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TESSA

She’d fucked up.

She’d fucked up so bad.

But her dread of Theon’s wrath was momentarily forgotten at finding the Arius Lord here. He wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow. He and Cressida were to arrive in the evening, right before the Emerging Ceremony. They were staying at the country estate, not here. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Theon,” Valter replied coldly to his son’s greeting. The Lord didn’t bother acknowledging Axel or Luka.

“This is unexpected. I thought you and Mother were arriving tomorrow evening,” Theon said evenly.

“Your mother will arrive tomorrow evening as planned,” Valter agreed.

“I see.”

I see?

That was all Theon was going to say. Admittedly, she’d only seen him interact with his father a handful of times, and most of the times were when others were around. He’d tried to keep her from him as much as possible.

Yet another way he’d tried to protect her, she realized now.

She hadn’t understood.

She hadn’t tried to understand. Even if she’d tried, would she have cared?

It is not your place to understand. Your place is to serve.

She shoved the thoughts aside. This was not the place to spiral, to lose control. Despite what they all thought, she could control herself.

For the most part.

Thick tension filled the room, and where was Eviana? Tessa had never seen Valter without her. She forced herself to stand. No fidgeting. That’s what Mother Cordelia had drilled into her, and gods, why was she feeling grateful for that right now? But she didn’t understand what was happening. Theon and Valter seemed to be in some sort of stand-off. Axel was hovering close to her, and Luka was a foot from Theon, his muscles tight and his eyes already shifted to vertical pupils.

“I am waiting,” Valter said after an entire minute of silence.

“I can see that,” Theon replied. “I am unaware of what exactly you are waiting for, seeing as I did not know you were arriving tonight.”

“Do not get smart,” Valter sneered, setting his glass aside with a hard thunk. “Tell me why I have been receiving correspondence all godsdamn evening about a dragon being spotted outside the Acropolis.”

Oh gods.

That’s all Tessa could think as she watched this play out.

“My Source was attacked by Night Children,” Theon answered. “Luka was taking care of them. We thought we had covered all our tracks, but just learned…” Tessa saw the muscle tick in his jaw before he finished, “Apparently we missed one.”

“Night Children do not require a fucking dragon, Theon,” Valter snarled, pushing to his feet. “If they were stupid enough to attack your Source in your presence, you should have been more than enough to handle them. Are you saying that is not the case? That you are not strong enough to protect what is yours? That you have failed at even that?”

“No,” Theon answered. “There were several of them. Some ran. While I stayed back to protect my Source, Luka went after the others. It was dark. We stayed low—”

“We?” Valter interrupted. “What do you mean ‘we?’”

Theon shifted his weight. Barely, but Tessa saw it.

Valter did too, and his eyes narrowed. “Do not even fucking think of lying to me, Theon.”

“I thought it best to get my Source back here as quickly as possible, so I flew her back. But as I said, we stayed low,” Theon answered.

“So this is your Guardian’s fault?” Valter asked, his gaze shifting to Luka.