Rain of Shadows and Endings — Chapter no 16

16

THEON

T heon and Luka were making their way back to the east wing. Pavil and Metias had left a while ago, but his father had asked the two of them to stay behind. Luka had been gone the past few days, and his father wanted a report.

Theon needed the same, and they were heading back to the suite to discuss the other one with Axel. The report that would further their own plans and not just his father’s. But as they were rounding a corner, the odd feeling from the bond started in his chest again.

The same way it had when Tessa had climbed down from the godsdamn balcony.

“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Theon growled.

“What?” Luka asked, glancing up from his phone that he was powering back on.

“She’s running.”

He thought they’d finally made some progress. He thought they’d come to an understanding. He thought she was getting closer to accepting the bond. They’d compromised and gone running with Axel the last two mornings. She had been sleeping next to him every night without argument. She’d started speaking more the last two days, some of her old snark and temper breaking through every once in a while. He thought his

plan had been working.

And now she was fucking running again.

“Are you sure?” Luka asked, his pace increasing to match Theon’s.

“Yes,” Theon snapped. “If she thought I was controlling after last time, she’s not going to know what to do now.”

Luka started to say something else as they turned down a hall, but they nearly collided with Axel.

“Theon,” Axel said, coming to an abrupt halt. “Why aren’t you answering your fucking phone?”

“It’s off. You know how Father gets when we’re in meetings,” Theon retorted.

“I’m just seeing your messages,” Luka said gravely.

“What the fuck are you doing out here, Axel? Where is Tessa?”

“Metias and Pavil showed up at your rooms,” Axel answered, darkness swirling in his emerald eyes and wisps of the same winding through his hair. He was really worked up for his magic to be slipping. “They said Father had demanded my immediate presence, and that you had sent them to retrieve Tessa for you.”

“Why would they say that?” Panic settled into his soul as Theon made to push past Axel, but his brother grabbed his arm.

“She’s running, Theon. I told her to hide in the bedroom before I answered the door.

When they were insistent, and neither of you answered my messages, I told her to climb down the balcony like she did before and run. I told her you would find her.”

Theon spun on his heel, running down halls and stairs. If those motherfuckers laid a hand on her, they were dead. He didn’t care what alliances his father had. No one touched her without his permission.

He burst through a door and out into the gardens where howling greeted him.

Kacela.

That was her tracking howl.

Theon raced towards the sound, Luka and Axel on his heels. Rounding a corner, he skidded to a halt at a large crevice that had appeared in the path. What the fuck? There was

what appeared to be gold paint everywhere, and were those swords on the ground?

Kacela was on the other side of the crevice and barked excitedly when Theon came into view.

“Lightning strike?” Axel asked, coming to a stop beside him and eyeing the crevice before them. “The weather has been so odd lately.”

“I don’t care what it was,” Theon answered, moving back a few steps before taking a running start and leaping over the expanse. His feet had barely touched the ground when he was running again, chasing after Kacela. How had she gotten out of the kennels?

Kacela led him past the kennels and to the stables, taking him around the back to a side door. Whining, she pawed at it. With a grunt of effort, Theon pushed the rarely used door open and stepped inside. Three giant black heads swung in his direction as he came in, hooves stomping the ground in agitation. Something had them worked up too.

“Tessa?” Theon called out. He could hear the panic in his voice. There was no place to hide in here. Not unless she crawled into a stall, and she had been leery of the horses when they’d ridden back from the woods. “Tessa? Are you in here?”

Kacela darted past him, going straight to Eyal’s stall. He was the only horse not watching him as Theon moved down the aisle between the stalls. His horses were all impeccably trained, but Eyal was still the wildest. He could be temperamental and unpredictable. Theon slowed as he approached the pen, then came to a complete halt at what he found.

Tessa was huddled into a corner, visibly shaking. He couldn’t see much of her, but what he could see was covered in cuts and scratches along her arms. Eyal was lying on his side beside her, his massive head resting in her lap while she cried into his mane.

All Theon could see was darkness as shadows clouded his vision. Pavil and Metias would pay for this. And his father? This only made Theon’s need for her to accept the bond even stronger.

“By the gods,” Luka breathed, coming up beside Theon and stilling at the sight.

Theon moved then, unlatching the gate and entering the pen. “Tessa?”

Eyal lifted his head, and Tessa raised her own as the horse shifted. Her grey eyes were wild with panic and terror, and she scrambled back farther into the corner, as if she could hide from them. Theon was forced to take a step back as Eyal got up before moving to the back of his sizable stall. Luka had come in behind Theon and moved to keep the horse back while he approached Tessa.

She was staring up at Theon. The dread in her eyes was palpable. She was pale and her leggings were ripped in some places. Her bare stomach had scratches and cuts too, as though she’d been dragged along the ground.

“I-I wasn’t running from you, Theon,” she stammered, shaking her head in emphasis.

“Axel told me to run, and those Legacy were trying to get me. I don’t know what they wanted, and I know I shouldn’t have fought with them, but I wasn’t running from you, Theon. I swear it!” She was speaking so fast, she was rambling.

He dropped to his knees before her, shrugging off his suit jacket before wrapping it around her shaking shoulders. “Shh, Tessa. I know. I know why you were running,” he said, pulling her into him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Theon. I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry.”

She kept repeating the words over and over again.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

He ran his hand over her hair, clutching her close. “Tessa, you have nothing to apologize for. Please stop saying that. I’m here. I’m here, little storm,” he said softly, trying to soothe her as he spoke over her repeated apologies, but her trembling wouldn’t cease.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “Please don’t shut me in the dark. I can’t breathe there. I’m sorry.”

Kacela was whining from beyond the gate where she was locked out, and Axel stood just inside, his face as pale as Tessa’s.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Axel said when Theon met his gaze. “You know how Metias and Pavil are, and without knowing what had been said between you and Father, I didn’t—”

“You did nothing wrong either, Axel,” Theon said, cutting him off. “You kept her safe.

That is what I asked of you.”

“I didn’t though,” Axel said, guilt twisting his features as he gestured at them. “Look at her.”

“You did the best you could in an impossible situation,” Theon said firmly.

Silence fell among them as he held Tessa’s shaking body close to him, but something else was wrong. The bond was writhing inside of him, pushing against his skin as if trying to get out. It should be humming happily at having her so close, even if she was sobbing.

“Let’s get her to my rooms, and figure things out from there,” Theon said, not wanting to say anything to alarm her further, but as he spoke, her trembling became violent thrashing.

“No, Theon! I’m sorry! I won’t run again. I swear it. I won’t. You don’t need to lock me away. I’m sorry.”

She was utterly frantic, not making any sense as her words tumbled over each other.

He tried to speak over her, to calm her down, but she wouldn’t listen, and the bond between them was taut and strained. What the fuck had happened?

Without another word, he stood. He had an arm wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her up with him; but as soon as she took a step, she was limping and whimpering in pain. A second later, he had scooped her up while she continued to whisper, “I’m sorry, Theon. I’m sorry.”

“Something is wrong,” he muttered over her head to Luka. “The Source bond is… Something is wrong.”

“What does that mean?” Luka asked from where he still stood by Eyal.

“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like… It’s almost as if it wants me to push her away. Like it’s rejecting her,” Theon replied. At his words, Tessa began flailing in his arms to the point that he nearly dropped her. “Tessa, stop!”

“I need to breathe!” she cried. “I can’t be locked away!”

“Give her to me,” Luka said, coming over and reaching for her. “You need to make her answer a question.”

Theon instinctively pulled her tighter against him, and Luka all but ripped her out of his hands. She buried her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I can’t fix this,” she sobbed into him. “He’s going to lock me in the dark.”

“I’m not—” Theon started, but Luka cut him off.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Entrance her. Make her tell you if either of them touched her.”

Realization crashed through Theon at the words. He’d been so overcome by panic, he hadn’t even thought of that. Those two motherfuckers were the descendants of the lesser goddess, Gracil— goddess of emotion and empathy. Some of her descendants could amplify feelings. Metias and Pavil, in particular, could amplify fear and terror. Just being in their presence could increase feelings of panic and despair if you didn’t have proper mental shields in place, but if they touched you, it was like opening a direct link between their gifts and your soul.

“Fuck,” Theon cursed, reaching out to grip Tessa’s chin. When her eyes met his, he could swear there was a faint violet ringing her pupils, but he didn’t have time to study it.

“Tessalyn, answer me. Did one of them touch you?”

“They both did,” Tessa answered, the entrancing pulling the answer from her. “One held me by the ankle, dragging me backwards. The other ran his finger down my face.”

“Fuck!” Theon repeated, raking his hand through his hair. They would have taken some of her worst fears and made them so great they’d be paralyzing. How she had even managed to run from them after being touched was a miracle in and of itself.

“I know it’s not something you want to hear right now, but you’re connected to her greatest fears, Theon,” Luka said.

“She’s my Source,” Theon snarled. “She can’t be— She’s not…scared of me.”

It wasn’t possible. They were irrevocably bound together. Their souls and destinies were intertwined at this point. She couldn’t fear him. Could she?

“I didn’t say you were her greatest fear. I said you are connected to her greatest fears,”

Luka retorted. “Let me carry her back, and we can give her some space. Let their magic wear off a bit, and then, hopefully, she will be better able to fill us in on what happened.”

Theon hated that idea. Even though the bond was pushing her away, he wanted her near. He wanted to make sure she was all right. To heal whatever was wrong with her ankle and all those godsdamn scratches and cuts. But instead, he bit out “fine” and began stalking towards the gate. Axel opened it, leading the way out, and Kacela whined, nudging Theon’s hand with her nose.

He stopped to pet the hound while Luka maneuvered out of the stall with a still whimpering Tessa, and Axel replaced the gate latch.

“You did good today,” Theon praised the hound in a wary tone. “Although how you got out of the kennels is beyond me.”

“I will take her back,” Axel said. “I’ll meet you in your rooms.”

Theon nodded, and he and Luka made their way to the house. With some type of luck, they managed not to run into anyone else. Luka walked Tessa straight to the bay window where she curled into herself, clutching her knees to her chest. He was speaking softly to her, and Theon couldn’t hear what he said. Needing to do something, he went to the kitchen and filled the teakettle. He was placing tea bags in four mugs when Luka joined him.

“She is going to be fine,” Luka said, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms.

“She is already calming.”

“Because I am over here. Away from her,” Theon groused.

“Because you are doing what she needs and giving her space,” Luka argued. “Metias and Pavil used their gifts on her, Theon. We are lucky we even got to her in time. It sounds

like they weren’t touching her for very long. Any more contact and…”

He trailed off, the tea kettle beginning to whistle shrilly.

“I know,” Theon sighed, moving to grab the kettle. Pouring hot water into the mugs, he added, “My father had to be a part of this. It’s why he kept us back when Metias and Pavil left the meeting. To give them time to get to her first. What does he want with her?”

“We will figure it out,” Luka said, both of them watching her. She was staring out the glass across the gardens, her chin resting on her knees.

“If he expects me to work with those assholes, this can never happen again. Ever.”

“Agreed,” Luka said. “We can come up with a…tactful way to let your father know until we can take care of them.”

“When that time comes, they are mine,” he replied darkly, already debating how many

ways he could draw out their deaths.

“Understood,” Luka said.

“And my father won’t give a fuck about anything we say,” Theon growled as the door opened and Axel came in. Tessa flinched at the sound.

“You won’t believe this,” Axel said, closing the door softly, clearly having noted Tessa’s reaction. “Kacela jumped over her kennel gate. There is no other way she could have gotten out of the kennels. All the pens, including hers, were securely locked.”

“They can’t jump that high,” Theon argued, pulling tea bags from the mugs. “I made sure of it when I had the kennels remodeled when I got the hounds.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, brother. I couldn’t see any other way she got out of her pen,” Axel replied. “She also had that golden paint all over her paws and muzzle. But it was more like…”

“Like what?” Luka asked when Axel hesitated.

“It was like golden blood, but that doesn’t make any sense, right?”

None of the events of today were making any sense. Like everything else in their lives, they needed to consider every possibility before they decided how to proceed. Their father clearly had a hand in all of this. Theon just needed to figure out why.

Axel grabbed one of the mugs. “Want me to take this to her?”

“I guess,” Theon muttered, bringing his mug to his lips.

Tessa lifted her head when Axel approached. He said something to her as he offered her the mug, and she took it without any type of reaction before turning back to stare out the window. He then wandered off to the bedroom.

Theon turned back to Luka, taking another drink of his tea. “When she lets me near her again, she needs any wounds healed, and she needs to bathe.”

“How do you think she did it?” Luka mused, ignoring everything Theon had just said.

“How do you think she managed to run after Metias and Pavil touched her?”

“Maybe they didn’t use their gifts to their full extent? She is an heir’s Source after all,”

Theon replied. Luka didn’t answer, telling Theon exactly how likely he thought that idea was, especially if his father had a hand in this. Theon didn’t bother saying anything else.

They’d know soon enough once she calmed down.

Some time later, Axel emerged from his bedroom. He was carrying Tessa’s phone and some earbuds in his hand.

“I got her these to use while running,” Axel said by way of explanation as he held the items out to him. “I don’t know what kind of music she likes, so I set up a bunch of

playlists for her and paired the earbuds with her phone.” Theon nodded, taking the items.

“Should we do something?” he asked, his gaze drifting back to Tessa.

“I need to check her injuries,” Theon sighed.

“Do you want me to do it?” Axel asked.

“No,” Theon bit back harshly. Axel’s brows rose. “I mean, I’ll do it. I should be able to heal most of them with the bond between us. Just give her a few more minutes.”

Axel nodded. “Are you going to confront Father about this?”

“Eventually,” Theon answered. “I haven’t decided how to handle it yet. I need more details first.”

“You think she’ll be fine by dinner? Father won’t excuse her,” Axel continued.

Fuck.

Dinner.

“I guess she’ll have to be,” Theon said tightly.

They fell silent, all eyes on the female in the window for the next ten minutes. The bond was slowly shifting back to desire and craving her touch rather than wanting him to push her away. He wasn’t focused on that though. He was contemplating the fact that he was related to her biggest fears.

In some way or another, she was scared of him.

A part of him was satisfied with that response. He craved control and instilling fear was definitely one way to obtain that. He had a hard time believing she was that terrified of him though, and maybe that was his own fault. Maybe all of this was his fault, his failure.

In trying to make her comfortable, he’d shielded her too much from their true natures.

He finally pushed off the counter and made his way towards her. She turned and met his gaze, dread still filling her grey eyes.

“What happened to your foot?” he asked roughly.

She flinched back, her eyes dropping to her feet. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

“I’m not upset, Tessa. I want to heal it for you.”

He saw her throat bob when she swallowed. “I landed wrong when I jumped from the trellis. I twisted my ankle.”

“You ran all the way to the stables on a sprained ankle?” Theon said stiffly, looking at her feet. One ankle was definitely swollen.

“I… Axel told me to run. I thought you’d want me to follow his orders since you weren’t here. I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I’m not… Godsdamnit, Tessa. I’m not mad that you ran from those fuckers,” he said, reaching out and gently placing his hand on the swollen ankle. His magic swelled, the darkness pressing against his skin, flowing from his hand to her. It was different using his shadows for this, and without all four of her Marks in place, it was more draining than other times he used his gifts.

His gaze raked over the cuts and scratches crusted with dried blood all along her arms and abdomen, along with the bruises beginning to blossom on her skin. In a tight tone, he said, “I cannot heal everything at once. Tomorrow I will be able to do more, but I want to check them all. See if there are any that may need a Healer.”

Tessa nodded once, returning her attention out the window. The sky was the same color as her eyes. She tensed as his hands slid up her legs and over her bare stomach, cataloging every scratch. The bond began humming once more between the physical

contact and the effects of Pavil’s and Metias’s gifts beginning to lessen, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was doing the same for her. The way her limbs were tight and coiled beneath his hands, he would guess not, but that’s how she always seemed to be around him.

Unless they were sleeping. When she slept, she looked like a goddess to be worshipped.

“Nothing seems extensive unless I missed something?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. You’ve done far more than I deserve.”

Theon pushed his tongue into his cheek. What was he supposed to say to that?

“Why do you think you don’t deserve care for injuries? Did I miss any?”

“I disobeyed you, Theon. Leaving my injuries would be a justifiable consequence."

Gods, that was something his Father would say.

“I will heal them tomorrow, Tessa. Our bond is simply not strong enough yet to take care of them all at once. Are there any others I need to be aware of?” When she remained silent, he added, “Tell me, or I will force you to do so.” He didn’t think it was possible, but her face paled even more at the mention of entrancing. He went preternaturally still, his voice dark when he asked, “Did either of them entrance you?”

“No,” she answered, turning her arms over and holding them out to him. Scratches ran all along her forearms, some of the cuts still bleeding.

“Anywhere else?” he asked through gritted teeth. She shook her head, and Theon pushed out a long breath. “Come into the bathroom. We can clean those up, and you can bathe. Then you can rest for the afternoon before we need to get ready for dinner.”

She winced at the mention of dinner, but obediently got to her feet. He glanced over his shoulder to Luka and Axel, who were watching them silently, concern on their features.

“Can one of you order up some lunch?” Theon asked. “Something warm.”

“On it,” Axel said, hooking his phone from his pocket. “I will have it delivered in an hour.”

“Thanks,” Theon replied, following Tessa through the doorway to the bedroom. She moved straight to the bathroom and reached to pull her torn running top over her head.

Then she disappeared into the closet, and Theon moved forward to fill the giant bathtub.

He heard her come back into the bathroom, and her voice carried to him.

“A bath?”

“I thought it would be more calming than a shower,” he answered, turning to face her, “but if you would rather—”

The words died on his lips. She stood before him in lacy red underthings that matched the red sports bra she’d worn running that morning. Despite the dried blood and dirt on her skin, the bond spiked with desire at the sight of her.

He cleared his throat. “If you would rather take a shower, I can get that set up for you.”

“A bath is fine,” she said, moving forward and reaching for her sports bra.

“I will check on you in a few minutes,” he said, turning quickly to leave.

“Wait,” she called out, and Theon turned back to her.

She was worrying her bottom lip, and her hands had dropped to her sides where her fingers were curling and uncurling into loose fists.

“What do you need, Tessa?” he asked when she didn’t speak after several moments.

She still didn’t look at him when she said, “Can you stay? I don’t want to be alone right now.”