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“That certainly explains the conflicting emotions,” Luka muttered, moving to the pastry tray on the back counter. He returned with two sugar cookies on a napkin. “She needs to eat something. She’s hardly touched food all day.”

Theon glared at the sweets. “You’re encouraging poor nutrition habits.”

“By all means, take her a salad and see how that goes,” Luka drawled.

With another curse, Theon snatched the outstretched cookies and stalked from the kitchen, taking the stairs two at a time. When he entered their room, he found Tessa on the sofa. Her head was tipped back, eyes closed. She held her phone in her hand, and earbuds were in her ears. She was likely listening to one of the playlists Axel had set up for her.

He’d like to think she hadn’t heard him enter, but he knew it was far more likely she was ignoring him. And now that he could think around his anger at the Estate Mother making Tessa uncomfortable, he could feel exactly what Luka had said. Gratitude and satisfaction mixed with trepidation and annoyance flickered down the bond.

Placing the napkin with the cookies down by her bottle of water, he took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie before rolling his sleeves up his forearms. Dinner was in a few hours, so he didn’t bother changing completely, but as he finished rolling back his second sleeve, he plucked an earbud from her ear.

“Hey!” Tessa cried, sitting up straight and reaching for the earpiece. Sure enough, a song Axel played frequently was blaring out of the tiny speaker.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you on the walk home,” Theon said, setting the earbud aside.

Tessa blinked up at him. Once. Twice.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said, pulling the other earbud from her ear. “Are youapologizingto me?”

“No,” Theon said quickly.

“My mistake,” Tessa said, rolling her eyes and moving to replace her earbud, but Theon snatched it from her hand, setting it aside with the other one. “Theon!”

“We need to talk about a few things,” he said.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Too bad,” he said, taking her phone from her hands too. “We haven’t discussed anything Scarlett and Sorin told us. You have to have thoughts and questions. Maybe some insights to share?”

“What’s there to discuss?” she countered. “Nothing she told us changes anything.”

“How do you figure that?” Theon asked, utterly baffled at the statement.

But Tessa pursed her lips, turning away from him. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

He reached out, taking her chin and turning her face back to him. “What did you want her to do, Tessa?”

“I don’t know. Everything. Nothing. It doesn’t matter in the end.”

“There must be something.”

She was silent, her gaze fixed out the window.

“You clearly had some idea. You’ve been quiet since she left, and I could feel everything you were feeling while they were here. What expectations did you have of her?”

“I said I don’t know,” she snapped.

Theon tsked. “I don’t believe that.”

“Believe what you want.”

“By the gods, you’re infuriating,” Theon said, releasing her chin and driving a hand through his hair. “Even being able to feel your emotions, I can’t?—”

“Can’t what?” she retorted, pushing to her feet. “Can’t figure out how to manipulate me? Figure out how to word something just right to give me the illusion of control? You’re already getting everything you want from me. What more do you need?”

On instinct, his hand snapped out, his grip loose around her throat, but he could feel her pulse hammering away beneath the tips of his fingers. “You think I am getting everything I want, clever tempest?”

“Aren’t you?” she countered. “You have a powerful Source, a Bargain with me to overtake your father, a Guardian, and a Match. Soon enough you will rule this Kingdom and likely the realm. Tell me what I’m missing.”