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He glared at her. “No. You appear apprehensive about Dagian.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. Did something happen that I need to be aware of?”
“No.”
“Tessa…”
There was a warning in his tone that had her tensing. “Nothing happened, Theon.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“Why does everyone keep telling me that? I’m an excellent liar,” she admonished.
“You need to tell me why this bothers you, or I will have to force it,” he said. “I cannot afford to be caught off guard with you tonight.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded, straightening.
“It means I want to be prepared, and you appear leery of meeting with Dagian. I don’t want any more surprises.”
“Tristyn and Dagian are very different,” she said, knowing exactly what type of surprises he was referring to.
“We will discuss Tristyn in a moment, but first Dagian. Last chance to tell me yourself before I force it.”
Her eyes dropped to her coffee cup she was holding between her palms. “It’s nothing, Theon. Truly. The Priestess put him in the visions at the assessment. He tortured me, and…”
It had felt real. So real, in fact, a part of her felt like he had truly been there somehow, and every time she saw him or had to be in the same room as him, it made her heart race at the memory of his power slamming into her.
“Tessa, you will not be left alone with him. All three of us will be there,” Theon said, and she could hear the annoyance in his tone.
“I know.”
A finger under her chin was lifting her face to his as he added, “I know that I have not done the best job of keeping you protected when you are not at my side, but I hope you know no one will ever harm you when I am with you.”
She nodded mutely, Luka’s sneered words coming back to her from that first day of training.
How have you not realized nearly everything Theon has done, including making you sit beneath a table, was to protect you?
The words had warred in her soul for days now, and as he reached to tuck her hair behind her ear, she said, “Can I ask you something?”
He seemed surprised, but quickly wiped the expression from his face as he nodded for her to go on.
“Last night I was speaking with the other Sources, and they implied that if you hadn’t Selected me, I would have been assigned to serve in the Achaz Kingdom at the Sirana Villas.” Theon said nothing, only held her stare, and it had her averting her gaze as she felt her cheeks flush for some unknown reason. Her words ran together as she rushed on, “And your father said I would have served in entertainment, and you’ve made comments that you saved me from worse fates and—”
“What are you asking me, Tessa?” Theon interrupted, his tone harsher than she expected.
“Is that true? What Maxson and Jasper were saying? That some are assigned to…repopulate the Fae?”
“Yes.”
Startled by his bluntness, she lurched back, coffee sloshing from her mug, and the sheet slipped an inch down her chest. She caught the sheet as Theon swiped her mug from her hands.
Her fingers curled around the edge of the fabric as she felt the buzzing beneath her skin start up. That energy searching for a way out. She was starting to realize that it always preceded her power surfacing.
“And you—” She sucked in a shaky breath, forcing herself to look at Theon when she asked, “You believe that’s where I would have been assigned?”
“My father is many things, but he knows the inner workings of the kingdoms well. He spoke the truth the day you met him,” he answered. “Had you not been Selected, I am certain the plan would have been to send you to Achaz Kingdom. You’re beautiful, Tessa, something the Legacy covet in their Fae, both for personal pleasure and for producing offspring.”
