Page 19 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“You keep it?” Axel asked before knocking back his shot.

“Added it to the collection,” Theon replied grimly.

Axel nodded again.

“Did you know Theon signed a Match contract?” Tessa suddenly asked.

“You told her?” Axel asked incredulously, wide eyes on Theon.

Tessa scoffed. “Of course he didn’t tell me. Theon never tells me anything. No one does.”

Theon sighed audibly. “Tessa, I?—”

“But it’s fine,” Tessa interrupted casually, “because I’m going to be Luka’s Match.”

“What the actual fuck?” Axel asked, turning to Luka.

The male was leaning back against the counter, and he dragged a hand down his face. “That is, indeed, Valter’s plan.”

“But… How? When?… What?” Axel sputtered, trying to wrap his mind around…any of what was just said.

“Theon’s Source. Not Theon’s Source. Luka’s Match. Fae. Not Fae,” Tessa started muttering, the suit coat slipping from her shoulders as she began pacing in front of the window. “Beginnings and Endings. Light and Dark. Fire and Shadows.”

The males all exchanged looks as Tessa reached up and pulled her fingers through her hair, tugging lightly on the ends.

“She comes. He comes. Who will be left standing when Chaos comes to call?” she continued to murmur as she twisted her hair in her hands.

“She needs those bands off her wrists for a while,” Luka said in a low voice. “All that power being trapped now that it’s been set free with a Mark? It’s going to drive her mad.”

“Going to?” Axel said with another pointed look at the female whose mutterings were indecipherable now. He could only catch small phrases.

“…flames in her eyes…more than…she’ll come…too late…”

“I thought you were going to take her to the training arenas,” Axel said tightly.

“Father forbade it,” Theon said, shifting gingerly again. A wound made with nightstone would take longer to heal, even with additional Fae blood. Theon had only taken one drink; Axel had guiltily taken another as well.

“Is that how you got stabbed?” Axel asked.

“No. I got stabbed after Father informed us of his plans to Match her and Luka and force me to take Katya as a new Source,” Theon bit back, motioning to Luka to pour him another shot. “Tessa, do you want something to drink?”

“No,” she replied, not pausing in her pacing and immediately returning to her muttering. “It will all be over soon he says, but he’s a liar just like the rest of them.” Then she stopped and turned to face them. “You’re all liars,” she said louder.

“According to you, you’re an excellent liar, so I guess you fit right in,” Theon retorted, sounding exhausted as he got to his feet. “Come, Tessa. Let’s go for a walk.”

“You can hardly stand,” she said, eyes dropping to his wound. “And you need a new shirt. May I go and change?”

Axel could hardly concentrate on what was being said around him. Theon’s words kept ringing in his ears.

Katya was going to replace Tessa as his Source?

That wasn’t possible, but even if it was, he wouldn’t take a new Source, right? Theon was obsessed with Tessa. Match contract or no, there was no doubt which female actually mattered to him. And even if he found a way to sever the Source bond with Tessa, he wouldn’t add yet another person to this mess, let alone create a new bond, would he?

“You done with this?” Luka asked, startling Axel from his thoughts.

He was holding the bottle of Fae blood in his hand.

“Uh, yeah,” Axel said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Where’d they go?” he asked, realizing Tessa and Theon were gone.

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