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“I’m sorry, Tessa,” Axel said, pushing the lid closed.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter. We have decades, centuries possibly, of being around each other. I don’t want…” He trailed off, as if he didn’t know how to finish his thought.

Tessa swallowed her second bite before she said, “As was stated last night, none of it matters, does it?” Axel opened his mouth, but she kept going. “Besides, soon enough you will have your own Source and a Match. I’ll be in the background, just there when Theon needs power. That’s my purpose, right?”

“Tessa, we don’t want it to be like that. We’ve never wanted it to be like that. We’ve never wanted—”

“It doesn’t matter what anyone wants,” she sighed. “Again, as was stated last night, nothing can be changed.”

She set the half-eaten doughnut down on a napkin she’d grabbed. It just…didn’t taste right.

“Nothing can change you being his Source, that’s true,” Axel said carefully. “But that doesn’t mean you need to be miserable, Tessa. He just…” He pushed out a long breath, swiping a hand down his face. “You’ve seen Eviana. We don’t leave the kingdom much. The Arius Kingdom is private for various reasons you will soon learn. The relationship between my father and Eviana is all we really had to go on when it came to Sources. Theon thought—well, we all thought really—that it was just…automatically like that.”

Tessa was quiet, fidgeting with the napkin beneath her fingers. “I am well aware that I am…a disappointment in many ways, Axel. Despite my best efforts to not be that, I know I can be a hassle.”

“You’re not, Tessa. You’re—”

“I know I am different from other Fae.”

“Theon wants different. He doesn’t want—”

“I know what Theon wants,” Tessa cut in. “He told me his entire godsdamn checklist last night. I just so happen to check all the boxes except the easy one.”

“He doesn’t want easy.”

“I don’t care what he wants. I don’t care what any of you want.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Axel said, nudging the half-eaten doughnut forward with his fingertips. “Then what do you care about, Tessa?”

“Nothing,” she answered. “Why would I bother caring about anything? It won’t make a difference.”

“What about this bargain with Theon?” he countered. “You obviously care about something to make a bargain.”

Tessa brushed her fingers along her ribs, where the Bargain Mark now marred her skin. “The bargain was impulsive. Something I’m told I am often. It was pointless and simply tied me to him in yet another way. But I will uphold my end. I will be his perfect little Source in public. The gods know I don’t need to be any more cursed than I already am.”

Axel frowned, and he opened his mouth, about to say something else, when Theon strode into the room. “Luka is waiting for us down at the vehicle,” he said, glancing once at the doughnuts. He grabbed Tessa’s coffee mug, and she watched him pour what was left into a travel mug, topping it off with what was left in the pot. He twisted the lid on before passing it back to her without a word. Then he scooped up a messenger bag and looped it over his shoulder. “Ready?”

Axel swiped up the pastry box, closing the lid. “For months away from this place? Absolutely.”

Both of their gazes settled on her. She made her way to them, following the St. Orcas brothers out the door and leaving the half-eaten doughnut sitting on the counter.

PART TWO

DEATH MUST TAKE

30

TESSA

Tessa had the earbuds in that Axel had given her, listening to a playlist he had set up. Her back was to the door against the window. She’d long since lost her socks and sneakers, and her bare feet were on the seat between her and Theon. The laptop Theon had purchased for her was propped against her bent knees, and she was playing around with the various features. Theon had shown her the basics of the tablet and computer. They’d had access to basic technology at the Estate, but, like her new phone, this was the best on the market. Corbin would be beside himself. He was usually reserved and stoic, except when it came to technology.

They’d been traveling for a few hours when there was a lull between songs, and Tessa caught a few words of the conversation taking place around her.

“I don’t know how she can focus on the screen with it constantly bouncing like that,” Axel was saying.

“She has become increasingly fidgety,” Theon replied.