Chapter 30 Theon #2
“But maybe we should wait to share everything until after you’ve secured the Arius seat,” Luka said.
“We’re already going to be up against opposition when it’s learned you took Tessa as your wife.
She’s still technically your Source, and she’s the most powerful being in the realm.
Add this to it,” he continued, gesturing between the three of them.
“They’re not going to like any of it, Theon. ”
He pulled on the back of his neck as he mulled that over. He had a point. A lot of really good points. If he suddenly showed up wanting to throw off every tradition and norm, they could easily fight him about it all and deny him everything.
“You might be right,” he started, but he didn’t get to finish.
“No,” Tessa interrupted, shaking her head.
“No. You knew my stipulations for this, Theon. I’m not hiding who I am.
I’m not becoming less than because it’s not what they want.
I’m not… No. It’s one thing if Luka doesn’t want this, but if it’s only because it will make things more difficult.
No. I’ll be as fucking difficult as I want to be. ”
Then she was passing her coffee mug back to Luka before she crawled—fucking crawled—to the end of the bed to climb off it.
She stalked across the room, slamming the bathroom door behind her, and still all Theon could think about was the way her ass had looked peeking out from the bottom of her shirt when she’d crawled across the bed.
Luka’s gaze was also on the closed bathroom door. “You’re fine with this? Truly, Theon?”
“Is it what I envisioned? No,” Theon answered honestly.
“But none of this is. I thought I’d have a submissive Source that I could draw from to take down my father and be able to focus on our kingdom.
Instead, we have this mouthy thing of chaos, who pushes back every chance she gets and is bringing the godsdamn realm to ruin. ”
Luka huffed a dark laugh. “I thought you’d get your Source and take over the Arius Kingdom.
We’d take care of our own. Eventually you’d take a Match and so would I because it’s tradition and required of us.
Decades from now, we’d have children. Instead, Axel will be a father in a few months, and we’re… sharing.”
“Instead we’re sharing,” Theon echoed. When Luka didn’t say anything, he ventured, “Does that mean you’re accepting her stipulations?”
Luka sighed, setting his mug beside Tessa’s where he’d placed it on the bedside table. Grabbing a hair tie, he pulled his hair back, securing it as he said, “A part of me wanted to rip her away from you when you kissed her.”
“And the other part?”
“Wanted to join you,” he replied, his voice low and thick with want. “I know we’ve shared in the past. I just never thought we’d end up keeping the same female.”
They had shared in the past. Not often. A night here and there, usually after a brutal bout with his father when they were just trying to escape the reality of their fucked up lives.
He supposed that was no different from the way Tessa would often try to drown herself in sex or alcohol for the same reason.
But maybe, in a way, it was all leading up to this in the end.
He couldn’t believe he was admitting it, but maybe the Fates had orchestrated something new and chaotic.
Maybe all the little things had been leading up to and preparing them for this.
Maybe it’d become a way out for all of them if they could figure out how to claim it.
How to balance Tessa. How to redeem Devram.
How two fiercely possessive beings could suddenly share something they both coveted and would shed blood for.
“Are you going to tell her?” Theon finally asked, glancing at Luka as he stood, picking up the coffee cups.
“Eventually,” Luka said. “First, I need to shower.”
“Tessa’s showering,” Theon said, extracting himself from the blankets. He’d heard the shower water turn on a moment ago.
“I know,” Luka said, and Theon paused before he smirked. He was about to say something in return when there was a knock on the door and Axel poked his head in.
He scanned the room before he said, “Thank the gods. I didn’t know what I was going to walk in on with the three of you. It could have been nudity or bloodshed. Or both.”
“Fuck off, Axel,” Theon said, moving toward the dresser where he’d returned all the clothing Tessa had packed into a bag. Thinking she would sleep on the sofa. As if he wouldn’t throw her over his shoulder and haul her right back up here. “Need something?” he asked his brother.
“I don’t, but Dagian does,” Axel replied nonchalantly.
Theon whirled, Luka straightening. “Dagian? Dagian Jove?” Theon asked.
“The one and only. Sent a note asking to meet with you,” Axel said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket.
“Just Dagian?” Theon asked, grabbing the paper and skimming the words.
“Sounds like it. What do you want me to do?”
Theon glanced at Luka, then to the bathroom door. They were here. The Underground was their domain. If it was just the Achaz Heir…
“Set it up,” Theon said.
“Are we sure sending Razik and Eliza to collect him was a good idea?” Axel asked where he was standing near Kat, who was seated on the sofa.
“Yes,” Theon answered. “No one knows who they are. If we’d sent Tristyn or Xan, they’re easily recognizable and known well by the Achaz Kingdom. Until the Pantheon, Razik and Eliza being here was kept quiet.”
“Yeah, but that’s the point. They were seen when the Pantheon was demolished.”
“It was our best bet,” Theon said, watching Tessa, who was pacing back and forth a few feet away.
“How did he get here so fast? He just sent that request yesterday,” she murmured, hands constantly drifting to her hair, but she’d stop herself before she touched the strands.
“He was insistent when I spoke to him,” Axel offered.
“It’s a trap.”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
“This is our territory he’s walking into, Tessa,” Theon tried. “The only person he was allowed to bring with him is his Source.”
“Sasha,” she murmured, then she shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. “I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do we,” he replied. “No one said anything about trusting him. He’ll be outnumbered. Look at everyone here. Even with his Source, he won’t accomplish anything here.”
Her eyes skimmed the room. Cienna and Gia.
Tristyn and Xan. Even Brecken was here. She swallowed thickly, and he knew she was being haunted by memories of an assessment Dagian had infiltrated with the help of the Serafina Heir.
No one knew what the Achaz Heir wanted, but Theon was more than intrigued.
Tessa started pacing again, light and ashes trailing in her wake. Violet eyes snapped to his, “We can’t see the sun here.”
He knew this was coming. The Underground, while open and not confining, still separated her from the outside world.
Even Nylah and Roan didn’t follow her here, choosing to stay in nature and the fresh air.
They needed to leave soon. If anything, just to let her wild nature lose a little control for a bit.
He chalked it up to her father’s side— Temural, god of the wild and untamed.
“Go sit with Luka, Tessa,” he said, and when she waved him off, muttering to herself, he sent a look to Luka.
He sighed, but then he crossed the room from where he’d been standing near the lift doors. She hadn’t even noticed, and when she turned in her pacing, she nearly ran into his chest. He was already gripping her chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“Not that you need us, but he’s not going to touch you, Tessa,” Luka said, his voice low and brokering no argument. “You are the most powerful person in this room. Are you going to let him harm us?”
Lightning flashed in violet depths, the light on her arms immediately flaring as golden mist and silver embers danced in the air around her.
“That’s what I thought,” Luka said, and Theon could hear the smirk in his voice. “He is beneath you, Tessa. Not the other way around. No one controls you, which means no one gets to make you feel anxious or less than. Do you understand?”
Her throat bobbed with a swallow as she nodded.
“Verbal acknowledgement, little storm,” Theon said, having drifted closer.
Her glare was cold, but not as icy as her words when she bit out, “I understand.”
Which was fine. He was following Luka’s lead and riling her up.
It was a delicate balance with her—and yes, he found that ironic—but when she thought about things too much, it led to…
this. When she let the fury drive her, she was a force to be reckoned with.
She was a tempest capable of endings and beginnings.
“That’s our girl,” Luka said, his thumb swiping along her bottom lip.
If anyone in the room had questions about what was happening, they didn’t voice them. Until the three of them navigated this thing of theirs, they’d leave everyone to wonder.
The sound of the lift ascending had them all turning to the entrance. Axel and Luka moved to the front, standing between the doors and everyone else. When they opened, Eliza gestured for Dagian and his Source to go first.
He entered the room with his head held high, ever an heir showing no weakness.
He looked somewhat like Rordan with his golden blonde hair, but his golden eyes lacked the blue that Rordan’s held, and those sharp cheekbones were all his mother.
His Source was at his side, stunning with her bronze skin and brown hair.
Neither spoke, but he saw the subtle tilt of her head, telling him they were speaking down their bond.
That was an aspect of his own bond that hadn’t been repaired.
He could feel Tessa’s emotions, but the mind-speak had never returned.
“Dagian,” Theon greeted tightly, slipping his hands into his pockets.