Page 260 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“He is doing his part. We’ll do ours,” she finally replied. “Have someone show them to guest rooms. We can meet later today and discuss our next moves.”
Turning on her heel, she made her way back to their rooms. She wanted that shower and their bed. The rest of their problems could wait until after.
“You need to be nicer to him, Theon,” Tessa groused as they entered their rooms after dinner.
“He ruined our dinner plans,” Theon grumbled.
“He brought us the ring to move forward with ourotherplans,” she cried, marching across the room and pulling a wineglass from the cupboard. “You cannot seriously be upset by this.”
“They didn’t have to join us for dinner.”
“Theon!”
He sighed, taking the bottle of wine she was attempting to open. “I’m trying, Tessa. There are three decades of animosity we’re working through. He wasn’t exactly a pillar of manners tonight either.”
He had a point.
Tessa had insisted on staying in for dinner now that there were guests here, and while the dinner had been fine enough, Theon and Dagian had spent a good portion of it throwing subtle insults at each other. Since they were staying in, Xan, Razik, and Eliza had joined them too, adding to Theon’s sour mood. Xan, however, had confirmed today was indeed her actual date of birth. The rest of the dinner had been discussing how soon they could bring Akira here. Dagian was very insistent on being rid of his power as soon as possible.
In the end, the only decent thing about that dinner had been the chocolate cake.
And the fact the guys were wearingjeans.
She could only remember one other time she’d seen them in jeans. Paired with the long-sleeve shirts that hugged muscles and grooves in all the right places, dinner had taken forever.
Theon poured her glass of wine, and when she reached for it, he held it a little longer. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t suck up to me now, Theon. You were an ass all dinner.”
“Not to you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she cried again.
“Will you two stop arguing? By the gods,” Luka muttered, sliding a tumbler of liquor across the counter to Theon. “You’re ruining the mood.”
“What mood?” Tessa grumbled. “The arrogant asshole mood? Or the broody and silent mood?”
“The bratty birthday mood,” he retorted, dropping an envelope on the counter.
She took a sip of her wine, eyeing it. “What’s that?”
He widened his eyes. “A birthday present, Tessa. It’s what people do on birthdays.”
She dropped a hand to the counter, her fingertips a few inches from the envelope.
When she only tapped her nail a few times, Luka sighed. “Do you think it’s going to bite you? Open it.”
“I don’t know the proper etiquette here,” she snapped.
His features softened, and he reached out, sliding the envelope closer. “You just open it, baby girl. It’s a gift.”
Tessa swallowed thickly as she gingerly picked it up and slid her finger along the seam. Pulling out the contents, her eyes went wide, flying up to Luka’s.
“Chaosphere tickets?” she rasped.
“Whirlwinds versus Firewings,” he said with a smirk. “No whining when the Whirlwinds lose.”
“We can’t go to this,” she said, staring at the tickets in her hands. But gods, did she want to. She’d never been to a live game. Only watched it on TV, and this last year had been so fucked, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d watched a match.
