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“So it’s true?” Jagger said. “You brought a fuckingAchazLegacy to the Underground. Achaz. The Kingdom who forced us here. The Kingdom that keeps us here. The Kingdom that represses us. Repressesyou?”

“Calm down, Jagger,” Axel said.

“Calm down?” the Night Child repeated. “Are you allying with them now? With that fucking light lord?”

“No—”

“Then what other explanation is there?”

Axel’s shadows struck, but they didn’t wind around the throat like Theon would have done. No, because Axel didn’t calculate his attacks. His moves were all feeling and in-the-moment. His power went straight down the Night Child’s throat, Jagger gagging around the shadows. “Interrupt me again, and you will never learn the answer to that question. Are we clear?”

Jagger nodded frantically, and Theon saw specks of black appear in his pale skin. Bits of shadows allowed to drift into themale’s blood. Theon might be the heir of the Arius Kingdom, but this was Axel’s domain. He knew that, and he let his brother take the lead here.

Axel finally withdrew his magic when he asked, “Did Cade send you?”

Jagger, gasping for air, shook his head.

“Then who?”

“I came myself. I split from Cade weeks ago,” Jagger spat, his dark eyes drifting to Theon. “When word came what you’d Selected as a Source.”

“Weeks ago?” Theon repeated. “We only learned of her gifts recently. Weeks ago she was just another Fae.”

The spike of emotion down the bond had him glancing back at Tessa, still being shielded by Luka.

“There were rumors already circulating that she was more. But even when she was revealed, you fought to keep her,” Jagger said, more Night Children drifting from the dark passages that converged here. “For years, you’ve preached to us. Told us you were the answer. You were going to free us of the confines of these fucking tunnels and caverns. Now you ally with the enemy?”

“We have not allied with them,” Axel snarled. “But if you’re telling me you have formed your own clan outside of the main four, you do not have the protection of the accords I have with them. Think very carefully about your next actions, Jagger. For you and those under your command.”

“Under my command?” Jagger scoffed. “That’s the thing. We don’t want to be under anyone’s fucking command.”

Without warning, the Night Children descended. Three lunged for Theon, while another group went for Axel. Theon couldn’t focus on his brother as he pulled two daggers from his shadows. Weapons stored in a pocket realm for easy access.

Weapons he’d collected over the years.

Weapons designed to end various beings, including Night Children.

Three wasn’t a big deal. His darkness converged on them, holding them in place for his blades to slice along throats. Theon didn’t even move, his shadows shoving those same blades deep into hearts.

But more and more Night Children appeared. This was clearly a planned attack. How had they not known this much unrest was happening in the Underground?

Then Luka was there, black flames taking out two more while Theon actually had to work. His darkness coated him like armor as he pulled a sword from the same shadowy depths. The mortals had silly weapons that did nothing against the magic beings of the realm. A blade made of shirastone or nightstone or worse? Those were the real weapons in Devram.

“Where is Tessa?” Theon demanded as the two parried attacks in tandem.

“She is nearby. I have a shield around her,” Luka called back, black flames engulfing a Night Child as his sword went into another.

Theon sent a female Night Child to the ground, a hiss coming from her when his foot landed on her chest to keep her down. Blood sprayed when his sword slid into her heart.

“You were supposed to stay with her,” Theon snapped.

“Guardian bond, you prick,” Luka shot back, snagging a male Night Child by the throat as he rushed him. “Did you really think I was going to stand by while these fuckers attacked you?” Said fucker let out a strangled scream as black flames flared around the same hand wrapped around his throat.

Theon snarled as he felt fangs sink into his torso, directly over the bargain Mark with his father. These fucking vampyres.

But then there were more flames, and these weren’t black. These were orange and red and had the Night Children hissing as they backed up from the flames.

Theon spun, finding Katya standing next to Axel, her hands raised. There was a circle of flames surrounding them, Axel’s shadows snaking among the fire. He must have removed her bands to let her defend herself, something they couldn’t risk with Tessa’s out-of-control chaos, but where was she?