Rain of Shadows and Endings — Chapter no 3

3 TESSA

T he finality of his words rang through the center of her very being, and although she couldn’t move, two tears slipped down her cheeks. Theon wiped one away with his thumb, brushing the wetness along her cheekbone.

“Acknowledge that you understand what has just happened, Tessa.”

Her lips parted as though released from a hold. “I understand…Master.” She knew the word should taste bitter on her tongue, but to her horror, it was sweet and wanted.

“Good girl,” he said, releasing her wrist and stroking her cheek once more. “When we are in private or with Luka Mors, and not in formal settings, you may call me Theon,” he added.

Tessa could only nod, too stunned to do anything else. He stood then, pouring another glass of water and holding it out to her. “Drink, Tessa.”

But she didn’t reach for the glass. “I’m not thirsty.”

“It will make you feel better. Help clear your mind,” he insisted.

“No, thank you.”

Theon sighed. “This is not going at all as I had imagined it would,” he muttered under his breath. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before finally saying, “Tessalyn, drink.”

She glared at him, having no choice but to take the glass and drink the entire thing

before handing it back to him.

“Better?”

“Oh, yes. It fixed everything,” she retorted, really not caring at all about self- preservation now as the thing beneath her skin grew restless.

His brows rose. “You are…unexpected.”

“Then you should have selected someone else.” Her tone was not as sharp as she’d intended. She hoped he didn’t hear the small thread of defeat in it.

“I am certain I chose perfectly.”

Silence settled thickly in the small room.

“What happens now?” Tessa asked, leaning back in her chair. Her limbs felt tired and heavy, but at least she could move them now. She needed to get herself under control.

Be what they want you to be now, so you can be who you were meant to be later.

That’s what Dex always said to her. It helped. Sometimes.

“The tonic needs at least an hour to fully take effect before the first Mark can be given.

That is why it is done now, before the feast,” Theon said. He had retreated several feet away, giving her space but keeping an eye on her.

“So…we can go eat?”

Theon shook his head. “I already told you we are not staying for the feast. As soon as the hour is up, I will summon the Priestess, give you the Mark, and we will leave.”

“Leave? To go where?” she demanded, sitting up straighter.

“Home. There are still a few weeks before the various Selection activities begin for the other Fae.”

“And where in the Arius Kingdom is your home?”

He shook his head. “Not yet, Tessa. I will not tell you that until your first Mark is in place.”

Tessa scoffed. “You can simply order me not to tell anyone,” she countered scathingly.

So much for getting herself under control. Gods, she was better than this. She knew how to go unnoticed, and it certainly wasn’t by talking back to a Legacy, especially the Arius Heir. Then again, she’d already been noticed, so what did it truly matter at this point?

“Tell me, Tessa, how long are you going to be this bitter about your fate?”

She crossed her arms, pursing her lips. “I want to eat.”

“I will have food brought to you.”

“No. I want to go to the feast. Give me one last night of normalcy. You owe me that,

Theon,” she pleaded.

Theon tsked. “I owe you nothing.”

Tessa started, the words like a slap across her face. She wasn’t even sure why his statement surprised her. She shouldn’t be. He was a Legacy after all. Fae existed solely to serve his kind. Of course he would believe he owed her nothing for giving up her entire life for him. For giving up her entire self for him. She didn’t have much, but what she did have she didn’t want to give to a godsdamn Legacy.

Theon sighed as though he realized he’d said the wrong thing. “I did not mean—”

“Yes, you did, and it’s fine,” Tessa interrupted, pushing to her feet. She wobbled slightly, and Theon stepped forward, his hand outstretched to steady her, but she held up her own to stop him. “Don’t.” She took a few deep breaths before looking up at him. “I know you do not owe me anything, but I would really like to attend the feast and see my friends once more before you take me away to your home.”

Theon held her gaze for a moment before nodding once. “I can agree to the feast, but we will not stay for the ball, Tessa. As soon as the feast is done, we are leaving.”

“It is customary for the heirs to stay for the entire celebration.”

Darkness flitted across his eyes. “The Arius Kingdom is not one for customs.”

“But I—”

“The feast or nothing. Take it or leave it.”

Tessa pursed her lips. “Fine,” she conceded, crossing her arms.

She moved to the door, and Theon’s hand came to the small of her back, his touch making her suppress a shiver. “Do not make it a habit to negotiate with me, Tessa,” he murmured into her ear. “This is a one-time thing.”

Tessa swallowed but nodded her acknowledgement, and he led her back down to the grand hall. Heads turned and eyes followed them as Theon escorted her to the dais. The other heirs were already present, their Sources seated beside them, all with bruises on their necks. It was the one and only time Fae would be given such a seat of honor.

Two empty chairs were at the end of the table, and Theon pulled one out for her, pushing it in as she sat. As soon as he took his seat, servers appeared, setting bowls of summer corn and herb soup in front of the heirs. Once the heirs were served, the newly chosen Sources were served before the staff moved on to the Lords and Ladies.

Tessa was too preoccupied searching the crowd for Dex and the others to eat, and Theon took notice. He leaned over, nudging the soup spoon towards her.

“Eat, Tessa,” he said softly into her ear. “Do not make me force you again.”

She stiffened at the implication of entrancing and clenched her teeth, picking up her spoon. She was on her fourth spoonful when she finally spotted them. All of their eyes were pinned on her, but it was Dex’s gaze she held. Concern filled his eyes, and his lips formed a thin line, but there was nothing to be done.

Not right now anyway.

A salad followed the soup, and then a main course of roasted lamb, potatoes, summer vegetables, and bread. Tessa picked at her food, only eating because of Theon’s threat, but he never said anything about it again. She could feel him watching her the entire time though, as if that wasn’t unnerving. A couple of the other heirs tried to engage him in conversation, but his answers were curt and short. They eventually gave up.

When it was announced there would be a short reprieve between the main course and dessert, Tessa made to move back from the table to go see Dex. A hand landed on the back of her chair before she’d moved it more than an inch.

“Where are you going, Tessa?” Theon asked, his voice low.

“To see my friends before dessert is served.”

“No.”

“But the deal was we would attend the feast, and I could see my friends,” she protested.

“I agreed to the feast. That was it,” Theon said, his features hardening. They were starting to draw attention from both the heirs and the Lords and Ladies.

“Th—” But his name got stuck on the tip of her tongue. Her eyes widened as a smirk spread across Theon’s face. This was a formal setting.

With no small amount of humiliation, she ground out from between clenched teeth, “Master, I would really like the opportunity to say goodbye to my friends since we will leave as soon as the feast concludes.”

“No,” he answered simply, sitting back in his chair and swirling his glass of whiskey.

“No? Just like that?”

Theon’s lips pressed together, darkness seeming to seep from his skin before it disappeared just as quickly. He took a drink from his glass before setting it down and leaning in close to speak into her ear once more. “I told you our negotiation was a one-time thing, Tessalyn. Now, I highly suggest you stop making a scene in front of everyone.” Tessa nodded once in understanding, but it wasn’t enough for him. “Verbal acknowledgment,

Tessa.”

“I understand,” she gritted out.

“Good,” he said, leaning back and picking up his liquor once more, his legs spread wide in a purely arrogant male mannerism. Tessa leaned back in her own chair, crossing her arms. “Act properly, Tessa,” he murmured over his glass. “I will not have my Source seen pouting and sulking about.”

“Of course, Master,” she answered with faux sweetness, sitting up straight and crossing her legs, placing her hands in her lap.

Another small smile played at his lips, and she could swear a spark of amusement shone in his green eyes. Pieces of some kind of divine chocolate dessert she would have devoured an hour earlier were placed in front of them a few minutes later, but each bite tasted like ash on her tongue. After three bites, Tessa set her fork down, pushing her plate back.

“For someone who was starving, you did not eat much,” Theon said conversationally, spearing his last bite of dessert with his fork.

“I lost my appetite,” she bit back.

“It is probably for the best. You will not want a full stomach when you receive the first Mark.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “Why?”

Theon shrugged. “I am told receiving the Marks can be uncomfortable for the Source.”

What the fuck did that mean?

“If you are finished, we can call for a Priestess,” Theon continued, drinking the last of his liquor.

Panic roiled through her, and she was suddenly glad she hadn’t eaten much as a wave of nausea came over her. “I…”

“Do not try to negotiate out of this, Tessa. It is time,” he said simply, his glass making a slight thudding sound when he set it down.

He made to stand, but Tessa blurted, “I need to use the restroom first.”

His eyes narrowed. “There is a bathroom in the Marking Suite.”

Damnit. That wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to be left alone for five godsdamn minutes so she could think and come up with a plan. Looks like she’d be getting those five minutes in the bathroom.

“It can’t wait,” she replied, fidgeting and crossing her legs as though she were about to wet herself right there.

Theon looked sufficiently irritated as he said, “We can stop on the way to the suite.”

She nodded in agreement and allowed Theon to pull her chair back and help her to her feet. She saw Dex, Oralia, and the others standing on the edge of the crowd, still watching her. The Fae hadn’t been invited to eat yet. They wouldn’t be until the Legacy were finished. The entire meal she had tried to come up with a way to get them a message, but Theon had been watching her like a godsdamn hawk.

As they descended the steps from the dais, Tessa knew this was her last opportunity.

Theon’s hand pressed to her lower back once more, and when they drew close enough to Dex, she said, “I didn’t notice a restroom in the corridor earlier. Are you sure there is one on the way?”

Theon nodded once, his gaze fixed straight ahead. “There is one halfway down the hall to the right.”

“Perfect,” she replied, and she saw Dex slip away out of the corner of her eye.

Perfect indeed.

As they made their way out of the grand hall and into the corridor, Theon slid his hand from her back and pressed it to her neck, right over where he’d forced the tonic into her body. Tessa jerked back at the pressure on the bruised and tender spot, her eyes snapping to

his accusingly. “What are you doing?”

“My power is healing the bruise.”

“Arius Legacy don’t have healing gifts.”

“I will be able to heal you. It is a component of the Source Markings, and it is proof the tonic has taken effect, allowing my magic to slip past and heal you.”

“Why didn’t you do that to begin with?”

“Because it is tradition for Sources to bear the bruises for the evening until they receive their first Mark,” he explained, reaching for her neck again.

She felt his dark magic rush under her skin, soothing the ache. “I thought the Arius Kingdom did not care for customs?”

“Careful, Tessalyn,” he warned. “My patience will only be pushed so far.”

When they reached the female restroom, Theon tugged her to a halt. “Five minutes, Tessa. If you are not back out here in five minutes, I will come in and get you.”

“Understood, Master.”

A growl rumbled from low in his throat. “We have much to discuss when we arrive home.”

Tessa turned away from him, but before she could push the door open, someone else came out.

“Oh, pardon me,” Oralia said, quickly offering a curtsy to Theon before hurrying off.

Theon didn’t even acknowledge her. “Five minutes,” he said, jerking his chin towards the door.

Tessa hurried in and immediately scanned the room. Five stalls were to her right, sinks on the left wall. A small window was high on the back wall, but not so small she wouldn’t be able to squeeze through it if she could get up there. She took a step towards it when a humming sound caused her to pause.

She drew closer to the stalls and stilled outside the third one where the humming was loudest. Tessa pushed the door open to find a phone sitting on the back of the toilet, vibrating with an incoming call. The Fae did not generally have phones until they were working in their assigned kingdoms, but she’d lifted plenty of them from unsuspecting Legacy. Corbin was weirdly skilled with technology, considering they rarely had the opportunity to use such things, but he managed to wipe any security measures taken off the phones they had lifted in the past, leaving them untraceable. Their small group of six had two stolen phones they shared among themselves, this being one of them. And because it wasn’t known they had the phones, they weren’t checked to make sure the settings were changed in the Pantheon.

The call rang out and immediately started vibrating again. She snatched it up, connecting the call and bringing it to her ear. “Dex?”

“Tessie.” Dex’s relieved voice came through the speaker. “We’re going to get you out.

We’re going to—”

“No, Dex. It’s immediate death if you’re caught. They will accuse you of attempting to kidnap a Source. You and anyone with you will be killed on the spot. We can’t risk that,” she argued, already knowing where he was going with this.

“So I’m supposed to do nothing?” Dex demanded. “We’re supposed to just sit back and let you be turned into a Source? I can’t do that, Tessa. Not after all we’ve worked for, and everything we’ve done to make sure this exact thing didn’t happen. I won’t be there to fix this.”

“I’m not asking you to sit back and do nothing, Dex.” She exited the stall, heading to the window again. “I think I have a plan.”

“You think you have a plan?”

“It’s sort of a make-it-up-as-you-go type of plan,” she answered, reaching down and slipping off her heels. She somehow clamored up onto the basin closest to the back wall with the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder. “I have to go. I have two minutes to get out of this bathroom. Call me again in five. I’ll have a more solid plan by then.”

“Tessie, this isn’t the time for your recklessness—”

But she cut the call before he could say more. Shoving the phone down the front of her dress, Tessa stretched out and unclasped the window. The bottom portion swung down just as a knock sounded on the door.

“Tessa,” came Theon’s voice, full of a dark warning.

“I’m just washing my hands,” she called back, turning the faucet on with her foot.

Sucking in a deep inhale, she leapt from the sink to the window, cursing under her breath at the impact of her body meeting the wall. It had worked though. Her arms were gripping the windowsill, and she used her toes to climb her way up the wall, grasping for any type of purchase. This wasn’t her first time sneaking out of undesirable situations. She could figure this out, even if the others weren’t here.

She reached out with her fingers, feeling the window ledge on the outside and hauling herself up. As she pulled her torso through, she had the sudden crushing realization that she had forgotten one very important fact. The grand hall was on the third level of the Pantheon. She was three floors above the ground.

Fuck.

But the door banging open behind her left little room for rethinking her plan.

“Tessa!” Theon bellowed, footsteps thundering across the floor. “Get back in here!”

“Let go!” she cried, kicking out with her foot as a hand clasped around her ankle.

She heard Theon curse when her foot connected with his face, and his grip released.

Pulling her legs through the window and up onto the ledge beneath her, she adjusted her positioning, not letting herself look down.

“Tessalyn—”

She threw her hands over her ears before his entrancing could reach her, but in doing so, she nearly lost her balance on the ledge. Reining in her breathing from nearly falling, she looked to her right. A balcony was a ways down. She could crawl along the ledge towards it. Going to the left wasn’t an option as she’d have to cross in front of the window, and she could hear Theon cursing up a storm and slamming things around the bathroom.

Pissing off the Arius Heir was not her finest moment, but her mind was quickly made up when shadowy mist started drifting from the window.

As quickly as she could without slipping from the ledge, she inched along towards the balcony. The wind had picked up, and the temperature had dipped as if a summer storm was moving in. Her hair fluttered across her face in the winds. She was halfway to the balcony when the phone began vibrating against her chest.

“Sorry, Dex,” she muttered under her breath. “I don’t have the plan completely figured out yet.”

Theon was still yelling for her to come back to the bathroom window, tendrils of darkness seeming to search along the ledge, but the farther she moved along, the more her heart soared. Freedom was getting closer and closer. Of course, once she made it there, she’d need to figure out how to get out of the Pantheon and then the Acropolis undetected.

Then she’d need to figure out some place to hide, but those were problems to worry about when she wasn’t on a ledge. Right now, her focus was not falling. A fall from this height wouldn’t kill her. Fae and Legacy were hard to kill, but the fall would certainly make her easier to catch.

A cry of relief left her when she leapt the final feet from the ledge to the balcony railing, clamoring over the top of it and sinking to her knees. Her entire body was trembling

with adrenaline. She couldn’t even get to her feet yet.

But she’d done it. For once in her life, she’d gotten out of her own mess.

Taking a minute to catch her breath and figure out her next move, the phone began vibrating once more. She’d done the first part by herself. Maybe now was a good time to let Dex and the others get involved with the rest.

She pulled the phone from her dress and was about to connect the call when the doors of the balcony swung open. Tessa gasped, dropping the phone as she looked up and met eyes of sapphire blue. A look of some type of annoyed acceptance came over his features.

“I told Theon you were going to be a handful,” he muttered, striding towards her with purpose.

Tessa shrank back against the balcony railing, trembling for an entirely different reason now. When the Legacy reached her, he bent and retrieved the dropped phone.

Snapping it in half, he tossed the pieces over the railing. Then he bent once more and slid strong arms under her knees and around her back, scooping her up.

“Come on, little one. Your Master is waiting.”