Page 251 of Rain of Shadows and Endings

Dexter.

Dex was here. He would help her. He would fix this mess just like he always did.

Turning her head, her eyes started watering, two tears slipping free and dripping to her hairline. Her entire body ached, her muscles tense and sore. Her head throbbed, and sweat was damp on her neck and chest. And something was screaming inside her, trapped and dying.

Dex was standing there, and she blinked a few times because there was something curving around him. Soft. Feathery. An off-white color.

But that wasn’t right. His hair was dark brown and shorter, not curving around him.

She squeezed her eyes shut, groaning softly as she tried to lift her hands.

“She wakes,” Rordan said simply.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and then fingers were brushing hair back on her brow. “Tessie? Tessie, wake up.”

She blinked again, Dex’s dark eyes staring back at her. His hair was back to its normal color.

“Dex?” She tried to push up to a sitting position.

But his hands were at her shoulders, holding her down. “Stay still,” he soothed. “Take it slow.”

“I don’t understand. What are you doing here?” she rasped.

Dex held up his arm, three symbols now marked on his inner wrist. One for the Celeste Estate, one to mark his newly revealed air element, and one to show he served the Achaz Kingdom.

“You were…chosen early?”

“Yes,” he answered.

She brought her hands up again to rub at her face, but black glinted at her wrists. Two bands.

“To control your power,” Dex explained when she continued to stare at them.

Right. Her uncontrollable power.

“That was quite the exciting Emerging Ceremony,” he went on. “But you always seem to do that, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry,” she said with a wince, and she didn’t know if she was reacting to the pain in her head or to his words.

“We’ll figure it out, Tessie,” he said. “We always do. I’ll handle it.”

He’ll handle it.

I have this handled.

That’s what he’d said.

This.

Her.

Her power stirred beneath her skin, roaring to be let out. It was so loud, she suddenly wanted to scream.

“Tessie?” Dex asked, cupping her cheek. “You’re okay, Tessa.”

“How am I okay when I am bound to an Arius Legacy yet I sit in the presence of the Achaz Lord?” It came out as a hiss, and Dex’s eyes widened at her address.

“I believe I can shine some light on that matter,” Rordan said, coming up behind Dex. He chuckled to himself as he lifted a palm, a ball of light floating above it. “No pun intended.”

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