More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
In all things there must be balance. Beginnings and endings. Light and dark. Fire and shadows. The sky, the sea, the realms.
The Legacy were gifted mortals in their world to do the mundane tasks required for survival. They were also gifted the technologies from the most advanced of the worlds. And they were gifted the Fae.
The magic flowing in the blood of the Fae fed the power of the Legacy, forcing them to rely on the Fae. In exchange for being this source of power for the Legacy, the Fae were given their own gifts—one of four elements. They were granted enhanced senses and an extended lifespan. All of these were given by the gods so that the Fae could watch over their Legacy and keep their bloodlines safe.
But gods are fickle beings, and things meant to be forgotten never remain so.
The Opening Selection Ceremony was just the beginning though. This was a year-long event that was just getting started. The Selection was held every five years. All the Fae who had come of age since the last Selection were brought to the Acropolis. The Fae would have their gifts awakened during the Emerging Ceremony, then they would be put through various tasks and trainings while being observed by the Kingdoms. Eventually, they would be assigned to whichever Kingdom they were to serve in. If an heir was of age to Select a Source, it was done during a Selection Year. Once the heirs all chose
...more
If she got separated from her best friend, that was going to be hard enough. She couldn’t imagine being separated from someone she loved so intimately.
Legacy of the Lesser gods were all sworn to one of the kingdoms. The Zinta bloodline, along with the Sirana bloodline, goddess of love and fertility, were sworn to the Achaz kingdom. The most powerful of the Lesser bloodlines usually served as advisors on the High Councils of the Lords and Ladies.
“I choose Tessalyn Ausra to be my bonded Source,” Theon announced, his voice skittering over her bones.
Tessa had never felt more alone than she did when his hands slipped from her waist. And that was saying something because she knew loneliness all too well.
Tessa knew that, and she hated it. The idea of it made her feel…used. Another thing she knew all too well, and something she’d sworn she’d never be again. Yet here she was.
“I am Theon St. Orcas, Heir to the Arius Kingdom. You are Tessalyn Ausra. I have Selected you to be my Source. You obey me above all others. My desires are your desires. You are mine.”
Be what they want you to be now, so you can be who you were meant to be later.
Another small smile played at his lips, and she could swear a spark of amusement shone in his green eyes.
It had been her last shot at not becoming something to be used, to be drained of her strength and power whenever he wanted. It was her last opportunity to remain who she was and not be lost in who he was.
“Tessalyn Ausra, I have claimed you as my Source, to be bonded to me irrevocably. With this Mark, may the bond become physical, that we can always sense each other’s presence and crave each other’s closeness. My power claims you as its own.”
His dark power was going to kill her. And she welcomed it. Welcomed any reprieve from this. She’d courted death for years. Maybe it would finally take her.
But when Theon’s gaze had landed on her, when he’d found her leaning against another male and he’d felt the prickle of irritation at seeing another’s hands on her, he’d known it was over.
“No, beautiful,” he said, shaking his head. “You look like salvation and temptation all rolled into one.”
“You can fight it all you want, but you are going to belong to me. Every piece of you.”
They kept telling her she was going to be okay. They kept telling her that everything was going to be all right. But they were liars.
Despite knowing Luka was with her and would protect her, he still raged at failing to protect what was his.
He needed her to submit, but he found himself wanting her to want him too. He wanted her to seek him out instead of having to demand she come to his side.
Her kind of strength is not the strength you need to succeed with your current plan. Her kind of strength will alter everything. We need to alter the plans to accommodate her, Theon. Not the other way around.”
She got lost in the brightness of his eyes. The angle of his cheekbones. The curve of his lips.
No one ever knew what to do with her except shove her aside. Lock her away. Too wild to be something, so forced to be nothing.
The fire just wanted to be free to do what its nature demanded of it, but it was stuck inside a glass box. It was contained so that others could harness its energy and stay warm or admire its deadly beauty. To be used and snuffed out with the flick of a switch.
She wouldn’t survive this. It would break her. And she didn’t burn when she broke. She shattered, and the world shattered with her.
He’d become the nightmare she already thought he was.
“If I have to chase you down while naked, I cannot be held entirely responsible for what will happen when I catch you.”
She twisted to look at the clock on the nightstand, but her eyes settled on eyes of emerald green instead, and she got a little lost in them.
She couldn’t stop moving, growing restless as something pressed at her being, aching to be let free.
He let himself forget she was his Source, and he was her Master. He let himself forget about his father’s plans and his own plans. He let himself forget he was the heir of the Arius Kingdom and that she was forced to be by his side. He let himself forget he was more like his father than he cared to admit.
“No,” he finally answered, picking up his cards. “No. I wouldn’t pick someone else. Because just like she believes, I’m a bastard, and I can’t let her go now that I have her.”
While sipping coffee and watching the sun rise. Not dying and being unable to breathe while the sun was rising.
some way or another, she was scared of him. A part of him was satisfied with that response. He craved control and instilling fear was definitely one way to obtain that. He had a hard time believing she was that terrified of him though, and maybe that was his own fault. Maybe all of this was his fault, his failure. In trying to make her comfortable, he’d shielded her too much from their true natures.
When she slept, she looked like a goddess to be worshipped.
“What do you need, Tessa?” he asked when she didn’t speak after several moments. She still didn’t look at him when she said, “Can you stay? I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“I will kill those motherfuckers for touching what is mine,”
“It feels like coming up for air when I’ve been shoved underwater for too long.” Her voice was thick with desire. “When you touch me, it feels like pleasure igniting under my skin. When you touch me, it feels like nothing else matters as long as you never stop. It feels like safety and warmth and light.”
“What happened to easing her into this?” Axel asked. “That changed when he came after what is mine,” Theon replied.
“Her father’s daughter,” the second said. “She will be powerful.” “She already is. It will only grow. My father thought he could use her against me. Use her to seek his petty revenge. She will be an unyielding storm in that world. A tempest of wrath and vengeance.”
“Know that sometimes we must break to be forged into who we were meant to be,” she said, streaks of violet flickering in her eyes like lightning cutting through the flecks of gold. Then she bent and pressed her lips to Tessa’s brow. “You will break, Tessalyn. Make sure you get back up and take what is yours.”
“I am told she created that crevice in my gardens with her bare hands, which would highly suggest the earth element,” Valter replied.
“Just so we are clear, Father, if anyone lays a hand on what is mine without my permission again, they will beg for Arius to come for them before I am through, whether or not we have an alliance with them.” Theon’s voice was low and dangerous and full of dark promises. Valter narrowed his eyes at his son. “They will wish for the Pits over what I will do to them.”
Axel huffed a laugh. “You think? The look on his face when Theon pulled Tessa into his lap was priceless. He knows Theon will be just as powerful as he is soon, if not more so. That is why he is so concerned about her element. You know it. I know it. The fucking Fates know it.”
“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
...more
“You are not focusing on trying to control an element in those tests,” she said quietly as she watched the rain fall in the darkness. “You’re too busy trying to separate lies from reality. You’re too busy trying not to break so completely that you can’t be fixed. But that’s impossible. You always break. We help each other glue the pieces back together, but it’s never quite right. The pieces of yourself never quite fit back together the way they once did. Until eventually, you don’t remember what it was like to not feel cracked and scarred. Until eventually, you are just a shell of what you
...more
“Careful, Theon,” Luka said. “Something can only bend so far before it snaps.”
“I will be there. As soon as it is over,” he murmured. “I will be there to take care of you.”
Zefira seemed nervous as she glanced at Tessa’s still sleeping form. “Because she is strong, my Lord. She is undeniably powerful. Whatever element she emerges with, she will, without a doubt, be the most powerful Fae with that element.”
