No.
No, no, no.
Her hands were in her hair, pulling at the strands, but she couldn’t feel the pain that would usually ground her because all she could feel was her soul breaking. And her chest burned. And the back of her neck. And?—
No!
She looked down to find the Source Mark over her heart flaring and fraying, as if it too was being pulled apart. Because he was part of that, and he was not moving.
And then she heard him.
Felt him.
His bellows of agony broke through the drowning silence. She moved so violently the Hunter holding her wasn’t expecting it, and she spun, searching. Theon was maybe twenty feet from her on his knees and curled in on himself. His face to the ground and hands on his head as if he was dying too. As if he was being ripped apart as much as she was.
“The death of a guardian is excruciating for their wards,” came Dex’s whispered words in her ear, one of his hands pulling her hair over her shoulder. “But you know all about that, don’t you, Tessie?” A finger ran down her nape, directly atop her third Source Mark. “Still, it will be worse for the Arius heir because you never accepted your bond with the dragon. A regret for both of you, I’m sure. Now that it will never come to be.”
Another cry of pure torture came from Theon, and he wascrawling. Theon was dragging himself across the ground, trying to get to Luka. But Hunters were converging and closing in around him, drawn by his Arius blood, and they no longer answered to her. But they didn’t attack. They just continued to circle, eyes keen on their prey as he stopped and cried out again.
And she could feel his agony mixing with her own, and it brought her to her knees. Gods, she wouldn’t survive this. None of them would survive this.
“They won’t kill him yet,” Dex said, crouching beside her. “I won’t let them. I want him to feel every ounce of that fucking bond dying. Only then will I let the Hunters have him.”
Her Source Marks were like a hot brand now, as torturous as when she’d received them.
The Source Marks.
Slowly, she lifted her hands, turning them over. The Arius Mark on one hand, but the other…
She only needed enough to take a little.
Lifting her head, she could see Theon through the faintly translucent Hunters. He was still clawing at the muddy ground, trying to get closer. Strangled grunts and cries coming from his chest in a way she’d never imagined. He was always so sure, exuding power.
And she looked back over her shoulder at Luka’s unmoving form. He was always strong and broody, never taking anyone’s shit.
“I tried to do this nicely, Tessie,” Dex whispered. “Your actions caused this, just like they did all those years ago in this same place. I had to clean up that mess too.” She slowly turned to face him, his dark eyes glittering with triumph. “All you had to do was do as you were told.”
Why can’t you just do as you are told?
Too wild.
Too much to deal with.
Not worth the hassle.
Nothing.
All the things that had been hurled at her for two decades resounded in her head. He’d known the entire time. Had used all of that to manipulate her. Control her. Get her to trust him. He’d played into it, alwaysfixingmistakes andcleaning upher messes. Because she was just a helpless, uncontrollable thing that needed saving and protecting.
Except she wasn’t any of those things.
No one controlled her.
She wasn’t too wild. She was the daughter of the wild and untamed.
She wasn’t too much to deal with. She’d only needed to understand how she was different to find her balance.
She wasn’t too much of a hassle. She’d just needed to learn what real love felt like and how to accept it.
