Rain of Shadows and Endings

Valter confronts Theon about the reports of a dragon outside the Acropolis. Theon explains that Luka shifted to protect Tessa from the vampyres, but Valter is furious that they revealed the existence of a Sargon Legacy and that Tessa publicly interacted with Tristyn Blackheart. Valter declares that Tessa is the source of all their problems and should be killed, but Axel argues that killing her now would set back their plans. In a ploy to deflect Valter’s rage, Theon proposes waiting until after the Emerging Ceremony to assess her powers before deciding her fate.

Valter summons Eviana; she brings in Penelope, who is bound in thorny vines. Valter announces that Penelope will be punished for Theon’s failures, just as Caris, their previous servant, was tortured and killed. Theon pleads to take the punishment himself, but Valter refuses. Eviana tortures Penelope with thorns, a wooden stake, and a dagger. When Eviana begins strangling Penelope with vines, Axel snaps; grief-stricken, he uses his shadows to break Penelope’s neck, then plunges a dagger through her heart to end her suffering. Valter expresses pride before departing with Eviana, and Axel’s power explodes in rage. Theon orders Luka to burn Penelope’s body and collect her ashes.

Theon coldly blames Tessa for Penelope’s death. Numbed by the traumatic scene, Tessa feels like she is nothing. Theon grabs Tessa and drags her to the wine cellar. Despite her terrified pleas, he locks her inside. Tessa panics, clawing at the walls. Her power erupts, lightning crackling and shattering every wine bottle. She collapses, broken.

Theon runs for hours through a thunderstorm, haunted by memories of Caris, Cienna, Penelope, and Tessa. He ignores calls from Luka and his mother. After midnight, he returns to find Luka, who says he has taken care of Penelope’s ashes. Luka also warns Theon that locking Tessa in the cellar will break her permanently. Theon agrees.

The next morning, Theon opens the cellar door to discover shattered glass and wine everywhere. An unresponsive Tessa lies curled on the floor, covered in wine and cuts. When Theon touches her, a powerful electric shock hits him. When he turns her over, he sees that her gray eyes now have permanent violet rings around the irises. She suddenly scrambles away, cutting her hands on glass.

Theon carries her upstairs, and he and Luka spend an hour removing glass shards from her body. She shows no signs of pain and speaks in a monotone. Her mind stuck in routine. She tries to attend her training session with Luka, but Theon explains there is no training on ceremony days.

Witnessing her numb detachment, Theon realizes that Tessa had been genuinely trying to obey and learn, but he constantly demanded more from her until she broke. She has now stopped trying to control her chaos—a dangerous mindset given her immense emerging power.

Before the Emerging Ceremony, Theon asks Tessa to help him identify promising Fae. She responds with apathy. Axel arrives and explains that he recently went to the Underground and made contact with Cienna, the Witch who helped create the Guardian Bond. Theon explains to Tessa that Cienna is now hunted by Valter for having helped them. When Tessa confronts him about his ruthlessness, he admits to feeling no remorse. As Valter and Cressida arrive, Tessa instantly becomes the perfect, demure Source.

Before the Emerging Ceremony at the Pantheon, Theon explains that each kingdom is permitted five vials, which can be thrown as a way to wordlessly claim specific Fae. Tessa watches her friends’ powers emerge as they each complete their rituals. When Katya is called, Axel abruptly throws a vial into the arena, claiming her for Arius Kingdom. Valter is initially furious, but he grows excited when Katya manifests a rare fire-based ability. He reminds Theon that Katya will replace Tessa if Tessa’s power proves inadequate and necessitates her death. Tessa shows no reaction.

Tessa is sent to a warded holding room, where Theon privately tries to reassure her about the nature of his agreement with Valter. However, she says she does not care if she lives or dies. He confesses that she has become a need and that he wants more than the bond. She kisses him. When he asks if this changes anything, she says it does not.

Alone, Tessa reflects that their connection is indeed more than a bond, though she does not know what it means. As she finally enters the arena, a mysterious hooded figure flanked by two wolves appears and takes over. Tessa recognizes one wolf from the night she was attacked by the vampyres. The figure, called the Keeper, speaks cryptically about storms while drawing a complex Mark on her forearm: an inverted triangle with three stars beneath.

When he lifts the scion, Tessa’s power erupts in a massive storm of lightning, rain, and wind, revealing that she is not Fae. The Keeper disappears. Axel reaches her through the chaos, as her magic allows him close while repelling others. They flee through the hallways, pursued by guards from various kingdoms. Her power strikes down the pursuers. Rounding a corner, Axel is struck by a blast of light as Rordan Jove, the Achaz Lord, stands before them, revealing that he has the same power as Tessa. He apologizes before incapacitating them both with magic.

Tessa awakens on a sofa at Rordan’s manor, wearing two power-dampening bands. She overhears Rordan arguing with her friend Dex about plans that were made 20 years ago. Dex appears; he is now Marked as belonging to Achaz Kingdom. Rordan reveals that Tessa has Achaz blood but is not Fae or even demi-Fae. He says the real question is why she is in Devram at all.

In the viewing box, Valter attacks Theon with shadows, showing both fury and dread over the fact that Tessa’s true nature has been revealed. The Serafina and Celeste Ladies interrupt, accusing Valter of deception. Suddenly, a battered Axel stumbles in and reveals that Rordan Jove attacked them and took Tessa. Theon is forced to ask Valter for help.

At Rordan’s country manor, they find Tessa with Dex. Theon orders her to come to him, and she obeys. Rordan and Valter trade tense, cryptic remarks, and Rordan proposes housing Tessa at the Pantheon until they determine what she is. He tells Valter that Tessa could be the key to everything, and he asks who will be left standing when Chaos comes to reign. The Arius Legacies are allowed to leave with Tessa—for now.

At the Arius country manor, Theon replaces Rordan’s power bands with his own. Suddenly able to see the many Marks on Theon, Tessa asks many questions about her power and the Marks, wondering if she will need blood like the Legacy do. Axel and Luka argue that her power suggests the presence of divine blood, but Theon denies that she is Legacy, a descendant of the gods. He realizes that her power must have been completely bound, preventing her from perceiving their hidden Marks.

In bed, Tessa traces the Marks on Theon’s body, including a new Bargain Mark on his ribs. Theon privately reflects he will never tell her about the Bargain he made with Valter in exchange for the Arius Lord’s help.

Tessa wakes from recalling an assessment vision in which Theon, Luka, and Axel held her down while Theon stabbed her through the heart, saying that life must give and death must take in order to save their world. In the vision, Tessa was too late in confessing to Theon that she loved him.

Unable to sleep, Tessa sits by the window in the Arius country manor, overlooking the dark landscape of the Shade Plains and contemplating her conversation with Rordan, who answered her questions honestly. As she hums Tristyn’s ballad about balance, Chaos, life, and death, she thinks about Dex’s presence at Rordan’s manor and his comment about being in a forgotten realm for 20 years.

She removes one power-dampening band from her wrist, revealing that she can control them at will. (She had allowed Theon and the others to think she could not.) Now, she resolves to trust no one until they prove themselves and grows determined to learn everyone’s secrets. She accepts that Theon broke her, but she decides to build a new, unbreakable soul—one that does what needs to be done without remorse. She embraces the idea of being the storm.

In a hidden castle in an enchanted forest, Temural, god of the wild and untamed, seeks his sister Saylah, goddess of night and shadows. They are the hidden children of the gods Arius and Serafina, for whom their respective kingdoms are named. He states that he needs to get someone into Devram, but Saylah explains that no god can enter that realm. She refuses to help unless he explains his purpose.

Temural wants to send his Huntress, Auryon, into Devram to train someone. When pressed, he admits that this person is his daughter. Saylah is shocked to learn that she has a niece. Temural explains that his lover Akira sent their daughter there. He previously sent his Guardian, Xan, to Devram to protect her, with Xan’s son as her intended Guardian, but he has since lost contact. With their mother Serafina’s help, he sent Auryon into a dream plane, where she witnessed his daughter being attacked by an Achaz Legacy.

Suddenly, Auryon appears. Saylah agrees to help but says that Temural needs more than her children, who are World Walkers. She tells him that he needs the High Queen of the World Walkers.