33. Tessa

After a day of Legacy briefings, Tessa is sent alone to meet the private instructor. The instructor is Mother Cordelia from the Celeste Estate, who declares Theon has assigned Tessa three extra hours weekly due to her “inadequacies.” Cordelia revives old control tactics—demanding obedience and subtly restricting Tessa’s air—forcing Tessa to sit, still and silent, until the hour ends.

Reeling, Tessa bolts from the building, running barefoot through the city until she collapses by the Wynfell River outside the walls. A massive silvery-grey wolf briefly appears and vanishes. Two hooded women confront Tessa, verify she is the Arius Source, and lunge to seize her.

Theon and Luka descend—Luka winged in dragon form, Theon shrouded in shadows. Theon shields Tessa in darkness and interrogates the attackers. Under pressure, they reveal there are additional accomplices. Luka launches to pursue them while Theon uses shadows to immobilize the women, then executes both with nightstone blades, revealing they are Night Children—vampyres—sent to take Tessa.

Theon flies Tessa back under a veil of shadows, where Axel meets them. Dissociating and blood-splattered, Tessa spirals into assessment memories until Theon grounds her with the entrancing and a drink. Acknowledging her coping patterns, Theon offers to care for her without touching; his shadows soothe her, and when he asks for explicit consent, Tessa agrees.