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“Then this won’t work.”

“I don’t trust you,” she repeated. “But I trust your motivations. You need me to learn to control my gifts. This benefits you as much as it does me.”

“This isn’t about any of that,” he argued.

“No?”

“No,” he replied, growing more frustrated by the second. “I’ve already told you: both of us know what it is like to have our power trapped by bands like that. I’m trying to help you, Tessa. That’s all we’re trying to do.”

“It’s all right to be nervous,” Luka cut in.

“We’ll be right here, beautiful,” Theon said softly, reaching for the band on her left wrist. “Let us help.”

“It’s better us than some random sentinels, right?” Luka said with a smirk.

“That’s debatable,” Tessa muttered, taking a deep breath.

Her hand trembled beneath his fingers as he pulled the band over it. He hadn’t even slipped it into his pocket before light was flaring from her palm so forcefully, he stumbled back a step. Luka was already stepping between them, his eyes shifted to vertical slits and black flames hovering.

“I’m fine,” Theon gritted out, letting his darkness free to coat him like a shield.

“I can’t help it,” Luka bit back, shoving him back farther when Theon tried to step around him. “Give me a second, and we can take the other band off.”

“She’s holding back. She’s fighting her power,” Theon replied, watching as the light continued to flare. There were sparks of energy appearing at her fingertips, but it should be more. Even yesterday at the hearing when Lord Jove had guided her power it had been so much more.

“When the other band is off, she won’t be able to,” Luka said, a tremor going through his entire body. Theon could only assume he could feel the weight of her power as he stood between them. That power was enough to call to any Legacy.

“Let me talk to her. Prepare her,” Theon said.

Luka nodded, the motion stiff and jerky as he stepped aside, going against every instinct of the Guardian Bond. He didn’t go far, circling around Tessa, and Theon stepped in front of her.

“You need to let go, little storm,” he coaxed, reaching to cup her face with a shadow-coated hand.

“I don’t know what that means,” she gasped, her hand closing into a fist as another wave of light flared.

“It’s going to feel like you have no control, and it’s going to be terrifying. Let it happen. We’ll be here.” She shook her head, and he could swear there were pools of silver lining her eyes. “You don’t have a choice, beautiful. This has to happen.”

“No choice,” she whispered, her eyes falling closed and a single tear sliding down her cheek.

“Tessa—” he started, but she just held up her other wrist.

He didn’t ask if she was ready. He didn’t bother with some sort of pointless countdown. He just slid the band over her hand and braced himself for the storm that erupted.

Her knees buckled as her power spilled out of her, and Theon caught her, lowering her to the riverbank. Icy rain pelted at his skin, and streaks of fractured light came from Tessa, skitteringalong the ground and illuminating the dark night. Theon could feel it all, every bit of her extraordinary power slamming against his shield of shadows and darkness, and fuck. No wonder she was terrified. This was…

There weren’t words for it as lightning flashed in the night sky, striking straight down nearby. Luka was already there, his dragon fire eliminating any damage she might cause.

There weren’t words for it as winds howled around them, her hair whipping so violently it felt like glass shards against his face where she was huddled into his neck.

There weren’t words for it as she slowly lifted her head, bright violet-gray eyes connecting with his, light swirling the way shadows would in his own when he lost control.

“Breathe, little storm,” he murmured. “Let your power breathe.”

“It’s so much,” she gasped, her entire body trembling violently as another wave of magic radiated out from her, slamming into a wall of dragon fire Luka had positioned around them, trying to contain something never meant to be contained. “I’ll never be able to control this.”

“You will. It takes time, but you will, Tessa. I promise.”

“Your promises mean nothing to me,” she hissed, her hand dropping to the ground and more light crackling out from her fingertips.