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“That is what you ask me about?” Valter asked, his steps pausing. “I tell you he left the Augury and you ask me aboutthat?”

“I know all about that,” she retorted, rubbing at her wrists as the bands grew colder and colder against her skin. “I know all about how you two formed this little organization together. Iknow all about how he left, and I know all about howyouhave been trying to kill me since the first Tribunal hearing.”

She could see the shock ripple across Valter’s features. The way his mouth dropped open. The way he lurched back a step. The way he stared at her.

And she smiled back at him.

“He did this,” Valter said, color draining from his face. “That bastard knew what the cost of this would be, and still he brings war to the realm. He still brings destruction here.”

Her head tilted. “He does not bring war here. I am here to end the war.”

Clearly there was no further explanation needed as Valter drew two dark blades from a burst of swirling black. How stupid she’d been to put these bands on. Her visions had failed her. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. She’d seen this in her dreams last night. Had known they would come. The Arius Lord had somehow worked around them, and now she was in another mess of her own creation.

Reckless.

Impulsive.

Too much of a hassle.

She couldn’t be those things. Not now. She had a purpose, and gods, if she fucked this up, she was only proving that Mother Cordelia had been right all along.

But the Augury was converging on her. Some held dark blades, others with ordinary daggers and swords. Vines were snaking around her as Eviana started to subdue her, keeping her in place.

“Wait!” Tessa cried, panic settling in. “You don’t understand. You?—”

Howling ripped through the air, and Valter cursed at the sound.

“Quickly, Eviana,” he ordered, and Tessa was yanked so forcefully to the ground that the back of her head hit with a smack that made her ears ring and her vision fuzzy. She could feel the snow and mud sticking to her bare back, and she could do nothing, once again helpless when she swore she would never be so again.

Vines held her in place, her limbs stretched out. She couldn’t fight back as Valter stood over her, looking so much like Theon. Dark hair. Same build and jawline. If it weren’t for the hazel eyes filled with loathing, she’d swear itwasTheon as he lifted the dagger.

She thought about saying goodbye to them. Lowering those shields just enough to pretend she’d be missed, but in the end, she left her shields in place. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears of fury leaking from the corners as thunder rumbled and the shards of rain fell harder, slicing into her skin. She screamed. A sound of broken rage and defiance to the skies and the stars and the realms.

That was when she realized the ground was shaking beneath her.

There were confused cries and shouts of surprise, and she opened her eyes to find the Augury members scattering back from her. A flare of light had her jerking her head to the side where a fissure was forming. Turning to the other side, she found another.

“Eviana, stop!” Valter snarled, but his Source was shoving him back from Tessa, pushing him away.

Trying to protect him, Tessa realized.

“We need to leave, my Lord,” she begged, clinging to his arm.

“Not until we finish this,” he snapped, shoving her off of him.

But her desperation to keep her Master safe had caused her focus to split, and Tessa was able to break free of the vinesholding her arms in place. She sat up, reaching to tear at the binds on her ankles, until she realized what was happening.

There was a crevice forming around her in a perfect circle. Light flared up from the crack, and more of the Augury members were backing away. But some were stuck on this side of the crevice that was widening by the second, gold mist glinting in the setting sun.

There was fear, but not the panic that she’d experienced the last time she’d watched nearly translucent figures crawl up and out of the earth. They glided more than crawled, one after another. Far more than had appeared in the gardens. They floated a couple of inches off the ground, all identical. Pale skin. Tall and lean, with sharp, angular features. Short hair as white as the falling snow.

The three in the front tipped their heads back in unison, seeming to smell the air. One turned to the Arius Lord, while two spun to face her. One stepped forward, and it wasn’t until he pulled the gold sword from nothing and raised it above his head as he made his way to her that Tessa reacted, a cry of terror ripping from her as he brought the sword arcing down.

Only to slash through the vines at her ankle.

In stunned shock, she watched him do the same to the other side before stepping back and bowing his head to her as the other stepped forward.

“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.”