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“Despite what you think, Theon, I am well aware that I would have likely been separated from the majority, if not all, of my friends after Selection. However, I would have had time to prepare for that. I had an entire year. Instead, I was ripped from everything I knew by a bastard who only views me as a piece of property to be used as he sees fit.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked as he stared at Tessa for a long moment without saying a word. Then he stepped forward, caging her between his arms once more. “You are forcing me to treat you as property, Tessa.”

“How do you figure that?” she balked.

“You need to accept this bond.”

“This fucking bond! It’s all you care about!” she cried, shoving hard at his chest. Not that she moved him even an inch. “As long as you get what you want, fuck whoever suffers because of it, right?”

Theon lurched back from her. “Change,” he snapped, grabbing a pair of his own lounge pants and swiping up his drink before he stalked to the bathroom.

Tessa changed quickly into the clothing Theon had set out for her before she made her way back to the main room. Theon still hadn’t re-emerged. She eyed Luka and Axel warily. Axel was racking the balls, preparing for a game of pool. They had both changed as well, but neither of them acknowledged her.

She went to the fridge to retrieve a bottle of water before going to the bay window. The moon was a faint crescent amongst the stars. She could see nothing else out in the darkness.

You are forcing me to treat you as property.

Theon’s words kept ringing in her ears. She leaned her head back against the cool window, closing her eyes as the words played on repeat over and over. How could he blame her for this? She hadn’t asked for any of this.

And what had that even been in the dressing room? He’d gone from speaking softly to her to demanding to know who had touched her to snapping at her to get dressed in the span of five seconds.

“I need to know what happened in the gardens, Tessalyn.” Theon’s voice broke through her thoughts.

She opened her eyes to find Luka and Axel staring at her. Both of them had their arms crossed, leaning back against the billiards table. Theon stood nearby, another drink dangling from his fingertips at his side. The coldness on his face told her she was dealing with the heartless Arius heir.

“Did you create the crevice?” Theon asked.

“No. I don’t know how that happened,” she answered, her hands tightening around the water bottle. The plastic crinkled beneath her fingers.

“Were you there when it appeared?” Luka asked, addressing her for the first time since that morning.

“Yes.”

“And?” Theon pressed.

So Tessa told them how she had tripped while she was running and how one of the Legacy had dragged her back along the stone path by her ankle. She told them how she’d broken his hold on her, and when they’d tried to come after her, the ground had shaken beneath them. She told them how she’d stumbled, falling to her hands and knees, and how the crevice had appeared to separate her from Pavil and Metias. Then she told them about the beings that had drifted up out of the crevice before she’d turned and ran.

Theon, Luka, and Axel didn’t say a word the entire time she spoke, and when she finished, they were all staring at her. She couldn’t read their expressions. All of their faces were masks of stone. Theon drained the last of his drink before he turned and went to his desk. He grabbed his tablet, his finger swiping and his eyes rapidly skimming the contents.

“You never once exhibited earth element tendencies, Tessa,” he said, swiping again. “Your results were almost unanimously air with a slight affinity for water.” He lifted his eyes to meet hers, waiting expectantly.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Theon.” She gestured to the tablet. “You clearly know more about me than I do. I didn’t even know my birthday until you told me.”

“Did you find a way to hide your true abilities, Tessa?” Luka asked, cutting into the conversation.

“No!” she cried, her heart rate picking up at the mere mention of the assessments. “That’s not possible.”

“I wouldn’t say it is impossible,” Theon ventured with a shrug, pausing his swiping.

“I would say it is impossible,” Tessa seethed. “You think you are prepared for those tests, but you never are. They are never the same.”

“So you tried to prepare yourself for them? Why? If they are merely to estimate your element, what would you need to do to prepare?”

“Do you know what they do for those tests?” she demanded, her hands tightening further around the water bottle. Rain had begun falling again. Big drops plinking against the glass panes surrounding her.

“Yes,” Theon answered tersely.

“Do you really?” she demanded again, not bothering to check her anger at this point. “Because if you did, you’d know why we tried to prepare ourselves for them. You’d know that those tests are designed to push you to the edge of breaking to see what inherent magic resides inside you. You’d know that I have endured physical pain to the point of losing consciousness, only to be healed just enough to continue. You’d know that I have been made to watch those I care about most being tortured in front of me, and I have been tortured in front of them. You’d know that one time, they had me convinced that I had parents and siblings, that I had a fucking family who loved me for no other reason than because I was breathing. But when I couldn’t display an element on command, they killed a member of my mythical family until none remained; then berated me for failing my own flesh and blood until I wanted to take my own life. You’d know they layer grief and pain and fury on top of each other. They do anything they can to drag magic from you, and for what? So the Legacy can have a really good guess as to what element we’ll have when we emerge. So they can figure out the best way to use us.”