Page 213 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“Does he know you can Travel?”

“No. No one knows,” Luka answered. “Except Auryon. She somehow fucking knew.”

“You never told me,” Theon said. “Why?”

“I didn’t tell anyone. It’s not that I didn’t trust you with the information, but…” Luka sighed, snapping the lid of the tin shut. “I’m already the only Sargon descendant. There are already expectations with that. This was just another thing that made me different from you when we were younger. There was always this need to…provethat I belonged here. That your family hadn’t made some mistake by taking me in, and as we got older, I think it just became second nature to keep it a secret. If no one knew, it couldn’t be used against us.”

“Did you think this wouldn’t have been useful information for… Well, fuck.Everything?” Theon demanded, and Luka could feel all the conflicting emotions down this fucking bond.

On some level, he knew Theon understood. He kept secrets all the damn time until he had all the pieces worked out and a plan in place. It was why Tessa drove him so mad. She messed with the plans every chance she got and didn’t even realize it.

“If it somehow ever got back to your father, I think everything would be worse,” Luka replied. “You can think what you want, but in the end, it was my secret to decide what to do with. Just like it’s your secret to decide what to do with the information you’ve learned about Tessa.”

Theon’s eyes narrowed, and Luka sent him a smirk.

“You think I don’t know you’ve figured some things out? Nearly three decades, Theon. We can read each other like all your godsdamn books,” Luka said.

“Apparently not all of us can,” Theon retorted.

“Don’t act like I’ve done anything to jeopardize shit,” he said, sliding off his shoes. “I’ve used the skill more times than you know to make sure our plans succeeded. I’ve used it when it’s mattered. I’ve used it to get to Tessa.”

Theon’s eyes flashed at her name, renewed anger flooding down the bond. “Don’t get me started on Tessa.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I should have realized this would happen when you told me the effects of helping with the second Mark,” Theon said, his power flowing around him in a shimmering dark mist the same way Tessa’s did.

Light and dark.

Two forces that should repel each other. Instead, they were drawn to each other.

“Or are you going to tell me that’snotwhat has you looking at her like she’s some shiny thing you need to take back to your cave?” Theon went on with a sneer.

“I would never take her there,” Luka retorted.

“Of course you would. It’s where you keep anything you find of value.”

“I would never take her there because she hates the dark. But I suppose it’d be better than a godsdamn wine cellar, wouldn’t it?”

Theon went still, the ripple of shock down the bond telling Luka his words had hit their mark.

“You agreed we needed to get her under control,” Theon gritted out. “We all agreed she needed to accept this bond. That she would be safer and plans could move forward. That?—”

“No,” Luka snapped. “I told you from the very beginning she was not the one for this. I told you it wasn’t in her to submit. I told you she was wild and impulsive, and would you look at that? Herfatheris the god of the fucking wild and untamed. She was never meant to be yours.”

Theon’s lip curled up into a sneer. “My father said the same thing to me the night before she came home from Faven. Any other secrets you need to share tonight?”

“If you think I’m plotting with your father, you can go fuck yourself,” Luka retorted, smoke billowing with his exhale. “But if you think you didn’t alter fate by Selecting her that night, you’re wrong. All we have to do is look back at the past few months. How many of our plans have changed? How many have been altered? She’s so much more than what any of us bargained for. Not only was she not supposed to be yours, she wasn’t even supposed to be in Devram. Yet here we are. All of us drawn to her light like moths to a fucking flame from the very beginning.”

“From the very beginning,” Theon repeated, the words slow and dark. “Tell me, Luka, was she ‘not the one for this’ because of who she is? Or because you saw her as some valuable, shiny treasure long before that second Mark?”

“Fuck off, Theon,” Luka snarled.

“It all fits,” Theon said in disbelief. “Your insistence that I not choose her. The lingering looks when I did. The long period of time you stayed away. The softness. The feral protectiveness. The fucking flip-flops. You sensed what she was from the very beginning and wanted her as your own.”

“And you justwanted,” Luka retorted. “Without ever wonderingwhyyou were drawn to her. Then you act utterly baffled when nothing has gone to plan.”

He could feel his dragon pressing at his skin, agitated and wanting out. His pupils had already shifted, and he could see the faint outline of scales on the backs of his hands. His wings were there, seconds from breaking free.

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