recognized the looks of shock and terror. She’d seen them enough in her years.

“We’re, uh, meeting Tristyn one floor up,” Corbin answered, placing himself between her and Lange.

Interesting, but not entirely surprising considering who they were.

“Is he there yet?” she asked, directing her question to Lange.

“Why would I know that?” he countered. She only stared back at him expectantly. It was a few more seconds before he said, “He is probably waiting for us?”

It was good enough for her, and she stepped to the side to let them lead the way. She’d been in that room for weeks. She certainly didn’t remember her way around the Faven Palace. The few times she’d been here with Valter, they’d always been led from the entry to either the dining room or a study.

Rival kingdoms and such nonsense.

Sure enough, Tristyn was waiting for them, a look of disapproval on his handsome face. Whether it was from their tardiness or the blood splattered across her, she didn’t know, nor did she care.

“What now?” she asked.

He glanced at Corbin and Lange. “Any issues we need to deal with?”

“I think we should just get out of here,” Lange said, eyeing her in a way that told her he was questioning whether they should even bring her along.

“If you leave me here, I will be forced to try to free him,” she said in response to his unasked question.

“Tessa asked us to do this. We owe her this,” Corbin said. When Lange sent him a glare, he added, “I never said it was a good idea. She rarely has those.”

Tristyn huffed a laugh at that. “You’d be surprised how wrong you are in that statement.”

He reached out a hand, placing it on Lange’s shoulder. Lange reached for Corbin, who stretched out a hand to her.

“We all have to be touching,” Lange explained.

She hesitated only a moment before placing her fingers in his palm. Not because she trusted these fools. Not in the slightest.

But because she knew what to do.

Kill whomever she must.

Fuck whomever she must.

Do and sacrifice whatever was necessary.

Not for a kingdom or for her master.

But for a little girl named Priya.

“Should we take those bands off?” the Fae with the red-gold hair asked.

“No!” Corbin and Lange both shouted in unison.

The female huffed, crossing her arms with a glare.

“I think we should hold off on that until Theon returns,” Tristyn said, everyone in the room seeming to relax at his words.

Eviana observed him, trying to figure out how he fit in here. The male had always been elusive, known for his glamours and technology. He had never once taken a meeting with Valter. Or if he had, not in this form. With the ease with which everyone was conversing with him, she was inclined to believe this was not only his natural form, but that they knew him well.

She was standing in the living room of the Arius manor, a place she’d been thousands of times. They always stayed here during Selection Years and whenever Valter had business in the Acropolis that required an extended stay. Her hands were clasped in front of her as she watched the five others in this room debate. They’d introduced her to the newcomers, but no one had volunteered where they had come from and what they were doing in her master’s house.

Or why the male looked so similar to Luka Mors.

“So what do we do with her?” Razik asked, before he growled a curse when Eliza elbowed him in the ribs.

“She is standing right there,” the female chided. “Don’t speak about her as if she isn’t.” Then she rounded on the others. “ And she should have the same rights as the rest of you. She deserves to have those bands taken off. It can drive us mad to be separated from our power like that for long periods of time.”

Eviana almost huffed a laugh. She would have if she could feel anything. The truth was she’d gone mad long ago.

“We can’t,” Tristyn said, rubbing at his temple. “She is the Source of Valter. If she is free to access her power, he could instruct her to use it against us.”

Eve? Where are you? Did they move you? The bond is stretched far too thin , came his voice down the bond, and now she was the one rubbing at her temple.

She couldn’t lie to him, but she didn’t have to tell him exactly where she was.

They did move me, my Lord, she answered. I fear it is quite a distance from you.

What are their plans?

I do not know yet.

Relay any information you gather.

Of course, my Lord.

As if being separated from you for weeks wasn’t enough, now they have taken us farther apart. On whose orders?

I am unaware of the orders, my Lord.

Find out! came the barked command.

I will share what I learn.

“Are you all right?”

She looked up, all of them staring at her, but Eliza’s grey eyes held concern. Eviana’s head cocked to the side, and her…whatever he was to her, clearly didn’t like what her face did because he stepped in front of the female.

Eliza clicked her tongue in annoyance. “If the bond is the issue, then we find a way to block it.”

“There is no way to fully block a bond,” Tristyn said, exasperated. “Just as there is no way to sever the bond without a death.”

Eliza’s lip curled in a mocking smile. “Scarlett did it.”

“Impossible,” Tristyn said, shaking his head.

“Not impossible,” Eliza countered. “She blocked her twin flame bond and then ended up getting captured. It set off a whole series of events, but the point is, she did it. Why can’t we do it for Eviana?”

“You can block the bond?” Eviana repeated, and everyone turned to her.

They were the first words she’d spoken since they’d appeared here. Traveled through the very air. She didn’t know how long she would be able to keep that secret, but if the bond could truly be blocked… Well, that would be convenient. More convenient than death to sever the thing, she supposed.

“That was her twin flame bond,” Razik was saying. “This… thing they’ve created is more than that.”

“Yes, but it blocked everything ,” Eliza argued. “Including her Guardian bond.”

“That still doesn’t account for the Source bond that is woven into those,” Razik countered, gesturing to the Marks on her hands. “You know as well as anyone we don’t mess around with blood magic.”

“But it is possible?” Eviana interrupted.

“Can you not block the bond with mental shields?” Razik asked, watching her with familiar eyes.

“I can ,” she answered. “To protect myself from those who would harm a Lord’s Source, but that does not block the ability to feel one’s physical presence.”

The male rubbed at his chin. “I see.”

“Where did Scarlett find such a Mark?” Tristyn asked. Then he added, “Corbin, can I see that tablet I gave you?”

The Fae handed over the tech, Tristyn unlocking it before tapping numerous things on the screen.

“She has a book,” Eliza answered. “A spellbook.”

Tristyn looked up. “Where’d she get that?”

“She stole it.”

“From a Witch?” he demanded. “They kill for such a slight.”

“It’s not a Witch that will ever kill that female,” Razik grumbled, stepping back a step before Eliza could elbow him again.

“She stole it from a being imprisoned in our land,” Eliza supplied. “The point is, it can be done.”

“But not to the same capacity,” Razik argued.

She rounded on him, fire sparking in her eyes. A fire Fae then. Even more interesting.

“Are you suggesting that we leave an innocent Fae locked in bands that suppress her magic and keep her bound in some sadistic mockery of a bond she was forced into?” Eliza demanded. “She should have a choice. She had a curse forced on her, and she should have a fucking choice, Razik.”

Something pained crossed the male’s face, and Eviana watched him pull her into his chest. “This is not the same thing, mai dragocen ,” he murmured into her hair.

“Isn’t it?” she demanded. “Not the same outcome, but still something forced on her. Something that took a choice away from her.”

Her head cocked to the side as she took in the exchange. She had seen several Source bonds over her years, and none of them looked like that. Surely she chose her bond with Razik, but she wasn’t wrong with the way she spoke either. She was still trying to work out where they came from that a Legacy and Fae were together so freely. Or maybe they weren’t so free? And that was why everything about them was so secretive?

Either way, none of it mattered. If the bond could truly be blocked, it would make her tasks insurmountably easier. No incessant voice in her head. No dealing with his emotions. No way for him to track her down.

She remained quiet while Razik continued to console Eliza. Lange had plopped down on the sofa, and Corbin was hovering over Tristyn’s shoulder, watching him work on the tablet.

“Why not use the other code?” Corbin asked.

“Because that one leaves a trace,” Tristyn answered. “When you add these extra digits and symbols, it scrambles everything further. It becomes untraceable.”

“Nothing is untraceable,” Corbin argued.

“It is when we can shift the energy and power,” Tristyn said. “Watch.”

Seconds later, Corbin’s hazel eyes lit up with excitement. “That’s amazing. You can access anything from anywhere.”

Tristyn nodded. “It takes longer with certain devices, but it’s why I gave you one of my own. I can navigate it faster.”

Fingers swiping quickly, he flipped the tablet over, showing the screen to Eliza and Razik. “You’re talking about this Mark, right?”

Extricating herself from Razik’s arms, Eliza peered at the screen. “Is that a spellbook inside there?”

Tristyn chuckled. “No. I do not keep a spellbook in here, but I do have a database of Marks and such.”

Eliza studied the image for a moment longer before saying, “I never got a good look at Scarlett’s Mark. It was…a complicated situation.”

“Her bond obviously isn’t still blocked,” Tristyn mused, flipping the screen back to him and studying the Mark more. “What was the cost?”

“It blocked everything ,” Eliza answered. “Any and all bonds, including the one with her Guardian, and to reverse it, she had to let her power drain away to nothing.”

“We’re forgetting that she is not Fae,” Razik said. “Who’s to say the Mark will be the same for a Fae versus a Legacy.”

“That wouldn’t be an issue,” Eviana interrupted.

They all turned to her. She stood in the same place, still and with her hands clasped.

“Why wouldn’t that be an issue?” Tristyn asked slowly.

“Because I am not a pure-blooded Fae.”

“Then…what are you?” Eliza asked.

“My mother was a Silas Legacy.”

“But…” Eliza trailed off, the look of horror on her face morphing into anger.

Eviana only smirked. “The Marks are not the only things perverse and altered in Devram. They like to…experiment. It is how advancements are made.”

“Not all advancements,” Tristyn cut in, an angry red flush to his cheeks. “Things like that were never done at Lilura Inquest.”

Eviana shrugged. “The point is, if the Mark requires more than Fae blood to be successful, it is an unnecessary worry.”

“There are costs with blood magic,” Razik started.

“Then I will pay them.”

“But it might not be you,” he argued. “It will affect any bond you have. Could affect anyone connected to you.”

“Like who?” she asked.

“That’s the thing,” he retorted, sounding annoyed. “We can’t know. Magic is still magic. We don’t know all the secrets of it, despite our best efforts. It’s like the realm and the stars. It’s like trying to make sense of Chaos.”

“I will take the risk.”

“But—”

“Razik, it’s her choice,” Eliza interrupted.

“And if that choice leads to death?”

“Death hasn’t had mercy on me for decades. He won’t start now,” Eviana cut in. “But if you do not do this, you may as well return me to Faven. Eventually, I will be forced to betray everything I have seen here.”

She’d betray them all anyway in the end, but they would learn that in time.

“If the Mark can block the bond, it would buy us time,” Tristyn said.

“Shouldn’t we consult Theon before we do this?” Corbin asked.

“Are we loyal to Tessa or Theon?”

They all turned to Lange where he was casually lounging. His platinum blond hair had fallen into his eyes, one arm stretched along the back of the sofa.

“What does that mean?” Corbin asked.

“Tessa asked us to free her. Not Theon,” Lange went on. “Knowing Tessa, I would imagine she meant freeing her from more than a room. Like a genesis.”

Tristyn’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

At the same time, Corbin said tightly, “Lange, not now.”

A third voice rang out among the sudden chaos.

“What did you just say?” Razik asked.

Lange blinked, looking confused. “I’m…not sure.”

Eliza looked up at Razik, but he was already striding from the room. “Do what you want. I need to look into something.”

“Is that normal?” Tristyn asked Eliza.

“Unfortunately. It’s annoying,” she muttered. Turning to face Eviana fully, she gave her a small smile that Eviana did not return. “I think the choice should be yours.”

“I already said I would take the Mark,” Eviana replied curtly, wondering why they were having the same conversation over and over. This was like sitting in a room with the Lords and Ladies. They once debated what kind of bread to serve at the Selection Closing for three days. Someone just needed to make a decision so they could all move forward one way or another.

There was a burst of flames, Eliza pulling a scion from them, and Eviana’s brow arched. “You can bestow Marks? I thought you were a Fae, not a priestess.”

“It’s complicated,” she said, motioning for Tristyn to turn the screen back to her.

“They have to be drawn precisely,” he warned.

“I’m aware,” the female drawled, moving closer to her. “Where would you like it?

Unclasping her hands, she looked down. A Mark on the back of each. Three identifying Marks on her inner wrist. Maybe not somewhere quite so obvious though.

Unbuttoning the coat she still wore, she slipped it off, laying it carefully across a chair. Then she reached up and pulled aside the collar of her shirt, baring the back of her shoulder.

“Here,” she said.

“You are sure?” Eliza asked.

“I wouldn’t say it if I weren’t.”

Eliza nodded, not questioning her again before she got to work. It took only minutes, Eviana scarcely feeling the burn of the scion against her flesh as she focused on the bond, wondering if this would truly work.

Eve?

She sighed internally. My Lord?

What is happening?

I do not know what you mean.

You feel faint. Are they moving you again?

No, my Lord. I am in the same place as before.

Then what— happening— Eviana?

For the first time in a long time, she smiled.

Yes, my Lord?

What is… They doing… kill them… Now!

“Almost done,” Eliza murmured.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d truly smiled.

Goodbye, my Lord.

Eviana!

It was a cry of rage and panic rather than any type of mourning at losing her. He was losing power, not her.

But she couldn’t feel him. She could feel…

Nothing.

There was no voice rattling around in her mind.

No commands or orders.

No feelings.

Just blessed silence.

“I hope you understand that we still need to keep you locked up for now,” Tristyn said tentatively.

“You cannot be serious!” Eliza cried in outrage.

“I compromised on the Mark. I cannot compromise on this until we speak to Theon,” he replied in a tone that said he wouldn’t budge on this. “There is too much happening right now. Too much unknown with Dark Haven and the rest of the kingdom.”

Eviana didn’t care. They could lock her up. It was fine.

“Can I have some paper and a pen?” she asked.

“Yes,” Eliza answered immediately, going to secure the items.

They led her down the stairs, and she already knew where they were going. There were a few small cells in the basement. She wasn’t surprised to pass Ford sitting along the wall in one of them. His gaze followed her.

The sound of the bars clanging shut behind her didn’t bother her. Neither did the uncomfortable cot that Eliza promised to bring down extra blankets for. She waited until the footfalls faded. She waited until there was nothing but still quiet.

Then she sat on the floor, smoothing out the paper, and started to plan.