Chapter 21
THEON
He was on his feet before he was fully awake, still completely dressed from dinner earlier this evening.
For days he’d been waiting for Tessa to pull him into her dreams. He hadn’t been able to get a moment alone with her.
Rordan and Dex made sure she was never by herself, and at night, her room was guarded by seraphs and warded.
Up until this moment, he hadn’t even been sure she wanted to talk to him.
He hadn’t lied to her. He’d tried to warn her about what was going to happen the last time she’d pulled him into a dream.
But then she’d kissed him and he was powerless when she did that.
When she clung to him like it was the only way she could survive.
When she wasn’t fighting him and they were both grasping to keep something so fleeting and impossible.
Theon shrugged off his suit jacket and loosened his tie before taking that off as well, tossing it to the sofa.
He’d never stayed at the Estates before.
He’d never even visited them really. Luka had always gone and done the scouting, his father wanting their plans kept a secret.
What nobody had realized was that Theon had been keeping his plans a secret from his father too, and while Luka was visiting estates on his behalf, he was dealing with his father’s attempts to get him to fall in line.
Still, with the Ladies not “able” to come here for two godsdamn weeks, he’d become more than a little acquainted with the Estate these last several days.
It was spacious, much like the academic campuses he’d read about and even attended occasionally, although he was never gone from Arius House for more than a few months at a time.
The main building housed the foyer, dining hall, a few small meeting rooms, the Estate Mother’s office, and other inconsequential rooms. The second and third floors were her private living quarters.
There were dormitories for the Fae, segregated by age, and at the southernmost part of the estate was a grander complex designated specifically for when Legacy were visiting.
Rordan was staying in Cordelia’s living space.
Seraphs roamed the halls of the complex, and he’d been given a suite on the second floor while Tessa was being watched and sequestered in a suite on the top floor.
Now he just needed to figure out how to get into it.
“Are you finally coming to bed?”
Theon turned to find Felicity in the bedroom doorway, a silk robe tied loosely around her. Her long hair was flowing over her shoulders, and she tugged at the sash of the robe as she sauntered into the room.
“I don’t know why you’re asking that,” Theon said tightly, rolling back his shirt sleeves to his elbows.
“Because part of the Match contract involves me conceiving an heir, Theon,” she said, frustration seeping into her tone. “I can’t exactly do that if you won’t even sleep in the same bed as me.”
“I don’t need to share a bed to fuck you, Felicity,” Theon said darkly. “But even with that being the case, you will never carry my child because we will never fuck, let alone share a bed.”
“I understand you’re just using me to get to Tessa,” she said, her tone going sultry once more.
She came closer still, the robe falling open.
“But you understand you can have us both, right? Keep the female, Theon. I don’t care.
I’m only here to help. She can’t carry your heir.
The other kingdoms would never stand for it. ”
She stood directly in front of him now, the robe hanging off her shoulders revealing full breasts and the flat planes of her torso.
Long legs led up to the apex of her thighs, as bare as the rest of her.
She brought her hands up, her palms landing on his stomach.
They slid up to his chest, the robe slipping down her arms, and she pushed onto her toes.
And then he felt her power pressing against him. A power that could increase conflict or deflate it. It pulsed around him, emanating out from her palms as her lips brushed his jaw.
“Use me, Theon. I’m here to make your life easier as your Match. It’s my role as a Lord’s wife,” she murmured against his skin, getting braver when he didn’t stop her. One of her hands slid around the nape of his neck as she moved from his jaw to his cheek, getting ever closer to his mouth.
Her lips were a mere inch from his when she gasped, eyes going wide. She tried to lurch back, but his power had wound around her throat, keeping her still. Darkness thrummed as he took a step back from her, wanting her to understand every bit of this rejection.
“I am not fucking you, Felicity. Not ever. We will never share a bed, and Tessa will never be required to share me. Your side of the Match contract is not my concern,” he said coldly.
“But you need an heir—” she rasped, gasping for air when his darkness tightened at her throat.
“Which is not your concern,” he replied. “Here is what is your concern though, Ms. Davers: if you ever attempt to use your magic on me again, my power won’t just be wrapped around your neck. It will snap it. Do you understand?”
She nodded frantically. Well, as much as she could anyway.
“Good,” he said, making his way to the door. “The only thing I need you for right now is to ensure I get what I came for. You’ve always known what this is, and you’d do well to remember it. Do not leave this room tonight.”
He slipped out the door, letting it click shut behind him before he released her from the grasp of his magic.
He didn’t know if she’d obey his order or not, but even if she didn’t, she wouldn’t leave right away.
She was as manipulative as the rest of the realm.
She had motives of her own. Her father may have agreed to the Match Contract in negotiations with Valter, but Felicity had wanted it.
Wanted the status. Wanted the power that came with the title.
She wouldn’t risk that. Not yet. But he saw the desperation seeping into her actions. Like tonight.
He probably shouldn’t have had that confrontation quite yet. He needed her compliant until that Lordship title was his, but then again, if things went as planned, he wouldn’t need her for that either.
He took a side stairwell rather than the main, knowing it wouldn’t matter much. The moment he crossed the wards, someone would be alerted. A plan would be better, but the only plan he could come up with was to deal with whoever tried to stop him.
The building was only five floors, and the moment he stepped foot on the staircase leading to the fifth, he felt the wards. He didn’t slow, continuing up and coming face-to-face with one of Tessa’s so-called friends. Not Dex or Oralia. The other one.
He had a roll of lull-leaf between his lips, and his dark eyes looked him up and down as he leaned against the doorframe of the stairwell.
“It’s about time,” he drawled, pinching the roll between his fingers. Then he added, “That won’t be necessary.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Theon replied, his magic coiled tightly in his palm, preparing for the fight that was sure to come.
“I know you haven’t talked to her much as of late, but I’ll take you to her. Let her explain.”
“You’re going to take me to Tessa?” Theon asked skeptically. “What’s your name again?”
“Brecken,” he answered, putting the lull-leaf back between his lips. Suddenly in front of him, a hand landed on Theon’s forearm before he felt the pull in his stomach. The fucker could Travel.
In the next breath, he stood in a suite grander than the one he’d been given. It took up half of the fifth floor, and he wasn’t sure how many rooms there were. A main bedroom for sure, along with the formal living room they were standing in.
And there she was, pacing back and forth before the unlit hearth. No lights were on. There was only the moonlight streaming in as she muttered to herself in the dark.
“We have a purpose,” she was saying softly, never ceasing her back and forth strides. “They could help? No, no. It’s too broken. I’m broken. They’re broken. The realms and the gods. There can never be a balance.”
Each step had her power trailing, the chaos echoing around her in a faint pulse. Not even that cuff could fully contain it. Her hands came up, fisting in her hair and pulling, and her face twisted in an agony that had his chest hurting. It pained him to see her like this.
“You going to say something?” Brecken asked flatly.
But his throat was dry, the words a hoarse rasp when he said, “Little storm?”
She shook her head. “Wasting so much time. We save him, and then we leave. They can be together. Happy. And I can—”
“Tessa, look at me,” he said, the words sterner, clearer. Breaking through whatever she was battling internally.
Her head snapped up, violet eyes latching onto his, and her mouth dropped open. “You… You came?”
“One day, Tessalyn Ausra, you will understand that I do not lie to you,” he said, rooted in place as she stared back at him. “I will always come for you.”
She worried her bottom lip, one hand drifting back up to her hair as her gaze slid to Brecken. “You brought him here?”
“I did tell you time was running out,” he replied, the lull-leaf between his fingers. “But I suppose I also am trying to prove something to you for some reason.”
She scoffed, the smallest of smiles tugging at her lips, and while Theon was certain he didn’t need to be, a minute part of him was jealous that she’d only smiled at the seraph since they’d appeared here.
Theon cleared his throat. “He said you would explain why we don’t have to worry about him telling anyone I’m in here.”
She was still staring at Brecken when she said, “He has been helping me. At the Sirana Villas and the Pantheon. He helped ensure the Fae were out of harm’s way before I…”
“Then you believe we won’t have unwanted interruptions tonight?”
Her eyes flashed to his, lightning flickering in their depths. “Where is your wife?”