Chapter 30 Theon
THEON
Tessa sighed where she was nestled into him.
One of her hands rested on his chest, and he lightly toyed with her hair, waiting for Luka to come back.
It was early, but he hadn’t been surprised when Luka had slipped from the bed.
He’d always been an early riser, and after sleeping for three weeks, he was restless.
Adding on that his wings needed to remain out for a bit yet, and he’d be shocked if he got more than a few hours of sleep.
He could only sleep on his stomach, and Theon knew the only reason he’d even come to bed last night was because that was where Tessa was.
The bedroom door pushed open, and Luka walked in, balancing a tray with three mugs, a coffee carafe, a plate of pastries, oranges, and juice.
He set it down on the coffee table before picking up two mugs, carrying one to him.
Theon was already carefully adjusting to sit up against the headboard while Tessa still slept.
Taking the mug, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” Luka answered, but Theon narrowed his eyes. “I’m fine, Theon,” he said again. “Sore. Annoyed my wings will take so long to heal, but it could have been worse.”
“You mean you could have actually died?” Theon deadpanned.
Luka glared at him, but it quickly morphed into something else.
His eyes drifted back to Tessa’s sleeping form.
“I thought… I’m pretty sure that dagger Dex used wasn’t meant to kill me.
Or maybe it was after…” He sighed a deep, shuddering thing.
“I felt my dragon dying, Theon. That piece of me. That…”
Theon stared at him, not knowing what to say. Was that possible? To only kill the dragon piece of him? He couldn’t imagine Luka not being able to shift, to fly. And would that take his power too? If his dragon was gone, would he have lost his dragonfire?
“But it didn’t, right?” Theon finally said. “You still have your wings. Cienna said they will heal, and you can still feel your dragon.”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “I can still feel everything.”
His friend didn’t need to elaborate. Theon could still feel the Guardian bond being shredded apart. The excruciating agony. It was a phantom memory that he could feel as if it had happened yesterday. He wondered if it would ever fade.
“We monitor it,” Theon said when the silence grew too heavy. “If anything feels off, we talk to Cienna right away. Or maybe Xan.”
Luka only nodded, taking another drink of his coffee.
“Speaking of feeling off, that Mark on your chest…” Theon said, trailing off when Luka glanced down. He hadn’t asked about it yesterday, which was surprising since he’d immediately asked about the new Mark on Theon’s wrist. “Any ideas what it does?”
“Why would I know that? I didn’t give it to myself,” Luka said. “There was a lot to catch up on yesterday. I assumed it was something Cienna did to save my life, and someone would mention it if that wasn’t the case.”
“Not Cienna,” Theon said with a pointed glance at the sleeping tempest. She’d hardly moved, nestling into his thigh when he’d shifted to sit up. Now her hand rested there, fingers grazing way too close to his dick, especially with her in only one of his shirts beneath the blankets.
Luka’s brows arched in surprise. “She did this? How?”
“We don’t know,” Theon answered. “I was— I didn’t see it all, and no one knows what that Mark does. Not Cienna or Tristyn, Razik or Brecken. They say Scarlett can create new Marks because of what she is. That’s Eliza’s theory. That Tessa did the same. The thing is, Tessa doesn’t know what she did.”
Luka’s lips twitched as if he was fighting a smile. “Of course she doesn’t.”
“Cienna said we wouldn’t know until you woke up, and even then, it might be a while before we figure it out.
Until something activates it, I guess. Unless you’ve noticed anything?
” Theon asked, but Luka only shook his head.
Theon had figured as much, but he’d hoped it would be one thing that could be solved right away.
As if he couldn’t help himself, Luka drifted closer to the bed, rounding to the other side, before taking a seat. Theon could see his fingers flex on the coffee mug and knew exactly what he was fighting—the urge to reach over and touch her.
“Did she talk to you about it?” Theon asked because this whole dynamic was something they’d never actually discussed. It had just sort of…happened.
Luka glanced at him. “You don’t know?”
He knew they’d argued. He knew there’d been frustrations.
He knew they’d fucked. Tessa’s emotions down the bond had been a myriad of feelings he couldn’t sort through fast enough.
He’d forced himself to stay downstairs. Not to come up here and mediate, because they needed to figure their shit out first before they figured it all out together.
And he needed to know what Luka had decided.
Sure, they’d fucked, but he knew as well as anyone that didn’t mean anything.
It could have been a “one last time” thing, or it could have simply happened with the height of emotions.
But Luka coming to bed last night made him believe it was more than that.
“She told me her stipulations, yeah,” Luka said, balancing his coffee mug on his knee. “But are you… Are we— We’re really doing this? You’re truly okay with it?”
“Did you tell her yes?” Theon asked, reaching down and smoothing back her hair without thinking.
“I didn’t answer her,” Luka admitted. “We had a lot to sort through, and adding that to the mix with everything else was a lot. But I also wanted to talk to you first.”
“I already agreed to her stipulations,” Theon said. “I told you that.”
“But did you want to?” Luka countered. “You are the soon-to-be Arius Lord. I understand if we need to keep her… If she needs to be only— Fuck, why is this so difficult?” Luka muttered, brushing his hair from his face.
“She needs both of us,” Theon said. “If these last months have taught us anything, it’s that. One of us isn’t enough to keep her balanced and in control.”
“It’s unconventional,” Luka said. “We’ll get pushback on this. That’s why I’m saying if we need to keep the ‘wife’ title solely between her and you, I understand.”
“The whole world is changing,” Theon argued. “This can change too. Is it something I ever thought I’d be arguing for? Not in a thousand decades. I never imagined sharing. Never thought it would be something I’d agree to.”
“Exactly,” Luka said. “It’s not in your nature.”
“And it’s not in yours,” Theon countered.
“I’m more likely to share than you.”
“Says the male who was ranting to me about too many people touching his things.”
“That’s different,” Luka growled.
Theon huffed a laugh. “How is that different?”
“Because it’s… It wasn’t— I don’t know how to say this without it sounding ridiculous,” he finally managed to get out.
“We’re discussing sharing a wife. Not sure it gets much more ridiculous than that.”
“It’s because it’s you,” murmured a sleepy, feminine voice. Then she stirred, languid and slow. She didn’t even open her eyes when she added, “He doesn’t care when you touch his things.”
“Is that so, little storm?” he asked in amusement, lifting his gaze back to Luka.
He wouldn’t look at him, instead already getting up to retrieve coffee for Tessa.
She rolled over, her ass and bare legs pushing against him now, and this was the part he wasn’t sure what to do with. If Luka wasn’t here, he’d already be between her thighs. His tongue first and then his cock.
Dammit.
Tessa turned and glanced up at him from beneath her lashes, a small quirk of her mouth telling him she knew exactly what he was struggling with. But if she thought he wasn’t going to touch her, she was sorely mistaken. He might not fuck her right now, but…
As she pushed into a sitting position, he reached over and grabbed her throat, tugging her to him.
His mouth landed on hers, and he swallowed her surprised gasp.
That surprise quickly became something else, and her lips melted against his.
Soft. Pliable. His tongue invading her mouth.
Claiming and owning and taking something she was willingly giving him.
He pulled back first, more than satisfied by the dazed look in her violet eyes and the flush on her cheeks. “Good morning, beautiful,” he purred, tucking hair behind her ear. “Luka has your coffee.”
“Right. Coffee,” she murmured, turning to Luka. She took it, glancing up at him and then back to her cup. She cleared her throat. “This is awkward, right?”
“You’ve woken up in a bed with both of us before,” Luka said flatly.
“Well, yeah, but… Not… This is different, and you know it,” she finally said, irritation creeping into her tone.
“How is it different? Did you not sleep well? Was coffee not delivered to you?”
“That’s not—”
She saw the lip twitch at the same time Theon did, and Theon turned his head to hide his own smirk.
“Gods, you’re such an ass,” she grumbled, wrapping her fingers around her mug and bringing it to her lips.
Luka sat back down on the edge of the bed, taking a drink of his own coffee.
“It’s new territory for all of us, Tessa,” Theon tried. “But it’s something we need to figure out how to navigate before we let the rest of the realm know.”
“Which is why I’m saying if it needs to be just the two of you—”
“No,” Tessa interjected, almost panicked. The bands of light on her wrists flared, illuminating their Union Mark, and those dark embers crackled at her fingertips.
“Easy, baby girl,” Luka said, reaching over to brush his hand along her arm at the same time Theon ran his fingertips down her spine. “I’m not going anywhere. All I’m saying is it might be easier for both of you if my role in the relationship isn’t advertised.”
“You’re not some secret fuck buddy, Luka,” she said flatly.
“We’re not hiding anything,” Theon agreed. “Again, we just need to figure out things between the three of us. Then we can present it to the kingdoms, and they can fuck off if they don’t like it.”