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"Tessa, you need to eat. How long has it been since you last had some food?"
She shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm not hungry."
I wasn't her parent. Hell, I wasn't even her lover, so I couldn't fight her on this, not really. "I'll keep a plate set to the side for you. So there's something for you later when you do get hungry."
As I walked out, she murmured, "Don't bother. I'm going to die anyway."
"You don't know that," I said sharply, but the resignation in her voice was enough to let me know I wasn't going to be changing her mind any time soon.
"There's no way they could have survived the number of attackers they had. Now, please, just leave me alone and let me sleep."
I wanted to debate her, to tell her that they could have survived, that it was possible, but I couldn't guarantee their safe arrival in Agartha. I couldn't guarantee their survival at all, so I kept my mouth shut and closed the door, leaving her to her grief once more.
The rest of the day slipped away and the light coming in through the windows slowly faded into darkness. I knew I should claim one of the other rooms that I should sleep myself, but it felt like if I did, Tessa might just disappear somehow, so I lounged on the couch in the living room, waiting for any kind of news, a message from Dresden or something, anything. But nothing came.
The hours ticked by, and I slowly felt like I was losing my mind. Once morning came again, I was determined to get something that Tessa wouldn't be able to resist for breakfast, so I scrawled a note on a scrap of paper and went down to the city.
It was early enough that the streets were still relatively quiet. I hadn't wanted to be out in front of crowds of people. It took a while, but I finally found the market stall I was looking for. They made something similar to what would be called croissants in her realm. As I approached, the vendor's gaze looked me up and down, and I saw the moment that he pegged me as an outcast.
His brows furrowed, coming down so low that they seemed to merge with his eyes. "I don't serve your kind," he growled once I was close enough.
The words resounded through the marketplace like a gong being struck, and I saw the other vendors looking at me, realizing that I was an outcast. One by one, they either put up signs sayingOutcasts Not AllowedorNo Outcasts Here. Some just crossed their arms over their chest in what was almost a silent challenge for me to approach, but either way, I knew that I wasn't welcome at any of the stalls.
Resigned, I went back to the rooms. I didn't want my realm to be like the others, to treat Tessa as less than or unworthy. She was the one who could save us all, and yet she was treated as though she was less than dirt. If they did that because of her connection to me, I would never be able to forgive myself.
I was safely ensconced in the rooms once more when a knock at the door sounded and more food arrived. This time there wasn't even anyone there to hand it to me. It had been set on the floor outside.
With a sigh, I picked the tray up and brought it in, setting up the dishes on the table but leaving the lids on so they didn't cool too quickly. Not that I was feeling particularly hungry after the treatment I received in the market. I desperately wanted Tessa to eat though, so I knocked on the bedroom door and walked in, bringing the dishes I thought she'd find the most delicious with me.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw that it was me with food before she put her head back down. "Go away."
"Tessa, please. You have to eat something. It won't do anyone any good if, when the guys get here, you've wasted away."
"Just go away, Kai," she said, her voice so quiet that it broke something inside me.
She sounded so tired and broken that I felt like I had to do as she asked. So I left. The day proceeded. As it had the day before, with me pacing and hoping for any news of my friends, of Tessa's mates. But none came. And when the windows darkened once more, there was a knock, and food was on the floor outside again.
Just as before, I tried to take it to Tessa, but this time she didn't even tell me to go away. She looked, saw me, saw the food, and just lay back down.
I was starting to actually get worried about her. I had always thought of her as this bright, enduring light, as though she could handle anything our realms threw at her, especially after everything she had been through. Separating her from the five of us, from her mates, was the one thing it turned out she couldn't handle.
After setting the food down and replacing the tray I had dropped off that morning, I walked out. I wanted to go back out to reconnect with the land, to feel as though Agartha was my home once more, but I couldn't. Not only did I feel like I couldn't leave Tessa, but I couldn't risk damaging the people's opinion of her. I went and sat on the couch, nibbling at a piece of bread.
She wasn't talking to me. She wasn't eating. She wasn't drinking. She wasn't bathing. All she was doing was sleeping. And I was the last person she wanted to hear anything from.
It killed me not to be able to do something to help her, to reassure her that this was all going to be fine. But I wasn't about to make a promise I couldn't keep, and I honestly had no idea if the others were going to make it.
4
Dresden
We took the last step through the portal, and Agatha erupted in a riot of color. Primarily green, but still color nonetheless. At least it was something other than the white, orange, and yellow of El Dorado.
Mentally I reached out to Kai, calling for him. I knew he'd be worried. We'd taken a beating, and Griff had practically burned out his magic, so we'd had to take a couple days to recover.
Dres?His voice sounded in my head as though he was unsure that I was really there.
Yeah, we just came through the portal.
