Theon finds Tessa hiding in an alcove at the Selection Ceremony, intrigued when she confesses she has no wish to be a Source.

Theon shocks the hall by selecting Tessalyn Ausra as his Source at the Opening Selection Ceremony.

Theon takes Tessa to a private suite, forcibly injects a bonding tonic, and uses entrancing to declare she is his to command.

Luka catches Tessa during her escape attempt from the feast; a Priestess then performs the first Marking ceremony, causing Tessa excruciating pain.

Theon and Luka transport an unconscious Tessa to Arius House; the Source bond punishes her with pain whenever she resists Theon's touch.

At Arius House, Valter forces Tessa to kneel, inspects her Mark, and suggests Theon could loan her out for breeding.

At a family dinner, Tessa drops a fork; Theon forces her to kneel at his feet under the table, triggering a panic attack.

Tessa escapes Arius House by climbing down the trellis; Theon pursues her with tracking hounds and captures her using shadow magic.

Priestess Zefira's Rockmoor assessment reveals Tessa will be the most powerful Fae of her generation and that her lineage papers are falsified.

Theon burns the alcohol from Tessa's system with magic; her dormant power erupts, throwing him and Axel across a vacant lot.

Metias and Pavil attack Tessa in the Arius House gardens; the ground cracks open and shimmering beings with golden swords emerge.

At the Acropolis social event, Tristyn Blackheart reveals he is Legacy and recites a fuller, ominous version of the Revelation Decree.

Valter has Eviana torture Penelope as punishment for Theon's failures; Axel kills Penelope with a blade as an act of mercy.

Theon locks Tessa in the wine cellar overnight; her power erupts, shattering all the bottles, and she emerges catatonic with violet-ringed eyes.

At the Emerging Ceremony, Tessa's power erupts in a massive storm of lightning and wind, revealing she is not Fae.

Tessa's life is upended when Arius heir Theon St. Orcas selects her as his magical Source at the Opening Selection Ceremony, forcibly bonding her with a painful ritual she cannot escape. Theon transports her to his family's dark castle, where his cruel father Valter immediately asserts dominance over both of them. Tessa attempts several escapes but is always recaptured, and her body and spirit are pushed to their limits by the bond's demands and Theon's relentless control. A secret assessment reveals she is the most powerful Fae of her generation with falsified lineage papers — a truth Theon conceals from his father. At the Acropolis, political tensions escalate until Theon's servant Penelope is murdered as punishment for his failures and Tessa is locked in a wine cellar, emerging broken but forever changed. Her true nature is finally revealed at the Emerging Ceremony, where her power erupts in a catastrophic storm, exposing her as something far beyond Fae.

The headline events that define Tessa and Theon's dangerous bond.

Tessa reunites with Dex and their friends in the grand hall before the Selection, all certain none of them will be chosen.

Tessa pleads to attend the feast for a final goodbye; Theon reluctantly agrees but forbids her from speaking with her friends.

Valter summons Theon to his study and places a power-draining ring on his finger to punish him for lacking control over Tessa.

Theon injects Tessa with a second dose of tonic against her desperate pleas, causing her to vomit black shadows for hours.

Tessa refuses to sleep in Theon's bed and retreats to her small, windowless room, fighting the bond's painful pull for five days.

After recapturing Tessa from the forest, Theon imposes strict new rules: she cannot leave his sight or pull away from his touch.

Theon takes Tessa to mortal forger Tucker, who creates false assessment documents to hide Tessa's true power level from Valter.

Theon forces Tessa to attend his dinner with potential Match Felicity Davers, who compares Fae Sources to trained hounds.

Tessa sneaks out of the hotel at night, meets Tristyn outside, and borrows his phone to secretly call Dex.

Tessa flees a session with her abusive former teacher Mother Cordelia and is ambushed by two vampyre attackers at the Wynfell River.

Theon and a dragon-form Luka kill the vampyre attackers; afterward, they force Tracking Marks on everyone and Theon drinks Tessa's blood.

A heated argument between Theon and Tessa at the Acropolis townhouse escalates until they have sex for the first time.

At a private dinner, Dagian Jove threatens to expose Luka as a Sargon Legacy unless Theon arranges an introduction to Tristyn Blackheart.

Axel impulsively throws a vial at the Emerging Ceremony to claim Tessa's friend Katya, who then manifests a rare fire ability.

At Rordan's manor, Dex is revealed as bound to Achaz Kingdom; Rordan forces Valter to agree to house Tessa at the Pantheon.

Before the Selection, Tessa and her friends share one last moment of hope in the grand hall, unaware of what is about to befall her. In the days that follow, Tessa endures escalating indignities at Arius House, from a second forced dose of tonic to Theon's suffocating new restrictions after her escape attempt. A trip to a forger and a forced dinner with Theon's potential Match reveal the political machinery surrounding her captivity. At the Acropolis, Tessa secretly contacts Dex, survives a vampyre attack, and has sex with Theon for the first time in a volatile confrontation, while Dagian Jove's threatening dinner transforms the political stakes entirely. The Emerging Ceremony brings new complications when Axel claims Tessa's friend Katya, who manifests a dangerous fire ability that excites Valter. The arc closes with Tessa held at Rordan Jove's manor as Dex is revealed to be bound to a rival kingdom and Rordan forces a new political arrangement on Valter.

The secondary scenes that shape Tessa's captivity and the world around her.

Tessa realizes with horror that the Legacy who accosted her in the alcove is Theon St. Orcas, heir to the Arius Kingdom.

During the car journey to Arius House, a pained Tessa wakes, locks Theon out of the vehicle, and outmaneuvers his entrancing attempt.

Eviana taunts Theon in Valter's study, explaining that the Source bond's pull will eventually make Tessa crave him despite all her resistance.

Axel confronts Theon after a family dinner, warning that forcing Tessa's submission will permanently change her and that Theon sounds like Valter.

Tessa dreams of a woman named Akira, who tells her she will break but must rise and claim what is hers.

During the Rockmoor assessment, Tessa experiences an illusion where Dagian Jove attacks her and a mysterious Huntress appears to defend her.

Theon proposes a formal bargain: Tessa acts as a willing Source publicly in exchange for future autonomy; twin Bargain Marks appear on both.

Theon confronts Metias and Pavil at a formal meeting, using shadow magic to attack Metias and snapping Pavil's wrist as punishment.

Luka explains the Guardian Bond to Tessa during the drive to the Acropolis, revealing he can shift into a dragon.

Theon reveals his true political goal to Tessa: to kill Valter and give control of Devram to the Underground's outcasts.

After Theon drinks Tessa's blood at the Acropolis training arena, her power erupts as glowing light shooting from her palms.

A mysterious hooded Keeper of the Decree appears at the Emerging Ceremony and draws a complex new Mark on Tessa's forearm.

Rordan Jove reveals to Tessa that she has Achaz blood and is not Fae, wielding the same light power she possesses.

Tessa secretly removes a power-dampening band, revealing she can control the bands at will and has hidden this ability from everyone.

Hidden god Temural reveals to his sister Saylah that Tessa is his divine daughter, sent to Devram by her mother Akira.

From the moment Tessa recognizes Theon as the Arius heir, a series of turning points define her transformation from a defiant captive into a woman determined to master her own fate. Small but significant acts of resistance — locking Theon out of a car, dreaming of a mysterious woman named Akira — show her fighting to preserve her identity even as the bond works to erase it. A prophetic vision during her torturous assessment and Theon's revelation of his true political agenda fundamentally shift the balance of power between them. As Tessa's suppressed magic begins breaking free at the Acropolis, the Emerging Ceremony triggers the novel's most dramatic revelation: she is not Fae at all, but the daughter of a hidden god. The final chapters show her quietly reclaiming agency by secretly controlling her own power-dampening bands, resolving to uncover everyone's secrets — while the epilogue reveals the cosmic forces now gathering around her.