Chapter 23 Tessa
TESSA
She could feel him. It was strange. She could feel him, but they couldn’t hear each other’s thoughts.
It was as if only two of the Source Marks were working.
Maybe they wouldn’t all work because they were missing a piece of their whole.
Maybe it would forever be fractured, a constant ache that they’d become numb to but that would never really go away.
Tessa stretched an arm out, feeling the bed still warm from where he’d vacated it moments ago.
He’d called Luka three days ago, but he hadn’t had much to say apparently.
That was okay. The Ladies were supposed to arrive tomorrow.
They would all approve of Theon’s new role as the Arius Lord, and they could leave this place.
This place full of haunting memories. This place with Dex or Rordan around every godsdamn corner.
All the seraphs and too small spaces, even if she’d been given this suite.
Every day she was ushered to a room with either Dex or Rordan, where she was forced to sit in their presence, because what else was she going to do?
They had to know Theon was finding his way to her. Couldn’t they scent it?
She inhaled deeply, the smell of him enveloping her. It was on the sheets, the pillows, and she burrowed deeper into the blankets. These past nights she’d actually slept. Not as deeply as she once had, but enough to not feel utterly exhausted each and every day.
“Glad to see some things haven’t changed.”
His voice carried to her, and the smallest of smiles tilted on her lips. Not that she’d let him see it.
The bed dipped, a large palm smoothing down her hair, then down her back, and she rolled over, looking up at him. He was staring at her like she was the phantom now, as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
She shoved hair off her face, the cuff tangling in her golden strands. “I want this off,” she said, her voice still raspy from sleep.
“I know, Tessa,” he said. “One more day. After tomorrow, it’s off. Never again.”
“We’ve said that before,” she muttered.
He leaned in, his face inches from hers. “In one day, everything will be different, and you will be untouchable. Not from anything I did, but because you are the most powerful being in not only Devram, but in all the realms. Not even that cuff can fully contain you.”
He had a point. Her power still managed to escape.
Not a lot. Embers here. A little light there.
Nothing like what she should have access to.
No, she couldn’t access it, but she could feel it all.
That thing that prowled in her soul, furious at being caged yet again.
It clawed at her, and until Theon had found his way to her, she hadn’t been sure she would survive it.
She dreaded the mornings when he had to leave, for more reasons than one now.
“Where’d you go, little storm?” he murmured.
“My power is angry,” she said simply, tracing the etchings on the cuff. “We don’t like this.”
“We,” Theon repeated.
“It traps us, and we don’t like being trapped,” she went on as though he hadn’t spoken. “And when we are free again? We will seek out the ones who did this. It has been a long time since we took, and we are starving.”
“Tessa, look at me.” His tone was an order, and she blinked up at him in confusion.
“What?”
“I told Luka to take his time, but we are out of it,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. Then he cupped her cheek, his thumb swiping along her skin. “One more day, Tessa. I need you to hang in there one more day.”
“Rordan is cunning,” she said suddenly. “Remember that.”
His eyes bounced between hers, searching as he asked, “Do you know something I don’t?”
She shook her head. “No, but I lived with him for a time. He never fully confided in me, but he told me enough to make me feel important.”
“You are important.”
“You know what I mean,” she said, waving him off. “I know I have this power—”
She started when he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You are important, Tessa. Not your power. Not your bloodline. You.”
Her throat clogged, and she swallowed against the sudden onslaught of emotions.
“I’m sorry for ever making you feel otherwise,” he added, releasing her chin and letting his fingers skim her jaw. She gasped, and his eyes widened in alarm. “What is it?”
“I can’t decide if this is a dream,” she answered, and his brow furrowed.
“It is not a dream, Tessa.”
“Then you truly just apologized to me?” she asked with a wry smirk.
“You are a brat,” he muttered, leaning in once more to brush his lips along hers, but she kept him there, fisting his shirt to hold him in place. Deepening the kiss. Tasting him and taking what she could, knowing it would never be enough to get her through this day.
He pulled back, a low groan coming from his chest. “I have to go, Tessa. We need to pretend for one more day.”
“One more day,” she repeated, but her gaze lingered on his lips because this damn bond was more than excited about what had been transpiring. That part of the bond was back to working just fine.
He tapped her chin, forcing her eyes to his. “You do not regret last night?”
She shook her head.
He smiled. “I’ll see you at dinner,” he said, pressing one last kiss to her brow before going out to the living room to meet Brecken at the allotted time. Every morning before sunrise.
It was gross to be awake this early, so she rolled over, determined to sleep a little longer. But it never worked. She could never fall back to sleep, and if she did, it was fitful and not worth it in the end.
Grumbling, she flung back the blankets, showering and getting ready for the day.
Of course, she’d only been provided with bright white and gold clothing, and she spent a good hour “altering” a dress into something she could actually wear and move in.
Deep slits up the side. Hollows at the waist so she could breathe properly.
She couldn’t find anything black to add, not even a curtain or sheet she could cut up, so when her power lingered, faint and weak, she sent it to the dress.
Silver and onyx settled against the white garment, accenting with gold, and she smiled as she twisted to look at it from all angles in the mirror.
Even she could see the madness in that tilt of her lips.
Her gaze fell to the cuff, and despite having tried it every single day since speaking with Brecken, she sliced her finger with the scissors, careful not to let a drop of blood hit the floor.
Instead, she smeared it across the cuff, watching the thing pulse faintly, the red absorbing into the thing, and then… nothing. Just like every other day.
With a sigh, she pulled her sleeves down, covering her wrists, and made her way to the living room with two minutes to spare before there was a knock on the door. Pulling it open, she flashed a dark grin to the seraph who stood waiting for her.
“Are you always so punctual?” she asked, tilting her head and studying the male.
Eyes that were a few shades darker than his soft grey wings stared back at her. His raven hair was neatly trimmed around his ears. He was handsome in that warrior way with muscles that showcased how intensely he trained.
Stepping to the side, he gestured for her to go in front of him, and she sighed. “So where are we going today?” she asked, her bare feet silent on the marble floors as he brushed past her to lead the way.
Of course, he didn’t answer her. She’d never heard him speak.
She watched his wings rustle slightly as he walked, back straight and head up.
Not for the first time, she wondered what being the male had killed and what magic he now possessed.
She hadn’t seen him use any power. Not that such a thing mattered.
Dex had been using his power around her for years, and she hadn’t realized it.
They crossed the courtyard to the main estate building, and it wasn’t until they turned down an all too familiar hall that she stopped.
Digging her heels in and stepping back a few paces, she said, “I’m not going in there.”
The seraph stopped, turning to look her up and down before arching a brow. Tessa only crossed her arms, glaring at him. He’d have to throw her over his godsdamn shoulder and haul her to that office himself.
“Go tell Rordan or Dex, whichever one is waiting for me, that I will not be joining them there,” she said, the magic on her dress swirling in her agitation.
The male noticed it though, cocking his head and peering closer.
“Go tell them,” she repeated.
The seraph shrugged, turning away and continuing down the hall to the end. She watched him push the door open and gesture in her direction, and for the first time, she wondered if he actually couldn’t speak.
Then Rordan appeared, casually strolling down the hall in his dark navy suit, blue eyes pinned on her in disapproval.
“Come, Tessalyn,” he said, stopping a few feet from her. “Breakfast is waiting, and we have sensitive matters to discuss.”
“I am not sitting in that room for hours today,” she replied, unease prickling in her gut at his words. “Pick somewhere else.”
“Everything is already set up and prepared. It will be a waste of everyone’s time to move things now.”
“That is not my problem,” she retorted, turning on a heel and going in the opposite direction. She ignored his barked command, making her way down another hall to one of the formal meeting spaces, where she plopped her ass in a chair at the head of the table.
When Rordan finally appeared, her elbow was on the table, chin in her hand.
“I knew you’d see it my way,” she said, her tone dripping with faux sweetness as the seraph appeared behind Rordan, laden down with a tray of breakfast items. “Thank you,” she added when he placed it on the table before her.
She immediately reached for the coffee carafe, pouring herself a cup and adding cream and sugar while Rordan stiffly set up his own things to her right, a few chairs down.