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With a sharp look, he said, “Come to bed, Tessa. If I am this tired, you are surely exhausted after traipsing through the woods for half a day.” When she still didn’t move, he sighed. “Do not make me force this. Tomorrow is going to be exhausting for both of us. It would do well for you to get a good night’s rest.”

“Why will tomorrow be exhausting?” Tessa asked, getting stuck on that one word.

“Because tomorrow we will discuss dinner last night, what happened today, how things will be different in the future, and everything in between. Now come to bed.”

Theon watched her warily when she finally began moving. He trailed her all the way to the bed, and she settled down on the very edge as far away from him as possible. There was another audible sigh before his arm looped around her waist and pulled her across the bed.

She tried to stiffen against him, but her body didn’t cooperate. Instead, all of her muscles relaxed, and she snuggled back against his bare chest. He worked his other arm under her, wrapping it across her shoulders, securing her to him. As she leaned her head back onto his shoulder, her eyes almost immediately closed, and she felt the barest touch of lips press to the top of her head.

Emotions roared inside of her, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out which were her own and which were because of the bond that had been forced on her. She had the strongest urge to apologize to him for the day. If he felt half of the agony she’d felt with every step she took, she knew he’d been in pain. Although, the thing seemed to work differently for him. But then again, maybe an apology tonight would lessen the blows that were going to come in the morning. She always seemed to earn food privileges back faster at the Estate when she admitted fault right away, even if she didn’t mean it.

Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “Theon?”

“Not tonight, Tessa. I don’t have the energy to deal with this tonight,” he murmured.

Tessa’s lips tilted into a frown. What did that mean? He didn’t have the energy for this conversation? Or to deal with her entirely?

You are too much of a hassle.

“But I—”

“Enough, Tessa,” he bit out sharply. “This will be handled in the morning.”

Tessa didn’t answer. Only nodded her head once to convey her understanding.

She knew Theon had fallen asleep when his breathing turned deep and steady. But she was still awake, her mind wandering and conjuring all the ways Theon might punish her tomorrow. Her thoughts swirled, and she spiraled until she found herself counting.

One, two, three.

It was something she’d started doing when she was younger, enduring whatever method Mother Cordelia was using to try to ‘fix her.’ It’d become a habit, always finding herself counting when she needed an escape. She’d count the seconds, telling herself she could do anything for one more second. And another. And another. One more second turned into one more minute, became one more hour.

But she hadn’t needed to count much since Dex and the others had come around. They’d become the seconds, the minutes, the hours, helping her breathe until the light made it through the cracks in the dark.

Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight.

She counted long into the night before sleeping finally claimed her.

12

TESSA

There were fingers combing through her hair. She was warm and calm and nestled back into the hard wall of muscle behind her. The fingers moved from her hair and began brushing up and down her bare arm, goosebumps pebbling in their wake. She felt…content? Safe? She wasn’t sure. Both were foreign feelings to her.

When Tessa cracked her eyes open, there was a faint glow from beyond the balcony doors. It was barely dawn. She twisted to look at the clock on the nightstand, but her eyes settled on eyes of emerald green instead, and she got a little lost in them. She couldn’t read any of the emotions playing out on his face because there really weren’t any. In fact, his features were devoid of anything that would give her the slightest hint as to what his mood might be, and those fleeting feelings of safety and contentment quickly dissipated.

With a sigh, he pulled away from her, flinging the blankets off of himself. “I’m going to make coffee. When I bring it back in here, we will have the first of many discussions.”

Without looking back, he padded barefoot from the bedroom. Tessa pushed into a sitting position, rubbing sleep from her eyes. That was the best sleep she’d had since she’d slept for three days straight. She knew it was because of sleeping curled up next to Theon, and despite knowing what was coming, she felt refreshed.

Climbing out of the bed, she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After she ran a brush through her hair, she found one of Theon’s thermals to pull on. It was going to be a long day. She wanted to be in comfortable clothing, not tight fitting ones. She was just reemerging when Theon came back in carrying two mugs of coffee. He paused, his eyes sweeping over her, before he moved forward and set the mugs down on the small table between the armchairs.

“Sit,” he said, nodding to the chair.

Tessa hesitated only a moment before lowering herself into the chair. She knew how to play this. The less combative she was today, the less severe the consequences.

The less time spent locked in the dark.

Theon picked up a mug and handed it to her. She instantly wrapped her hands around the hot ceramic cup, absorbing the heat.