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TESSA

“At my what?” Tessa asked, still sitting on the godsdamn ground.

“You called, we answered,” he replied, drawing closer. He lifted a hand, and Tessa flinched away as icy fingers didn’t exactly touch her, yet somehow came away with her blood on them. She reached up, running her fingers over her hair to find them stained red too. She’d assumed she was wet from the snow and mud, but she must have hit her head hard enough to draw blood.

The being glided around her, coming closer as he spoke into her ear. “Daughter of Fury and Blood of Beginnings, you were threatened. You summoned us in answer to that threat.”

No one was moving, as though the Augury members were frozen in place, watching and waiting. Even Valter was still, Eviana in front of him.

White, translucent figures on one side. Black-robed people on the other.

White and black.

Light and dark.

“We come to defend you. To defend him,” the being continued, her hair fluttering as she felt him draw his fingers through her hair once more. “At your command, we will do so.”

“Will do what?” she asked, her voice breathy and uneven.

He glided in front of her, reaching out and dragging a single finger along the Mark over her heart. She stared into white eyes that glowed. They had no pupils, just a faint light.

The same light she commanded.

“Defend you. Protect you. Fight for you,” he said.

Then there was another at her back. She could feel its icy aura against her bare skin. “They seek to lock you, cage you, use you. They seek to destroy you and all you are. We cannot allow that. May we serve?”

They were…asking permission? Of her?

They were here to protect her. Fight for her. She had called, and they had answered.

And they were right.

They had forced her to put these bands on. They had locked her in the dark over and over. They wanted to kill her, use her as a message. Take her power. Force her to heel.

Shove her under tables.

Lock her in wine cellars.

Constantly lie to her and keep things from her.

Train her just enough to defend herself, but still keep her dependent on them.

Isn’t that what tonight had proven? She still wanted them. Still wanted him. Still thought of them moments before death came for her once more.

Theon is death.

Endings that had upset the balance.

The one she was always meant to destroy.

And if she was going to answer the call of destiny, she couldn’t think about them. She had to embrace what she was always meant to be.

Too impulsive.

Too reckless.