Page 196 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

She’d taken one step towards the door when Theon said, “There’s more.”

And those words had the hair on the back of her neck standing because more was never good where Valter was concerned.

“Felicity is to join us.”

Tessa had gotten really good at blocking the bond. She hadn’t told Theon, and she wasn’t sure if Luka had clued him in or not, but it was something she’d managed to get Auryon to teach her. Not just blocking the bond for short periods of time, but mental shields. But when her feelings were strong enough or when she was caught off guard, her mental shield slipped.

And this was one of those times.

Theon’s eyes went wide as she scrambled to get her shields back up, but she knew he’d just been assaulted with a barrage of emotions she didn’t know what to do with. In fact, it was the most she’d let him feel of her in weeks.

“Tessa,” he breathed, taking a step towards her and stilling when she took one back.

“It’s fine,” Tessa said, shoving those feelings back down where they belonged and becoming the nothing she’d been since Luka had held her in the middle of a storm.

“It’s not fine, Tessa. None of this is fine,” he said.

“And there’s nothing we can do to change this. We cannot decline?”

“No, but we can talk about this.”

“We should,” she agreed.

He drew up short, clearly confused by her sudden agreement.

“How do you expect me to act tonight?”

“What?” he asked, more confusion drifting down the bond.

“Am I to be the submissive pet? Or are we pretending again?”

His features darkened. “I think we stopped pretending a long time ago, beautiful.”

Her brow arched. “Did we?”

He moved then, in that way that was too fast. Suddenly, he was standing in front of her. He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I’ve felt your emotions, clever tempest.”

“And I’ve repeatedly told you I’m an exceptional liar,” Tessa replied with a soft purr.

“And you promised it would always be like this. That it would always be a battle with you.”

“The thing about battles, Theon, is that eventually someone has to lose,” she replied, stepping into him a little more. She saw his throat bob, felt his breath hitch, as she reached up and slid her finger along his chest to his throat. “So tell me, tonight am I your pet? Or am I someone people fear as much as they fear you?”

“Our bargain stands, Tessa.”

“I will not be forced beneath a table for fulfilling that role?” she asked, brushing her thumb along his bottom lip, and she didn’t miss how he pitched forward the smallest amount.

“I think you have learned when and how to act with my father present.”

“Yes, but that was when I was a Fae. Now I am not,” she replied, faint light flaring at her fingertips.

He sucked in a sharp gasp, darkness rising up to meet her power. She wasn’t prepared for it. Some part of her should have been, but other than sleeping beside her, he had kept somedistance from her. They did just enough to appease the bond. Touches here and there. Quick fucks.

Just enough.

That’s what they’d become.

They could never be more.

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