Page 166 of Rain of Shadows and Endings

He nodded. “Come. I’ll show you the rest of the house before dinner.”

* * *

He wasn’t surprised to find her on the balcony.

She’d thought they hadn’t heard her when she’d muttered about how she hated being cooped up in the vehicle. He’d never realized how much she hated confined spaces. He’d never stopped to consider why she always wanted to be on the balcony back home or why she got so fidgety when required to sit for extended periods of time.

After he’d shown her around the townhouse, he’d had Luka come back up here and make sure there was no way she could get down from this balcony. Sure, there were wards around the townhouse, but that didn’t mean anything with her. Which was also why he was up here now.

Theon leaned against the doorjamb, watching her as she stared out across the Acropolis. It had the perfect view of the Pantheon with its surrounding security wall, Fae sentries stationed along it. Off to the left were the high-rises where the Fae of age for Selection were being housed in dormitories. Where Tessa would be now if he hadn’t Selected her.

“Little storm,” he said after a few moments.

She started, clearly not having heard him come up behind her. “I assumed it was all right for me to be out here,” she said hurriedly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

Theon nodded. “It is.”

“I just needed some air.”

“If you would have mentioned it, we could have gone for a walk.”

“It is demeaning to ask to go for a walk like a hound,” she retorted. “None of the other Fae are required to be with a Legacy every second of the day. I saw them on the drive here.”

Theon sighed. “It is inappropriate for a Source to be seen without their…bonded Legacy.”

She huffed a humorless laugh. “You can say Master, Theon. It’s what you are.”

“You can’t be alone for your own protection as well, Tessa,” he said, ignoring her little outburst. “It is a crime that sends one to the Underground for judgment to kidnap a Source, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. They could take you to use against me, my family, and the Arius Kingdom. We are not well-liked, and they would make sure you were kept alive somewhere, away from me. We cannot bond with another Source unless death takes the first.”

“I will be sure to ask my mythical kidnappers for death then,” she retorted. “Maybe then you can have a more compliant Source.”

“Why do you have to make everything an argument?”

“It’s that whole hound-who-can-talk-back-thing, I suppose.”

“You’re like a difficult child when you get in these moods.”

She smirked. “A child doesn’t do this,” she said, raising her middle finger at him.

“You didn’t know me when I was a child,” he returned with a mocking smile.

She barked a laugh. An honest-to-the-gods genuine laugh, and the feeling in his chest at the sound was one he didn’t recognize.

“It sounds like Caris and Pen kept you all in line,” she said, finally turning to face him fully.

“They did their best,” he agreed. Then he cleared his throat. “I thought you might want that phone call.”

Her eyes went wide. “Now?” He nodded, pulling his phone from his pocket. “On your phone?” she asked doubtfully.

“Yes,” he answered, holding it out to her. There was no way he was letting her call from her phone and giving that Fae her number. If he ever tried to contact her, he would reach Theon directly.

“I would rather not,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself tightly and turning back to the balcony.

“That was our deal, was it not?”

“Yes.”

“And now you do not wish for the phone call?”

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