Page 89 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“No one is blaming you. Just saying if you can make it rain indoors, one could logically assume you’ve been responsible for the odd weather lately,” Axel continued.

“That seems a little far-fetched. Who can control theweather?” she argued.

“And yet you ask if you can make it snow,” Theon countered.

“Achaz can’t control the weather, can he?” she asked.

“No, he cannot.”

Tessa nodded, turning back to the window. “I have to go there. To the Achaz Kingdom. When we return.”

“Not right away,” Theon said tightly. When she didn’t respond, he added, “The Samhain Feast is the day after we return. We have time to try to get you out of this. It’s not like you will leave the moment the feast ends.”

“There will be an assessment,” she murmured.

“I know, beautiful.”

“But I suppose there will be light there,” she mused, trying to comfort herself.

“Tessa.”

It was just her name, but she could hear the note of agony ringing in it. She turned to look at him once more. “None of you will be there. I’ll be alone.”

His eyes momentarily fell closed, and she could feel his helplessness down the bond. It was interesting, watching him experience something she’d felt so often because of him. She halfexpected him to reach for her, bring her into his arms. Not to comfort her, but because he wanted the bond to comfort him. Instead, he said, “I’m going to shower before dinner.”

“We’re not eating with Valter?” Luka asked, watching Theon head to the bedroom.

Theon paused. “My meeting placated him, so he didn’t demand it of us this evening.”

Luka nodded, and Theon left. Tessa stared after him.

She knew she should ask what that had meant, but something told her she wouldn’t like the answer. Call it a feeling, instinct, intuition.

She didn’t know why it mattered. She didn’t understand why she’d been waiting for him to pull her into his arms. She didn’t understand why she’dwantedhim to. It had to be the bond, but that had been different for a while now too.

She didn’t understand any of it.

Or she was too afraid to because there was no way that taking what she wanted from him was leading her todependon him for anything. She knew better than to expect explanations or apologies. She knew she was on her own when it came to figuring things out, which meant she should ask Luka what that meant, but…

Tessa turned back to the window, watching dead leaves blow across the garden paths.

She’d woken up.

That seemed like enough bravery for one day.

18

TESSA

Eating with a mask on was nearly impossible. Yet here she was, dressed in a stunning midnight blue gown that showed off the Source Mark over her heart. The blue and gold mask covered the upper half of her face, but it kept slipping down her nose with every bite she took. She sat at a table with the other Sources, including those of the heirs and the Lords and Ladies. Theon sat with Axel and his parents at one of the two long tables on the dais. The same dais she’d sat on a few months ago when she’d been Selected. Now she sat at one of the circular tables just before the thing. Below the ruling families, but also between them and the rest of the Legacy. The other Fae weren’t even given tables. They milled about in a sectioned off area across the grand hall, a buffet of much less ornate food spread out for them.

Tessa wished she was with them.

Glancing up at Theon again, she found him and Axel in a conversation with Tana Aithne, heir to the Anala Kingdom, and her younger sister. Down the table, the Falein family sat.

“Do they always sit together?” Tessa asked, moving roasted vegetables around her plate with her fork. When would they get dessert?

“Yes,” Eviana answered from her left. “For the same reason we will always be seated like this.”

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