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“Let me through!” he yelled to Luka when he was a few feet away, a break appearing in the flames so Theon could move past the burning shield. “Release her. Now,” he snarled to the figure who held Tessa.

The figure wore a black cloak, their face obscured by a hood. It was so similar to the Keeper’s attire that if it weren’t for the pearly-white mask obscuring the face, Theon would think itwasthe Keeper. That and the fact there were at least twenty more of these fuckers outside the shield.

Tessa’s back was pressed to the figure’s front, and based on height alone, Theon guessed it was a male. The dagger pressing against her throat, however, made sure Theon didn’t give a fuck if they were male or female. Either way, he would deliver death tonight.

When the figure only backed up another step, dragging Tessa with him, Theon bared his teeth, pulling a dagger of his own from a swirl of shadows. “I will not say it again.”

“You do not know what you harbor, young heir,” the figure said, confirming Theon’s suspicion he was indeed male.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Theon retorted, twirling the dagger in his hand. “You, however, do not appear to know when you are moments away from a very painful death.”

“As long as we accomplish our goal, my death will serve its purpose.”

“The only purpose your death will serve is my need to avenge what is mine,” Theon returned, slowly moving forward.

“Theon—” Tessa started.

But she was cut off as the figure yanked her back, lifting her off her feet.

“This is your fault,” the figure continued, even as Theon continued his advance. “She cannot remain your Source. If you had simply agreed at the hearing yesterday, this could all have been avoided.”

“Who sent you?” Theon asked, pausing at his words. How did he know about the hearing and what was said there?

“No one sent me. We serve only to keep Devram what it is supposed to be.”

“So you serve the Keeper?” Theon asked sharply.

“No,” the figure shook his head. “The Keeper keeps many things, but not this.”

“Riddles only make me want to make your death more agonizing.” A roar pierced the air, and Theon smiled, his darkness swelling like the death it came from. “Too late.”

“It is true then,” the figure said, his face tipping to the sky. “The Everlasting War has found its way here at last.” The masked face focused once again on Theon. “But it only does so because ofher.”

“She has nothing to do with any war,” Theon snarled, his shadows creeping forward.

The figure was still holding Tessa off the ground, but she wasn’t struggling. Her eyes were darting from Theon to the sky and back. She had to be exhausted after expending all that power only minutes ago. She didn’t know how to manage it yet, and her power wouldn’t have let her siphon slowly right now anyway.

“She has everything to do with the war,” the figure answered. He moved the dagger down from her throat until it stopped over her heart. “It has to be this way, or this world will fall like all the others.”

The male brought his hand back, preparing to plunge the dagger into her heart, and that was the opening Theon had been waiting for. His shadows wrapped around the male’s wrist, halting the killing blow.

“You don’t understand!” the male cried in a panic as the darkness wrapped around Tessa and yanked her hard from his grip. “You sentence an entire realm to death!”

Theon had stopped listening. He’d heard enough, and his shadows devoured the male, seeping through his cloak and clothing and sinking deep into his being. His darkness flooded his veins, moving throughout his body, destroying and killing, until the only sound Theon could hear was the male’s anguished screams. He’d threatened her, had come so close to killing her. His. She was his to protect, his to avenge, and this male had almost taken her from him. He’d almost lost her again.

“Theon.”

Soft hands were on his face.

“Theon, stop!”

He could feel her trying to turn his attention to her, but not until this male had suffered and paid the cost for trying to take something from him.

“Theon, I need you!”

Those words pulled him from the vengeance-induced haze he was in. He blinked, finally meeting Tessa’s gaze, and there was the fear he had been expecting to see in her eyes while the male had held a dagger to her throat.

“Theon,” she whispered, her gaze darting around, and he finally turned to find Luka’s black flames were gone.