Page 35 of Rain of Shadows and Endings

Theon whipped his head to him. “Why the fuck is she sleeping in there?”

Luka dragged his eyes to Theon. “Because she refused to sleep in your bed.”

“That’s ridiculous. This bed is far more comfortable,” Theon said, stalking towards the small attached bedroom. He hadn’t requested anything be done to the room yet as he hadn’t known who his Source would be or what they would want. It was a tiny room, and he hadn’t really pictured his Source spending much time in there. At least not right away. Even if he’d Selected a male Source, he anticipated needing to sleep beside each other for the first several days due to the nature of the bond.

“I tried to tell her that, but she was adamant,” Luka replied, bringing his glass to his lips.

Theon stopped in the doorway of the small room, the bond reaching out to her. He swore he could almost physically see the cord that connected them. Tessa was curled into a ball facing the wall, huddled under a blanket. He made his way to her, running his fingers along her cheek when he reached her side. The bond sent a bolt of pleasure through him, and he sighed as it settled. Stroking her hair a few times, he fought the urge to scoop her up, bring her to his bed, and climb in beside her.

“How is she?” he asked Luka when he finally forced himself to go back out to the bedroom.

“Well, she cried herself to sleep,” Luka said grimly, motioning Theon to come closer.

Theon extended his hand, and Luka slipped the ring from his finger. A small shudder worked through him as the darkness sprang forth at the sudden freedom, and he let it remain for a moment, dark mist flowing along his skin.

“It is a lot to process, and she was not prepared for this. I think I would be more concerned if she wasn’t emotional,” Theon said, settling into the other armchair. He saw the bottle of liquor sitting on the table between the chairs and took a pull directly from it, resting his head back.

“She was not the one for this,” Luka said.

“And what do you want me to do about that now?” Theon retorted, his shadows beginning to drift. “There is no second chance with your Source. You know that. Once this was set into motion, there was no going back. Not unless you want to kill her?”

Luka sent him an unimpressed glare, but didn’t deign to reply to that. “We need to change how we’re approaching this. We need to adjust our strategies. Gods, why couldn’t you have just chosen someone else?”

“We are not changing the plans simply because you are having a sudden change of heart. Then everything we are putting her through is for nothing.”

“No. We can still get the outcome we want. We just need to rethink our strategy,” Luka protested.

“We can’t simply change the plans,” Theon scoffed, eyeing the darkness that seemed to reach towards the small room.

“That female just changed every godsdamn thing, Theon,” Luka said, rage seeping into his voice. The blue of his eyes began to glow, his pupils shifting to vertical slits. “If you can’t see that, then we are already fucked. She should not be able to resist the bond once Marked. You know this. Axel is out there busting his ass right now, and you’re here fucking us over.”

“You act as if I chose her at random,” Theon spat. “She was one of the five remaining options.”

“Only because you refused to remove her,” Luka countered. “Both Axel and I told you repeatedly that she wasn’t the one for this, and yet here we sit. All because you can’t control—”

“Enough, Luka,” Theon snarled, the shadows thickening around them and creeping towards the male now.

Luka only glanced at the darkness before taking another drink of his liquor. “You need to stop with your power unless you plan on taking something else from her tonight.”

Luka may have been right about that, but he was wrong about the bond. It would settle into place. Tessa would come to terms with her new life. Their plans weren’t ruined. They just got off track for a moment. She would rest, have some time to process, and then everything would be fine.

And if not, he had ways to push her along.

Luka dropped his now empty glass down on the side table and rose from his seat, going out to the other room. He returned a few moments later with a small leather case. “We should get this over with.”

Theon nodded. “Let me shower and change first.”

“I’ll get things ready.”

Theon made quick work of cleaning up and slipping into lounge pants and a black shirt. Before he left the dressing room, he did a quick check of the items he’d ordered for Tessa. From formal to everyday wear, there was something for every occasion. Shirts, dresses, skirts, sweaters, and everything in between were neatly hung and arranged with pants, jeans, leggings, and undergarments taking up drawers. Several dozen pairs of proper footwear were now displayed along one wall on a shoe rack. A jewelry stand had also been brought in. He opened the top to several watches, rings, and cufflinks, and he tossed the black ring in the back of it. Everything else in the stand would be for Tessa.

He retrieved the three rings he usually wore and slipped them onto his fingers. He’d only taken them off to blend in more at the Acropolis, which was something he wouldn’t need to worry about anymore. Two of the rings wouldn’t have been a big deal. One gleaming black and shaped like a wing that wrapped around his finger and the other a thick solid-silver band, he slipped them onto his pointer and ring finger of his right hand. The other, however, would have been noticed. A square black gem was set into a ring of onyx. It was large and chunky, and the stone was only found in a small section of the northeast part of the Ozul Mountains. Slipping it onto his left middle finger, he left the closet and went into Tessa’s small room. She hadn’t moved, save for slipping a hand under her cheek. He sighed, dreading what he was going to have to do to her next despite the necessity of it.

Luka was waiting for him in the same spot when he exited the small room. “Ready?” he asked, picking up a dagger.

“Don’t really have a choice not to be.”

“I suppose not.”

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