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“The same thing anyone has to gain in a realm of villains and monsters,” Tessa said, her voice flat as she opened her eyes.

“She already has a Match contract,” Theon said, shaking his head. “There is no greater status for her to attain.”

She fell quiet again, and he wished she had the third Mark. He’d thought things would be better with the second, when he could feel her emotions, but no. The third Mark would let him hear her thoughts, and he would have given just about anything to know what was going through her head in that moment.

Finally, Tessa moved. She pushed to a sitting position, shoving hair back from her face. “It doesn’t much matter in the end.”

“Of course it matters, Tessa. If she is going to interfere with us, I’ll?—”

“You’ll what?” she cut in, unwrapping the blanket from around herself. Her voice had shifted. Smooth and even, yet eerie with a hint of madness. “You already signed the contract at your father’s demand. Everything you do is because of him. And yes, I understand you do so to keep others safe. Axel. Kat. Me. But it doesn’t change the fact that his demands and threats control you. It doesn’t change the fact that, in the end, you will still bow to him and his wishes.” She pitched forward, running her fingertip atop the Bargain Mark along his ribs. An inverted triangle with three horizontal lines running through it. “It does not matter. In the end, you are still hers, and she is still yours.”

“No!” Theon snarled, snatching her wrist in his hand. “No. I do not want her.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she repeated. “You are hers. I’ve seen it.”

“It fucking matters, Tessa,” he said, lurching forward and clasping her face between his hands. “She isn’t who I— Wait. What do you mean, ‘you’ve seen it?’”

Violet-grey eyes lifted to his, and the violet was deeper. Darker. Specks of her light magic now swirled within their depths. She reached up, her fingers closing around his forearms as she pulled his hands from her face. “She is to be your Match. Yes?”

“Yes, but?—”

“And an heir is required of her per the Match contract. Yes?”

“Yes, but?—”

“And you have been with her. Yes?”

“With her?” he repeated in confusion. Then his eyes went wide. “Tessa, no. I have not fucked her. Nothing even close. We’ve gone to dinner and had a few lunch engagements. That’s it. There has been no one since you.”

Her head tilted. “But you will.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head in denial.

“I understand why you will.”

“You… What?”

He could not believe what he was hearing. Not after what he’d felt from her last night. Not after what he’d been feeling from her these last weeks. Not as she spoke to him too calmly now.

“And if it’s not her, it will be another,” she replied, gracefully rising to her feet. Theon looked up at her standing over him, Luka’s shirt not even reaching mid-thigh. Her face was expressionless. If anything, there was a morbid acceptance there. “You will forever be someone else’s.”

“If I am forever someone else’s, what does that make you, little storm?”

“The same thing I’ve always been. Nothing.”

She stepped from the bed, picking up her coffee cup as she did, and Theon scrambled to his feet. “That’s cold,” he said, reaching to take it from her and get her a fresh cup.

But she pulled it from his reach, tucking it against her chest as she said, “It’s fine.”

“I can get you warm coffee, Tessa.”

“I’m fine,” she repeated.

“You’re fine,” he deadpanned.

“Mhmm,” she hummed, turning to Luka. “Can I use your shower?”

“Yeah,” he said carefully, studying her as she crossed the room and closed the door to the bathroom behind her.