Rain of Shadows and Endings (The Legacy)

by Melissa K. Roehrich

But gods are fickle beings, and things meant to be forgotten never remain so.

“I choose Tessalyn Ausra to be my bonded Source,” Theon announced, his voice skittering over her bones.

His brows rose. “You are…unexpected.” “Then you should have selected someone else.” Her tone was not as sharp as she’d intended. She hoped he didn’t hear the small thread of defeat in it. “I am certain I chose perfectly.”

Be what they want you to be now, so you can be who you were meant to be later.

“It won’t be like that,” Theon insisted. “She will want to please me. She will want to obey me, Luka. It is how the bond works. You know this.” “She pushed you away, Theon. She chose to feel immense pain rather than have you touch 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.

“Do not fucking talk to me, asshole. You are interfering with the bonding,” Theon snapped, whirling on him. He held a pair of bright purple flip-flops in his hand. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re doing a fine job of interfering with the bonding all on your own, jackass,” he retorted, brushing past him.

“I’ve got you, Tessa. We will get through this, and then you can sleep as long as you need to.” She didn’t acknowledge him, and he got the distinct feeling he was attempting to soothe himself rather than her.

“Tessa, you can call me Theon in Axel’s presence as you can when Luka is around.” “How generous of you,” she snipped in response, turning back to the window and continuing to eat her fruit. A chuckle came from Axel. “Oh, she is a delight. I think I like her.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, look. Asshole number two has returned.” Axel’s laughter only increased. “Tessa, I see your mood has improved from unruly to bratty,” Luka said in greeting.

“Based on our earlier interactions, I am going to assume you could find trouble at the bottom of a soup can,” Axel teased with a wink.

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.

Somehow this had all gone from bad to worse, and she didn’t know if she could do what was required of her to survive it let alone fix it. This was no different than being locked away, so controlled she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t ask me questions like I have choices, Master,” she replied quietly enough that the others could not hear. “You made it perfectly clear I do not.”

He should feel elated at her behavior, instead he was…not. It was a marvel she was still somehow making things difficult, even following his own fucking rules.

They were clearly upset by her sudden reclusiveness.

“By taking away the little control she had? You, of all people, should know how quickly a person snaps when they have no control.”

“We’re coming,” Luka yelled back, but before he moved to get in, he pointed a finger at Theon. “This is going to bite you in the ass, Theon. Mark my words.”

She’d asked if she could make a cup of tea and sit on the balcony. When he’d tensed at the mention of her escape route, her shoulders had curled in. “I understand,” she’d said quietly, moving to fill the teakettle with water.

I’m actually crying this is so fucking depressing

He found he much preferred that look on her— the messy hair, just woke up and hadn’t had her coffee yet, simple and relaxed look. And yeah, her in his shirt, covered in his scent after sleeping beside him all night didn’t hurt either.

It’s just so unfair that he gets to fall in love with this Stockholm version of her while she’s miserable.

Her lips thinned, and she broke his stare, fingers fiddling with her blanket. “Perhaps you can let me know how I need to adjust my behavior in your rooms tomorrow, but I really don’t know that I can handle any additional expectations today.”

“I must say, Theon, your Source is unexpectedly behaved this evening. I did not expect her to be broken so easily. Your discipline must have been highly effective.” “She is not broken,” Theon replied tightly, meeting his father’s gaze. “It has simply been a long day of adjustments.” “Call it what you want,” Valter shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “You seem to mistake me for condemning you. I’m impressed, Theon. I didn’t think you had it in you to instill such submission.” Theon’s fingers tightened around his drink, his knuckles turning white.

Pls tell me Theon will break before Tessa

Tessa was standing near the bay window, looking out at the dark grounds. It had started raining again, this strange weather pattern appearing to continue. They didn’t get much rain in the mountains at the end of summer, but at least this was a steady drizzle rather than a storm.

Almost like Tessa controls the weather

She loved dawn. Watching the sun start to climb. The promise that anything could happen. Nothing ever changed for her, but she liked the idea that something could change. Silly idealistic notions when she really thought about it. Hope never amounted to anything.

There had been a constant gloomy drizzle for the last three days, so she hadn’t even been able to sit on the balcony.

Tessa was huddled into a corner, visibly shaking. He couldn’t see much of her, but what he could see was covered in cuts and scratches along her arms. Eyal was lying on his side beside her, his massive head resting in her lap while she cried into his mane. All Theon could see was darkness as shadows clouded his vision. Pavil and Metias would pay for this. And his father? This only made Theon’s need for her to accept the bond even stronger.

Maybe he should try explaining to Tessa why this god damn bond is so important

Akira’s features darkened. “They only answer to him. No one else can summon them. But he will send them. Like he did for me.” There was a short pause, and then, “The wild and untamed answered her call as well.” “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.”

Theon ignored her question, instead staying, “Either way, you can hardly stand. Someone needs to help you.” “You are the reason for that, Theon!” she cried. “You are the reason someone needs to take care of me. Again.”

“What were my results?” she asked instead, moving to lean against the wall. “Inconclusive.” She stared back at him. He could see the emotions warring in her eyes, and for once, he could read every single one of them. Disbelief. Anger. Pain. Frustration.

“Don’t kid yourself, Theon,” Luka cut in. “You were always going to choose her.” “There were four other options. I was going to choose Jayson.” “Right. You were going to select a Fae whose name you can’t even remember,” he replied dryly. “You left Jaxson and the others as options to humor us. We are not dense.”

She snorted a laugh that became a ridiculous giggle, but not as ridiculous as the thought of all these fucking Legacy thinking they were superior. Descendants of the gods? How far back would they have to trace their bloodlines to even come close to one of the gods? They were probably more closely related to the mortals.

Then she sank to the floor and pulled the pins from her hair while the water beat down on her, wishing it could wash away the emptiness of her soul. But all she was left with were her thoughts, swirling in her mind like the water down the drain.

The ball always started on the ground where it could only be moved with feet. Once it left the ground and was touched by someone’s hands, it couldn’t touch the ground again during that round.

They’re playing grown up Keepy Uppy!!!

“Deities?” Tessa asked, glancing up at him. Theon gave her a soft smile. “Deities were the result of a god having a child with a magical bloodline.”

Bingo

“We have always been more,” he continued. “From the moment I saw you slip into that alcove with stolen chocolate, I knew you were mine. The Fates always have their way, Tessa, and this will be no different.”

I just don’t know if I buy it!!! I scream as they take me to my cell.

“It’s something you can’t learn until you’re forced to walk through it, but you’d know that strength grows in the moments you think you can’t go on, but you do anyway. Strength is fighting back. Strength is doing whatever it takes to claim what is yours, even if others try to convince you it is not yours to take.”

But mostly he was furious with himself. For failing to keep her safe yet again. For failing to figure out who wanted her. For failing to control his Source. For failing at all. He failed at something he didn’t know a person could fail at. That had to be the epitome of failure. To fail at something that was impossible to fail at.

Tristyn, however, reached over and tipped her chin up. “We’re far past this nonsense,” he said, his voice so low Theon could hardly hear the words spoken. “Destruction or salvation, wild fury. Your choice.”

“No one can steal your thunder if you are the storm,” he replied, stretching a hand toward her. “Be the fucking storm, Tessa.”

“What happened to your hands, Tessa?” “I couldn’t find a way out. There were no windows. No cracks. No where to dig…” She trailed off as Theon realized she had tried to claw her way out of the cellar.

There was a tense silence before he said, “You need to bathe.” “Because you made me bleed.” “No, I…” He cleared his throat. “Yes, because I made you bleed.”

As he let the reality of what he’d done sink in. She had been trying.

“I will have very little insight,” she continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “I was a social pariah. No one wanted to be around me as I— How did you put it? Only seem to create chaos wherever I go. Which was fine, I suppose. There’s only room for one in small spaces. Otherwise it gets too crowded.” “Tessa, I know we have some things to talk about⁠—” “Do we?”

“Does knowing that change anything?” he asked. She stepped back from him, his hands slipping from her face. She intertwined her fingers in front of her once more as she answered, “No.”

And she found Theon, a mixture of anticipation and dread on his face. She felt the cord in her chest reaching for him, seeking comfort, but she felt the thing in her soul reaching for him too, wanting something much darker.

He was marking a second star into her skin when he said, “Do you know why I like storms?”

He didn’t appear to care if she answered as he moved onto a third star. “Because it reminds us that even chaos needs to scream sometimes. That even with all the magic and power among the realms and between the stars, even with technology and all the tools we have at our disposal, some things are, in fact, uncontrollable.”

He was drawing the final line of the third star when he lifted his head. She could feel his stare from beneath the hood as he said, “A storm is coming.”