Chapter 38 Tessa #3
“Indeed,” Xan said, carefully sliding a finger beneath the collar at his throat to adjust it.
She turned away from him, walking to the kitchen where the others were gathered around the island.
Everyone turned to her when she entered, Xan a few paces behind her, and she made her way to Theon and Luka.
Theon immediately pulled her into his side, while Luka eyed his father from where he was leaning on his forearms.
“We need the rings,” Xan announced. “Tessa’s decision. Not mine.”
Luka turned his head to her in question, and she nodded mutely, tracing a nonexistent pattern on the countertop.
“We’ll have to ask Dagian to get it,” Theon said. “He’s really our only option at this point. Tessa won’t get close. Brecken is…gone. Tristyn’s cover is blown. He’s our only option.”
“There will be a cost involved,” Eliza warned. “There always is with something like this.”
“He’s already risking everything to offer me his power,” Theon replied. “He agreed to help however he could. This is the easiest and quickest path to that ring.”
“It is the most logical,” Razik agreed.
“I’m not saying it’s not logical,” Eliza said. “I’m saying they need to be prepared.”
“We are all—” Theon cut off as Luka straightened suddenly. “Someone crossed the wards. Someone is here.”
“Two someones,” Luka murmured. “Stay here.”
Tessa rolled her eyes, but she didn’t bother following, staying back with Theon while Razik and Eliza followed Luka to the front door. Theon was tense beside her, and she rested her elbows on the countertop, her chin in her hands.
“How are you doing, wild fury?” Tristyn asked with a small tilt of his lips.
“Did you have a child with Lilura?” she asked, and Tristyn lurched back so suddenly, he knocked a stool over.
“Why would you ask that?”
She shrugged. “You loved her—”
“Love her,” he corrected.
“Right.”
“We do not have a child,” Tristyn said tightly. “It’s complicated, but the long story short is that it’s forbidden.”
Tessa hummed, seeing Theon glance at her with a small frown.
“Where is Tessa?”
She jerked upright at the familiar voice.
“Tessa—” Theon started, but she was already running, racing from the kitchen and to the foyer.
She didn’t slow when she saw them, leaping into Lange’s arms and wrapping herself around him in a tight hug.
“By the gods, I’ve been so worried about you,” she murmured. She squeezed him another few seconds before pulling back and dropping to her feet to go to Corbin. The male embraced her, kissing her cheek as she stepped back.
They looked…exhausted and a little haunted. She peered around them, searching for another.
“Where is Eviana?” she asked slowly.
“That’s why we’re here,” Corbin said. “But first…”
He hesitated as if unsure if he should ask, but Lange said, “We haven’t had a proper meal in months.”
“Of course,” Tessa said, turning and leading them back to the kitchen, everyone following.
She started pulling food from the fridge, needing something to do with her hands, and as Luka helped her make sandwiches, she asked, “How did you get here?”
“It hasn’t been easy. We’ve been traveling for weeks,” Corbin said.
“Two Fae traveling by themselves without proper paperwork,” Lange added, refilling his glass of water after drinking the first in a few gulps. “I still don’t know how we made it.”
“Traveling from Arius Kingdom?” Theon asked with a frown, arms crossed over his chest.
“No,” Lange answered around a bite of bread he’d swiped. Gods, when had they eaten last? “We came from Serafina Kingdom.”
Luka stilled, the knife still in the mayo jar as he looked up. “What were you doing there?”
“She made us go with her,” Lange answered. “Spent weeks in the Dreamlock Woods.”
“And survived?” Theon asked, the shock evident.
Lange arched a brow. “Obviously.”
“Lange,” Corbin hissed, nudging him with his elbow. “He’s still the Arius Heir.”
“Actually, she’s the Arius Lady,” Theon said with a small smile and a nod at Tessa.
“Oh my gods,” she grumbled, returning to making the sandwiches.
“Wait, really?” Lange asked, sitting taller on his stool.
“I guess,” she mumbled, passing a plate over to him.
“That’s great news, Tess,” he said, picking up the sandwich. “You can help us get Eviana back.”
“Where is she?” Tessa asked again, sliding another plate to Corbin.
“We don’t know,” Corbin said grimly. “But we know who she’s with,” he added, his gaze sliding to Theon.
“My father,” he said, dread in those two words. “I knew he’d surface sooner or later.”
“If Eviana is back with him, this is not good, Theon,” Luka said.
“She’s not back with him,” Lange interrupted sharply. “Not willingly anyway. Valter found her. He has— He found her and took her. He didn’t take the time to search the woods for us.”
“And you two made it here how?” Luka asked, narrowing his eyes. “Like you said, very unlikely for two Fae.”
“They’re not entirely Fae,” Tessa said softly, holding Lange’s sky-blue eyes when they slid to her. “At least not Lange. He has Sefarina blood. He’s part Legacy.”
She looked at Corbin then, finding her friend already staring at her. “You’re not fully Fae either, are you?” When he didn’t speak, she added, “I’m the Arius Lady, Corbin. You’re safe here.”
He took a deep breath, glancing at Lange, who shrugged. “There’s no one left to trust, Cor.”
Eyes on his plate, Corbin said, “I can Shift.”
She couldn’t have heard him right. “But you… You have water magic,” she stuttered.
“And I can Shift,” Corbin said, lifting his gaze to hers. “We don’t know how, but—”
“Your mother is a Shifter,” Theon said, and Tessa turned to find him staring wide-eyed at Corbin.
“How do you know that?” Tessa asked.
“Because the Shifters in the Underground refuse to be any sort of help to me until I find their missing Shifter Prince, whose mother had a relationship with a water Fae,” Theon answered. Then, more to himself than them, he said, “He’s been right under my nose this entire time.”
“None of that matters,” Corbin said tightly. “We need to help Eviana. We need to find her.”
“I know where she is,” Theon said. “And because of you, we’ll be able to find her.”
“Me?” Corbin asked, brows arching in surprise. “I just said I don’t know where she is.”
“She’s where my father takes all things he doesn’t want found,” Theon said, and Tessa could feel excitement flowing down their bond. “He’s at his secret holdings in the Underground. The same place he’s hiding my mother.”