Page 167 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

Achaz approached them both at separate times. He wanted a child with both his gifts and their gifts. Both Zinta and Taika refused him. With good reason. A child of Achaz and one of the Sister Goddesses, theoretically, wouldn’t need to combine gifts with another. They could, essentially, create new life just by willing it. Achaz became enraged and cursed the goddesses as punishment. The passage didn’t go into detail about the curse, but it did say it plagued their descendants forevermore, even when Achaz achieved what he desired with one of Zinta’s daughters.

A quick knock had him locking the document in a hurry, but he breathed a sigh of relief when Luka came through the door. He had two mugs of coffee in his hand, and he held one out to Theon. He drank half of it in one go.

“When was the last time you slept?” Luka asked.

“Truly slept? The night before Tessa left,” Theon answered.

“For fucks’s sake, Theon?—”

“Thanks for the coffee,” he murmured, moving into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

One look in the mirror told him why Luka was concerned. In addition to depleted reserves from yesterday, he had dark circles under his eyes. That never happened to Legacy. His hair was a mess from running his hands through it all night, and he hadn’t shaved in a few days. In other words, his outward appearance matched the utter mess of his mental state. He took a cold shower, hoping it would help wake him up.

It didn’t.

But he dressed in a black suit and tie, slid on his shoes, and slipped into the person he was required to be for a meeting with his father.

One more day.

She’d be home tomorrow.

The clicking of computer keys was the only sound in the dining room, making Theon’s grip tighten on his fork. He sat across the breakfast table from his father at the Arius manor outside the Acropolis. Eviana was beside him, typing on a laptop. Whatever she was typing his father was relaying through their bond while he cut into his steak and eggs.

Most of his mornings had been spent this way growing up. Silently eating his breakfast, waiting for the sounds of the keyboard to cease. When Eviana stopped typing, his father’sattention would shift to him. Although his mother had often been there, filling the silence with her endless chatter of kingdom gossip and upcoming engagements. Axel and Luka had been there too, silently eating their own breakfasts, wondering the same thing he was: would today be a normal day of studies with their private instructors or a day of father’slessons?

And even though Theon was twenty-eight years now, he had the same apprehension rolling through him. His reserves were depleted. He’d used a good portion of his power yesterday and had given the last of his rations to Axel. It wasn’t a big deal. Rations were due to be delivered later today, but it meant he needed to be extra careful with this conversation. Even with full reserves, his father’s Source sat beside him, while Theon sat here low on reserves and Sourceless. Not that Tessa’s presence would have made a difference. He couldn’t draw from her, and he wasn’t sure she’d readily come to his aid at this point.

No, she would. She’d chosen to stay with him. That meant something. It had to.

She’s starting to trust you, Theon.

Maybe Luka was right. Maybe those nights spent tangled together really were something more, despite her insisting they meant nothing. She was turning to him more when her power felt out of control. She was helping him search for answers, asking him questions…

That he’d flat-out lied to her about, even if it was to protect her.

After feeling her emotions a few days ago though, he didn’t regret that choice. Who knew what they were putting her through, and the last thing he needed was for them to figure out what she was before he did. Had she told them she was the granddaughter of Arius? Had they pieced together there was Witch blood in her somewhere along the line? Did they know how she had Achaz gifts?

Would she remember any of it if they did?

He motioned to the Fae standing by the wall to bring him another cup of coffee. He’d lost track of how many he’d had this morning. When he saw Tessa tomorrow, he was hauling her straight to bed. Oddly enough, not to get lost between her thighs as decadent as that sounded, but to get some godsdamn sleep.

The sudden silence in the room had Theon glancing up, finding Eviana setting the computer aside and a plate of food being placed before her. She was never allowed to eat until after his father had finished his morning ritual of reviewing his calendar, planning his day, and responding to any urgent matters.

Eviana murmured a soft “thank you” to Valter before picking up her fork and slicing off a small piece of the omelet she’d been served.

But Eviana being given food now meant that?—

“How is your task coming along, Theon?” Valter asked, his tone feeling obnoxiously loud after the endless silence they’d been sitting in.

Swallowing his bite of steak, Theon washed it down with a quick drink of juice before clearing his throat. “You’ve given me many tasks, Father. Which do you wish to discuss?”

Irritation immediately filled his father’s face, shadows drifting across his hazel eyes. “Your Source. Have you learned what she is? How to sever this bond?”

“I have made progress on lineage, but nothing concrete,” Theon ventured carefully. “As for severing the bond, there is nothing. Source bonds were created that way. Only death can sever a Source bond.”

“Surely you will find a workaround,” his father replied casually, reaching for his toast.

“You are asking an impossible task of me,” Theon argued.

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