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“I know what you need, Tessa.”

His dark voice cut through her thoughts as she raised her eyes to his.

“You know nothing,” she retorted, but her voice cracked.

Something akin to relief flashed in his eyes, but it was gone just as quickly. He’d retreated several steps from her, standing halfway across the room, as though he wasn’t sure what she would do next.

“You told me how you deal with things like this,” he said.

“Things like what?”

“The assessments. I know this wasn’t that, but I get the feeling this was similar in many ways. At the very least, I would guess it brought up memories,” he added when she opened her mouth to argue.

She snapped her mouth shut, pushing down said memories. But it was no use. They surged back up faster than she could shove them down.

Another drink.

She needed another drink.

She needed the bottle.

She needed to drink so much that not even her nightmares could haunt her.

She needed to feel something other than the numbness of nothing.

“I don’t need to physically touch you to give you what you need, Tessa,” Theon said, his hands sliding into his pockets as he watched her from across the room.

She felt his dark magic sliding across her skin. It seeped through the fabric of her damp dress. It was feather light, the barest of touches, as it trailed down her arms, across her torso, down her legs. Her knees gave out the smallest amount, and she leaned harder into the wall. And gods, she wanted this. She wanted to tumble into the oblivion that pleasure held, even if it came from him. Something inside her raised its head at the thought of letting him give her this, and she refused to admit that she wanted it to come from him. Needed it to.

“Will you finally let me take care of you, Tessa?” he asked, his voice low and rough as he took a single step towards her.

Was she finally going to give in?

Was it giving in?

Maybe it was simply her taking something she needed from him the same way he was going to take her power from her.

The way he was going to take everything from her.

That’s what she told herself as she nodded her head once, squeezing her eyes tight at letting this happen.

“I’m going to need verbal confirmation here, beautiful. I want to hear you say this is your choice.”

Her head tipped back against the wall. His magic had stilled while he waited for her answer, and she needed that darkness more than she needed to breathe at the moment.

“Yes,” she rasped.

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TESSA

His dark shadows immediately slid up her torso, fingers of darkness grazing the undersides of her breasts, and she sucked in a sharp breath, ready to let the sensations drag her under. But again his magic stilled.

“And your eyes. I need those too.” It was a whisper she felt ghost across her lips. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped to find Theon right in front of her. “Good girl. Eyes stay on me.”

This close, she could see the specks of blood in his dark hair glimmering in the soft glow of the dim lighting. She could smell the tang of blood, but maybe that was the blood on her own skin. There were smears of red across his cheek and down his throat where he had tucked her in close while they had flown here, which meant there was likely blood smeared in her hair. He wasn’t touching her, but his body was mere inches away. She could feel the heat of him as much as she could see the want in his eyes.

She nodded again at his demand, and then a throaty moan escaped her when his darkness flicked over her nipples before kneading her breasts.