Chapter 20
THEON
Finally.
That was all he could think as he sucked in a sharp breath. This always happened when he found himself here. It took a moment to orient himself, although it was getting easier each time. The hardest part was figuring out where in Devram he was and where he’d most likely find her.
Still in his suit from dinner, he turned in a slow circle.
Everything was in ruins, as it always was.
Partial buildings covered in moss and decay.
Rubble and the-gods-knew-what else under his feet.
The black waters rushed and flowed, but this wasn’t the Night Waters because this wasn’t the Arius Kingdom.
Which meant it was likely the Wynfell River.
It was the only other place with black water because he’d turned them black himself.
There was the possibility that someone at sometime had turned some waters black in the future, but he didn’t have time to contemplate the odds.
He never knew how long she’d keep him here.
He started moving, his pace brisk, keeping an eye out for the only other person he ever saw here. She always kept her distance, and he was still trying to figure out what her presence meant.
There were trees far off, and it didn’t take long to realize he was close to Faven. Or what would have been Faven. Decades in the future, it was as desolate as everywhere else, the Fates having come just like he’d said they would.
Just like it’d been prophesied.
But she’d survived. These visions proved that, and that was all that mattered.
He turned, about to head toward what would have been the capital city, when he spotted the glimmer of gold as the sun’s rays caught on her hair. Forcing himself not to run, he made his way to her, rounding a small bend to find her standing at the river’s edge, arms wrapped tightly around herself.
He stopped a few feet away, knowing she heard his approach, and he slipped his hands into his pockets, always letting her take the lead on these encounters.
“You have a wife,” she said, her gaze fixed on something across the river.
“I am required to take a Match to get back to you,” he answered. “Everything is always for you, little storm.”
“Always with the pretty words,” she muttered, her light coiling around her with those brilliant new black and gold embers and sparks flitting among it.
“I tried to tell you last time,” he replied.
Those words finally had her turning to him, a look of puzzlement staring back at him. “Last time?”
“The last time you pulled me to this place.”
The confusion stayed for a few seconds before it morphed into surprise. “Pulled you in… You’re not a phantom? You’re…”
She trailed off as he came closer, eating up the space between them in a few long strides.
Lifting a hand, he cupped her cheek, and she tilted her head back to look up at him.
He took in every piece of her. The bright violet eyes, suspicious yet with a glimmer of hope.
The golden hair, unbound and drifting in the soft breeze.
Her soft skin beneath his fingertips. The light and dark flowing around her.
Courting her. Calling her to go deeper, to let go, to give it control.
Finally understanding, after all this time, what she needed.
“Where is Luka, Tessa?”
She frowned, immediately tensing. “He doesn’t want us, so we let him go.
” She stared up at him, earnest and imploring, when she said, “That’s what we do, right?
When we love someone? We let them go when they don’t want us?
We set them free and let worlds burn to nothing to make sure they are happy? It’s what…”
She trailed off as his thumb brushed along her cheek, a simple soothing motion that she leaned into. Her eyes fluttered closed for a few seconds, and when she opened them, tears clung to her lashes.
“He’s not here because we’re all too broken,” she whispered.
He leaned down, pressing his brow to hers. “Maybe we’re all broken, but maybe together we can form something new. Something whole.”
She was quiet, her eyes closing once more. Something flitted across her face, an expression of wanting something that was impossible to have.
But she was wrong.
He’d swore to always give her everything she needed. He’d failed on so many counts in delivering on that promise, but he would not fail in this.
“Look at me, Tessa,” he said, the order low and rough.
And like she always had, she obeyed. Her eyes fluttered open, holding his. Misery and desperation stared back at him in a rare show of vulnerability.
“I am yours. Every piece of me. In this life and all the ones to come,” he said. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure everything out. I’m sorry, but we’ll fix it.”
“We?”
He nodded, still cupping her cheek, while his other hand tentatively fell to her waist, tugging her a little closer. Forcing himself not to groan at the contact, he said, “We. Because it’s not something I can do on my own.”
She bit her bottom lip as she thought. Then her eyes narrowed when she said, “How do I know this is real? That I can trust you?”
He couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at his mouth, admittedly something smug and satisfying. “How do you think I am here, clever tempest? You only pull people into your dreams that you trust implicitly.”
“I…” She trailed off, still uncertain. Still wary. And he couldn’t blame her after everything she’d experienced these last months. The entirety of her life.
“You’re not alone, Tessa,” he murmured, brushing his lips across hers in the lightest of kisses. He still felt her shudder at the contact. “Wake up, and I’ll prove it.”