43. Tessa

In Luka’s hidden refuge, Tessa wrestles with her conflicted feelings for Luka and Theon as Luka tends to her and urges honesty. They skirt awkward conversations about their bond and Theon, and Luka insists they eat while he shares updates.

At Luka’s prompting, Tessa recounts the river ambush: Rordan’s pressure to “prove” her purpose, the Augury and Hunters led by Valter with Cressida and Mother Cordelia present, and Auryon’s death before Luka extracted Tessa. Luka explains he and Theon were pulled to emergency Tribunal sessions and confirms Dark Haven was evacuated with hundreds of Arius descendants killed, reinforcing that the events were orchestrated.

They connect Cressida’s long-term spying and Rordan’s manipulation, and Tessa names others aligned against her—Dexter and Oralia, with Brecken uncertain—describing the “light guardians” as counterparts to Guardians. When Tessa says she learned that from Xan, Luka freezes.

Pressed, Tessa admits she has secretly met Xan—Luka’s father long presumed dead—alive and imprisoned beneath Faven, and that she discovered him days after leaving Theon. Luka’s hurt and fury erupt; he accuses Tessa of using him, Theon, and possibly Xan, and of withholding the truth despite many chances to tell him.

Tessa insists she couldn’t free Xan and sought knowledge about her parents and purpose, while Luka argues she refuses the love and support offered by him and Theon. Concluding she has become the monster she feared, Luka orders Tessa to “go home.” Tessa, shattered, Travels away from his cave, believing she has destroyed what they had.