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“You will need to clarify that statement,” Theon replied, placing his napkin on the table.

Tessa glared at him. “Is there any other information you’ve withheld from me to trick me into bargains?”

“The bargain was your choice, Tessa. You were not forced into it.”

She scoffed, pushing her plate back. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Theon.”

He took a deep breath, pushing down the urge to argue with her about this, but he couldn’t keep his dark shadows from appearing. They coiled around his arms, and it took everything in him to hold them back when they tried to reach for her. “Today,” he gritted out, “the Keeper requested the other heirs and I have meetings with the Pantheon Priestesses and Sentinels to ensure the Selection Year goes smoothly.”

“Will the Keeper be there?”

“Of course not,” Theon said. “The Keeper never leaves the Inner Sanctum of the Pantheon.”

“Right,” Tessa said, her gaze fixating on a point over his shoulder as she mulled something over.

The Keeper of the Decree was the most revered person in Devram. Residing within the Pantheon itself, even the Kingdom Lords and Ladies were leery to cross them. No one knew if the Keeper was male or female. They were rarely seen, and they always wore robes that completely hid all features. Theon had glimpsed them twice in his life. The one time he’d dared to ask his father about the Keeper, his father had only said, “We will worry about the Keeper once we have secured our rightful seat of power.”

Of course, that hadn’t been what Theon had been asking. He’d wanted to know about the Keeper. While perfection was demanded in all areas, including academics, he’d learned quickly enough that his father became annoyed when Theon chose to spend hours researching various things instead of focusing on his “duties as the heir.” His days had become doing what was expected of him to appease his father while simultaneously keeping his father’s attention off Axel. His nights had become hours spent in the library with his shadows obscuring the light so he wouldn’t be caught.

He’d discovered many things in those late hours— texts about the Guardian Bond, historical accounts of past Selections, a few mentions of other worlds, notes about the gods, theories of Chaos. But what Theon had found most intriguing hadn’t been discovered in the Arius House libraries. It had been found here, in the Acropolis. Specifically in the Pantheon.

And it had been confiscated from him by the Keeper itself.

When Luka and Axel stood from the table, Tessa asked, “So what will be required of me?”

“Today?” Theon asked, arching a brow.

“In…all of this,” she clarified. “What will be required of me to aid you and your father?”

“Me, Tessa,” he said in a tone that made her flinch when his shadows reached for her. “You aid me, not my father.”

“But aren’t I aiding him by extension? Didn’t he say—”

“It does not matter what he said.”

“But—”

“Do you know where the Keeper resides?”

She blinked at the sudden change in subject before she answered. “At the Pantheon. In the Inner Sanctum.”

“And do you know what they guard so obsessively?”

“They are the Keeper of the Decree.”

“A Decree that everyone is taught and has memorized by their second decade of life,” Theon countered. “They guard more than that, Tessa.”

Her brow pinched together. “Like what?”

He shrugged. “No one knows.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But you have ideas?”

“Oh, he definitely has those,” Axel said, rolling his eyes.

“They are not all unfounded,” Luka interjected, distracted by something on his phone.

“None of my ideas are unfounded,” Theon said in irritation.