Rain of Shadows and Endings

On the night of the historic Opening Selection Ceremony, 23-year-old Tessa hides in an alcove at the Pantheon to eat stolen chocolate. A Legacy male with emerald-green eyes discovers her. Not recognizing him, she drops to one knee in apology. He helps her up but keeps hold of her hand, questioning why she is away from the other Fae.

He crowds her into the alcove, asking if she is slated for Selection. She states that she is not and has no wish to be, which intrigues him. He asks her name—Tessalyn—and makes suggestive comments before finally allowing her to hurry away.

In the grand hall, Tessa reunites with her closest friend, Dex, and their other friends: Oralia, Brecken, Katya, Lange, and Corbin. They discuss their plans to sneak out for pizza and doughnuts after the ceremony, confident that none of them will be Selected. When the ruling families arrive, Tessa spots the Legacy from the alcove reviewing files with another male. When the Arius Lord, Valter St. Orcas, enters with his wife and Source, Tessa realizes with horror that the Legacy who accosted her is the Arius Heir, Theon St. Orcas. He catches her eye and smiles knowingly.

Tessa panics, realizing that she insulted the intensely private and cruel Arius Heir. Dex shares her horror. The Selection proceeds as expected until Theon is called forward to announce his choice: Tessalyn Ausra.

Shock ripples through the hall, and Tessa’s friends stare in grief. The sapphire-eyed Legacy who had been with Theon now escorts her to the dais. She glimpses Valter’s Fae Source and sees her own future reflected there. Time speeds up, and suddenly she is standing behind Theon, who is now recognized by all as her “Master.”

The heirs and their new Sources are dismissed to begin the bonding process. Theon leads Tessa to a private suite and explains that bonding requires physical closeness, as well as a tonic to lower her magical barriers. He then forcibly injects her with the paralyzing tonic. Using his “entrancing” power, he compels her to look at him and performs a claiming ritual in an ancient language, declaring that his desires are her desires and that she is his.

Under the influence of the “entrancing,” Tessa acknowledges Theon as her “Master.” He instructs her to call him Theon, but only in private. When she refuses water, he uses his power to force her to drink. The tonic needs an hour to work before she can receive the first of four Marks in the bonding process; they will be leaving immediately after, skipping the feast. Tessa pleads to attend the feast in order to see her friends one last time. Theon initially refuses but eventually relents, warning her never to negotiate with him again.

At the feast, Theon forbids Tessa from going to her friends and forces her to address him as her “Master” in the formal setting. After dessert, he announces it is time for the Mark. Panicked, Tessa claims she needs the restroom. On the way, she loudly states its location—a signal for Dex, who slips away. In a few moments, her friend Oralia exits the restroom as Tessa enters. Inside, Tessa finds one of her friends’ stolen phones and answers Dex’s call, telling him not to attempt a rescue. She climbs through a high window and inches along a ledge three stories up. Theon bursts in and pursues her with shadowy mist. She kicks him in the face and scrambles to a balcony. Just as she reaches for the ringing phone, the sapphire-eyed Legacy from the hall appears on the balcony.

The sapphire-eyed Legacy, Luka Mors, brings Tessa back to the suite, where Theon checks her for injuries. She is numb and defeated, her last chance at freedom gone. A Priestess arrives to perform the Marking ceremony and formally questions Theon’s intent; he confirms that he chooses Tessalyn. Tessa is given a burning elixir, and Theon “entrances" her to force her to drink it all.

Theon orders Luka to hold Tessa down. She begs Luka for help, but he apologizes, unable to intervene. Theon cuts his own palm with a dagger, then cuts the back of Tessa’s right hand. The Priestess draws a symbol in the blood. Theon presses his bleeding palm to Tessa’s wound and recites the incantation for the first Mark. Excruciating pain floods Tessa as Theon’s dark magic invades her system. A golden cord from her and an obsidian cord from him intertwine before settling back with a flash of silver. The Priestess confirms the Mark is in place and departs.

A burning sensation radiates from the Mark on Tessa’s hand—three inverted, interlocking triangles, the symbol of Arius. When she pushes Theon away, the bond jolts her with pain. A wave of nausea hits, and she begins vomiting thick black shadows and silver wisps of light. Theon explains that her body is purging his raw magic; the after-effects will continue for days.

Hours later, Theon sits in an SUV with Tessa sleeping in his lap as Luka drives toward Arius House. Luka questions Theon’s choice, arguing that Tessa is too rebellious for their plans. Theon defends his decision, insisting the bond will make her obedient.

In a flashback, Theon recalls his Selection process. He and Luka had narrowed the options to five Fae, but after meeting Tessa in the alcove, Theon chose her, disregarding objections from his brother Axel and from Luka.

Tessa wakes in pain and pulls away from Theon. He tells her his home is in the Ozul Mountains. She is horrified to learn he and Luka changed her clothes while she was unconscious. At a convenience store stop, Luka helps a weakened Tessa from the car. Her skin is hypersensitive, so she refuses the socks and sneakers Theon provides. When Luka buys her flip-flops instead, Theon is furious. Tessa locks him out of the car and outmaneuvers his “entrancing” attempt, enraging him further.

In the restroom, Theon finds Tessa sobbing that everything hurts. He helps her change into a looser shirt. Back in the car, she removes her leggings because they hurt her skin. When Theon insists that she lie close to him, Tessa screams and pulls at her hair. He uses his power to stop her. When she asks if he will always control her this way, he confirms that he will if she behaves like a petulant child. She submits and addresses him as her “Master.”

That evening, as they near Arius House, Theon wakes Tessa and insists that she change into formal clothes to meet his parents. He acquires and forces her to wear a form-fitting amethyst dress that causes her pain. He tells her she is stunning, but when she rejects him, he kisses the Mark on her hand, telling her that she will belong to him completely.

Tessa learns that Theon’s father can shadow-walk—a personal teleportation ability—by drawing power from his Source; Theon will gain this ability once his bond with Tessa is complete. At Arius House, a massive stone castle, Valter St. Orcas and his wife, Cressida, greet them. Valter criticizes Tessa for failing to kneel. Theon claims that he ordered her not to kneel due to her pain, but Valter forces him to command her to kneel anyway. Valter inspects her Mark and compliments her beauty, but Cressida criticizes her disheveled appearance. Valter’s Source, Eviana, is present and is completely devoted to Valter. The Arius Lord suggests that Theon could loan Tessa out for “breeding.” Enraged, Theon refuses. Valter demands that Theon come to his study immediately.

Luka carries a weak Tessa to Theon’s opulent suite in the east wing; her room is attached to Theon’s, and she will always be within his reach. Luka advises her to accept her fate. Left alone, Tessa spirals into questions about her future. When Luka returns, she refuses to sleep in Theon’s bed and goes to her own small, windowless room. Lying in the dark, she realizes she will have to endure the Marking ritual three more times.

In the study, Valter questions Theon about the bond’s progress and makes crude assumptions about Theon’s physical relationship with Tessa. He reveals the true reason for the meeting: Theon must be willing to lend Tessa out to secure deals for their plans. Enraged, Theon summons his darkness, but Valter, aided by Eviana, overpowers him and places a power-draining ring on his finger. He threatens that if Tessa fails to kneel again, she will be forced to kneel before him for a different, humiliating reason while Theon watches. Valter orders Eviana to keep Theon bound for 30 minutes, then leaves.

Eviana taunts Theon, explaining that the bond’s pull will eventually make Tessa crave him, no matter how much she resists. Eviana releases him and departs. Theon returns to his suite, where Luka waits while Tessa sleeps in her own room. Luka removes the power-draining ring, and they argue again about Tessa’s suitability for their plans. Luka insists that her strength will force them to alter their strategy, but Theon refuses to change course.

Luka mixes Theon’s blood into a vial of white liquid. Theon wakes Tessa. Overcome by the bond’s pull after their separation, she kisses him. When she pulls away in horror, he explains that her actions were influenced by the bond.

He tells her she needs this additional dose of tonic to finish settling the first Mark’s effects. She begs him not to administer it. As she struggles, Theon uses his power to still her and injects the tonic into her neck. She collapses, and they move her to the bathroom, where she vomits black shadows for hours. Between waves of sickness, she asks what Valter meant by “loan [her] out” (112), but Theon evades the question. Tessa whispers that any other fate would have been better than this. Theon and Luka exchange a knowing look, aware that being sent to the Achaz Kingdom would have been worse for her. Theon silently justifies the pain he is causing her as a necessity for his plans.