Page 183 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Something wet landed on his cheek. Then another on his arm. The top of his foot.
And as Tessa finally broke, feeling things she’d trained herself to never acknowledge for years, it started to rain indoors. As if the steam itself were clouds of her own grief and sorrow.
Luka pushed off the counter, taking a towel with him. He wrapped it around her shoulders before scooping her up and lowering to the floor with her. Theon moved to them, sitting beside them as she buried her face in Luka’s chest and cried. Sobs that made the rain become a gentle steady shower, seeping into everything, but he’d sit in the rain forever if it meant he could be one of the two people she’d let herself learn to feel with.
In the end, it was perhaps ten minutes before the rain subsided. Theon went to get fresh towels, drying themselves and her before they moved back out to the bedroom. Theon slipped one of his shirts over her head, and they all climbed under the covers. Tessa was asleep within minutes, tears still falling even while she dreamed.
Theon met Luka’s gaze over the top of her, a silent understanding passing between them.
They’d give her time to process, time to grieve, but the matter of her going to Falein Kingdom without them would still be discussed. Luka was just as furious as he was. He could feel it down the bond.
They’d convinced her she wasn’t alone. Proven it as best they could. Now she needed to understand that she was theirs as much as they were hers, and that meant she didn’t fucking leave them behind.
They were hers in every way.
Lovers.
Equals.
Protectors.
And, when necessary, they’d still be her villains.
34
AXEL
“Do they know you’re down here?” Axel asked.
Tessa glanced up at him, scowling. “Yes, they know I’m down here,” she grumbled.
Axel hummed, walking around the kitchen island and opening the fridge. “Any particular reason you’re down here instead of asleep?” When she didn’t answer right away, he looked over his shoulder. Her face was slightly flushed as she stared down into her mug of tea, her hands clasped around the cup.
He smirked to himself. No one had spoken about it, but it wasn’t hard to figure out the three of them had come to some sort of understanding. They all stayed in the same room, and he had no doubt they shared a bed. A part of him felt bad. The bed on the third floor was much larger and designed for three. The other part of him didn’t give a fuck because his wife was pregnant, and her comfort mattered more than anyone else’s.
“Well?” he prompted, nudging the fridge door shut after he grabbed milk, eggs, cheese, and a few vegetables.
She huffed, still not looking at him. “They think I need to learn to process my emotions instead of turning to my usual distractions.”
He arched a brow as he laid everything out on the counter opposite of where she sat. “You wanted to fuck, and they kicked you out of bed?”
“They didn’t kick me out of bed,” she muttered. “They just told me to go drink some tea.”
“Idiots,” he muttered, because who in their right mind kicked a willing female out of their bed? Then again, they were right. Tessa did need to deal with her shit. “So, what are you attempting to avoid?”
“What are you doing?” she asked when he poured some milk into a small pot before placing it on the stovetop.
“Nice deflection,” he replied, going to the pantry. Finding what he needed, he added a bar of chocolate to the pot before going back to the counter and picking up a red pepper.
“You’re not going to answer?” she asked.
“You first,” he said with a wink.
She huffed in annoyance. “I’ve been trying to teach myself about the Marks,” she answered. “They are complicated. Part of me seems to innately recognize them, but I still… I don’t want to fuck things up more than I already have by using one and not understanding the consequences.”
“How not impulsive of you,” he replied, moving on to an onion.
“Shut up, Axel,” she muttered, and he smiled to himself. He’d missed this. Missed her.
