Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance (Legacy #3)

39. Axel

39

AXEL

“ K itten, what are you doing?”

Kat looked up from where she was on her knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor.

“I spilled a glass of orange juice,” she answered, huffing a curl from her face.

“So you decided to scrub the entire floor?” Axel asked in confusion.

She looked around. “No one else is here to do it.”

“But…why are you doing it?”

Her brows knitted. “I just told you there is no one else here to do it. You don’t want staff here, and there isn’t a need for it. It’s only the two of us.”

He took a few steps into the room, careful not to step where she’d already cleaned. “But you’re pregnant.”

“I’m aware,” she muttered, returning to her scrubbing. “I knew before you did.”

He swallowed his amusement at her obvious irritation, but it quickly faded as he watched her work around her swollen stomach. He’d come down here for a reason. Fresh from the shower, his hair was still damp, but he’d gone out and stocked up on blood after he’d gotten Kat settled in the penthouse.

In the next blink, he was crouched beside her, his hand halting her movements. She rocked back, nearly knocking over the bucket of water next to her.

“By the gods, Axel,” she snapped.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

He hadn’t meant to move that quickly. It was just…starting to happen. Fae and Legacy were fast, but Night Children were faster. They were blurs when they moved. Legacy could do that, but vampyres could sustain that speed for prolonged periods of time.

He gently took the scrub brush from her hand.

“You don’t need to do that, Axel,” she said.

“Neither do you.”

“Do you even know how to…”

“Clean a floor?” Axel asked with a laugh. “I think I can manage it, kitten.”

“I truly don’t mind,” she insisted. “I need something to do.”

“Go read some books. Please don’t clean the floor.”

“That’s not…” She reached for the scrub brush, but Axel pulled it out of her reach. “Tell me, Kat.” When she remained silent, he tenderly took her chin and tipped her face up. “I know I’m not the expert on how normal relationships are supposed to go, but I think if we’re going to do this thing, we have to talk to each other. It’s only logical.”

“Shut up,” she sighed, but the corner of her mouth tipped up in a small smile.

He couldn’t resist leaning in to brush his mouth against hers. So much freedom to just be with her here.

“Tell me, kitten,” he murmured against her lips.

She sighed again. “I need to feel useful. We were trained to serve. It was a purpose, and to just sit around doesn’t feel right.”

“You don’t need to serve anyone. That’s the beauty of the Underground. You can create a new purpose.”

“I think it will just take me a little time to adjust.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear, tracing the slight arch. “I can understand that. I think we’re both facing that right now. But it was always useful when you read books. Your knowledge helped immensely.”

“Maybe,” she said. “Like I said, we just need time to adjust to…everything.”

“Great. You go start adjusting on the sofa. With a book,” Axel said.

“We can’t leave the floor like this,” she argued, gesturing to the kitchen floor full of soap suds.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“But you’re a Legacy,” she blurted.

A sharp sensation went through his chest at the words. “Not for much longer,” he replied, trying to make the words sound light and joking. It was how he’d always survived. Music and nonchalance until he figured how to deal with something, but he didn’t know how to deal with this. How to deal with no longer having his shadows. How to deal with not belonging with his family anymore. How to deal with a child. How to deal with loving someone who wasn’t a brother. Maybe Kat was on to something with this whole scrubbing-the-floor thing. It was certainly something to keep him busy.

“I didn’t mean to make you upset,” Kat said when silent seconds ticked by.

“You didn’t, kitten,” he sighed. “As we’ve both said repeatedly in the last ten minutes, we simply need time to adjust.”

She nodded as she stood, shifting on her feet and worrying her bottom lip. He knew what she was going to say when she opened her mouth, and he stopped her before she could.

“Go rest, Katya. I’ll finish this.”

The words were harsher than he’d intended, more command than request, and because it was so ingrained in her, she didn’t argue. He knew it was pure habit when she bowed her head before quickly leaving the room.

“Fuck,” Axel cursed, throwing the scrub brush across the room. It hit the wall with a loud smack, water and soap suds flying everywhere.

He sat back, elbows resting on his bent knees as he shoved his fingers into his hair.

He wasn’t sure if any amount of time would allow him to adjust to this.

A few hours later, Axel found her on the sofa in the living room. She wasn’t reading anything. Instead, she was curled into one end, clearly lost in thought. Her amber eyes immediately met his. Whether she heard him coming or felt him, he didn’t know.

“So this orange juice…” he started, watching the crease form in her brow. “Are we out?”

“Yes,” she sighed. “I spilled the last of it.”

He’d figured as much. He’d done more than clean the kitchen floor and scrubbed that room spotless, letting himself get lost to the mindless tasks to avoid thinking about the fuckery his life had become. It probably wasn’t up to anyone’s standards, but for his first time cleaning a room, he was pretty fucking proud of it.

During all that avoidance cleaning, however, he’d found the empty orange juice container. The same juice Kat was drinking several glasses of every day since they’d come here. He was fairly certain she was drinking more orange juice than eating peanut butter at this point. He was also certain the sudden cleaning of the kitchen floor was in large part due to being upset about spilling the last of that orange juice.

Axel crossed the room, taking a seat next to her. Lifting her legs, she draped them over his lap as she twisted to see him better. Her hand landed on her swollen stomach that was more than obvious now. Admittedly, Axel didn’t know much about pregnancy. It wasn’t something he thought he’d be dealing with for several decades. But he knew Fae and Legacy pregnancies were shorter than mortal ones by about a month or so, the magic in their blood helping the babes grow faster. But it also made the pregnancy harder on the females with so much extra magic in their body too. He knew there were cravings and amplified emotions. He knew he was now responsible to protect her at all costs, and at the end of this, a tiny little life would be his to guard too.

An entirely new life.

That was terrifying.

“I can get you more orange juice, Kat,” he said softly, tracing a line along her calf. His gaze was still fixed on her hand where it splayed across her stomach.

“Can we go get it?”

“I can have it delivered. I know?—”

“I know you know people, Axel,” she interrupted. “I just wanted to go… I don’t know. Walk around, maybe?”

“You know why we can’t,” he said. “That Mark Eliza gave you has long since worn off, and even if it hadn’t, it’s getting pretty hard to hide.”

She looked away from him when she said, “I know.”

“And I’m too recognizable,” he added.

“What does that matter?” she argued. “You are still royalty here.”

“Yes, but?—”

He hadn’t told her yet. He hadn’t filled her in on Bree and the vampyre’s requests and plans. He’d been too concerned with getting her back here safely and keeping her protected. Too focused on keeping them secluded so word didn’t get out that she was pregnant. Everyone knew about the fire Fae the Arius Kingdom had acquired. She was more than recognizable now, and with everything he’d put her through these last months, he hadn’t wanted to add to that burden. Because he’d been raised that to love someone was to protect them at all costs, even if it meant keeping secrets, but he supposed this was another thing he needed to adjust to. The whole Theon and Tessa debacle had proven that.

“Axel?” Kat pushed.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “There are some things you don’t know.”

“I understand if it is not my place to know,” she answered.

His brows knitted together because he didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“That’s not…” He cleared his throat. “There are things I haven’t told you about my time being held captive.”

“By your father?”

“By one of the Night Child coven leaders.”

There was a small gasp as Kat pushed herself up into a sitting position to see him better. “What are you talking about?”

“No one else knows,” he said, watching his fingers brush up and down her warm skin. “Her name is Bree DelaCrux. She is the oldest of the four coven leaders that rule the Night Children.”

“I thought the Arius Lord ruled the Underground?”

“We do. Or he does, but the Underground has always been its own sort of kingdom. The five districts are ruled by different beings. It has its own balance. A balance I’ve learned to navigate, but when I am no longer an Arius Legacy? My position here will change. There are plenty of people who will welcome the opportunity to take out the former spare heir,” Axel said.

“That’s not what you are,” Kat said gently.

“It is,” Axel answered plainly. “I made peace with that fact long ago. My father always wanted me here. Theon to rule above and me to rule below.”

“That can’t be true,” she insisted.

He finally turned to look at her. “The Arius Kingdom is called wicked and cruel for a reason, kitten. No one knows that better than the Arius Lord’s own children.”

“But— That can’t—” Her hand rubbed over her stomach. “You’re his son .”

He knew what she was thinking. How could a father do that to his child? Because he couldn’t imagine doing a single thing to harm that babe in her belly.

“Anyway, Mansel and Julius betrayed my father and have aligned themselves with Bree. They took me from the place my father had me hidden away and brought me to her, where she continued with the same torture. Only her motives were different. My father wanted submission; Bree desires an alliance.”

“An alliance?” Kat repeated in confusion. “She wants to rule the entire Underground?”

“Not exactly. She wants to rule all of Devram, and she offered me a spot at her side,” he answered.

The silence in the room was so loud he finally looked at her again. She was staring back at him, but he knew it wasn’t shock so much as it was her running through logic and reason.

“It’s a calculated move,” she finally said. “But no one would accept a Night Child as a ruler of Devram. The Legacy are far more powerful.”

“She believes they will destroy themselves over Tessa, and she might not be wrong. I was only back a short time, but the peace out there is strained and fragile. It won’t take much to push everyone over the edge. A war among the kingdoms would be destruction,” he replied.

“Then she would rule a broken realm.”

“In a way, I suppose,” he agreed. “But she has her own agenda. With the focus of the Lords and Ladies elsewhere, she wants to take over the Underground. Then, when Devram is broken, there will be no one to stand against her when she comes in.”

“With the whole of the Underground behind her,” Kat said in understanding.

Axel nodded. “All the mistreated and forgotten of the realm. Everyone banished for whatever reason.”

“And she wants you at her side.”

“Yes,” Axel said. Swallowing thickly, he added, “She… helped me find you in the end, but she believes I killed you.”

Kat lurched back. “Why would she care?”

“I think…she knew,” he said. “I think she knows about this twin flame bond. I think she knows what we are.”

“How could she possibly know?”

“I don’t think she’s from Devram,” he admitted. “She’s one of the oldest beings in the realm. Honestly? I think she’s been here from the beginning.”

Kat’s brows arched in disbelief. “Since the realm was created?”

“I know it sounds insane,” he said. “But the way she spoke and the things she knows…” He shrugged. “The point is, when I…left you last time, I went back to her. Not to her,” he added in a rush as Kat’s eyes went wide. “But I didn’t know where else to go. I don’t know where I belong anymore. I’ll be one of them, and it seemed…logical, I guess. When I came back for you, I told her I had some things to take care of before I could fully commit to her and her House. She can’t know I’m back yet, and she certainly can’t know about you.”

“So you brought me to the Underground? Where, if I am discovered, we will both be killed?” she asked slowly. “How is this any safer than staying in the Arius Kingdom?”

“It’s not really for you,” Axel admitted. “It’s easier for me to get blood. It’s safer for me to be around you in the Underground.”

Kat nodded, but she didn’t respond. He gave her time to process everything, his fingers still moving along her soft skin. Letting his shadows out, he wondered how much longer he’d have them to toy with, and he sucked in a breath when she let tendrils of flames tangle with them. He reveled in it, cherished it, knowing in mere days it would likely all be gone. They’d never feel these pieces of themselves act as one again. They’d never get to have something that was supposed to be fated for them.

Fate could fuck off.

Finally, after several minutes, she said, “I understand everything you’ve told me. I understand your reasoning, but Axel, I can’t just stay in this penthouse day after day. I don’t need to leave the Underground, but I do need to leave this space. We’ll both go mad.”

“I just need more time, kitten,” he said. “We need to get safeguards in place, and?—”

“From what I’ve gathered, there are no such things as safeguards in the Underground. Or Devram, for that matter,” Kat interrupted.

She wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

“I still have my power,” she went on. “And while you might not have your magic anymore, you will still be of the Arius bloodline. You’ll be powerful in other ways, Axel. You’ve spent years in the Underground. You are constantly telling me you have connections and know people.”

“It’s not the same,” he said, shaking his head. “I know you don’t understand?—”

“Don’t do that,” she snapped. “I do understand. It’s you who doesn’t. I know you see certain behaviors as ingrained into the Fae, but the Legacy are the same. You are all so indoctrinated with the way things are, you don’t realize that they could be different.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Katya,” he said, meeting her stare once more.

There was a warmth there he wasn’t expecting, along with something else he couldn’t place. Some type of unwavering belief in him maybe? He wouldn’t know because no one had ever looked at him like that before.

“You say you don’t know where you belong anymore, but there’s a freedom in that, Axel,” she said softly, reaching up to cup his cheek. “You gave me a freedom when you let me be more than another Fae bound to your kingdom. I know it’s strange. I know it’s hard to know what to do with that. I’m still trying to figure it out too, but you get to decide where you belong now. You get to make a new path.”

She took his hand then, placing it on her stomach.

“And maybe that new path will lead to a world where we don’t have to hide.”

Cienna had said it would take a week or two for the curse to take everything from him. She’d been wrong. It had taken three.

Three weeks of slowly feeling his shadows slip from his grasp. Three weeks of drinking more and more blood every day. Three weeks of exercising self-control when Katya walked into a room.

These last few days had been torturous. Her blood had called to him as much as her power. He’d ordered extra stores, was more than prepared, but none of it smelled like jasmine and citrus, spices and heat. None of it smelled like her, and the urge to take grew stronger with each passing day.

But despite his agony, despite the gnawing hunger and the desperation to take from her, the rations he’d secured were doing their job. They were allowing him to stay in control. They were keeping him from attacking her as she sat beside him, a damp cloth pressed to his brow. There was a sadness in her eyes, and her heart was racing too fast. That couldn’t be good for her or the babe.

“You don’t need to be here for this,” he whispered.

His entire body hurt.

Curled in a ball, sweat beaded on his brow as he shivered from chills that wracked his body, and Axel idly wondered if this was what a fever was like. He’d heard of such a thing, but he was sure he’d never experienced one. This couldn’t be a fever though. He was fairly certain that was when the body temperature got too high, and he was freezing. But he was also sweating. None of that seemed right.

Theon would know. Theon knew everything with all that stupid, useless knowledge. His nose had always been in a book. In fact, Axel couldn’t remember a time Theon didn’t have a book in hand. Granted, he was five years younger, but it still remained that his earliest memories of his brother included books. The asshole had never deigned to join in chaosphere games with him and Luka, and Theon never let him go into his room or touch his things. One time, Axel had found his tablet left somewhere. He’d opened it and tried to figure out the password. He hadn’t known it would lock up after so many attempts.

He learned later that Theon had been punished for that, taking the blame. It was the first time he’d associated safety with love. Theon loved him, and therefore did whatever he could to keep him safe and protected. It was how he’d been taught to love, and it was how Axel had learned to love.

Kat’s smile was soft and sad. “I do.”

“I’d rather you not, just in case.”

“We’ve already had this argument. Multiple times,” she chided. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t believe you will hurt me.”

“I know that, but?—”

“Tristyn will be here any minute,” she cut in.

He nodded, and gods, even that small action hurt.

They’d sent a message to the male a week ago, asking him to be on standby for this. It was the only way he’d let Katya stay in the room when he finally transitioned from a Legacy to a Night Child.

As though he’d heard his name, the male walked into the room, features grim.

“Axel. Kat,” he greeted. Placing a small bag on a table, he shucked off his leather jacket and tossed it across a chair. “Cienna sent supplies. Just in case.”

“Where is she?” Axel rasped.

“She is tending to other matters at the moment,” he answered. “She will come if we call, but she doesn’t think she’ll be needed.”

Axel rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with her prophetic ways in this moment.

“Any news to report?” Axel asked.

Tristyn arched a brow. “That’s what you want to talk about right now?”

“Anything to keep my mind elsewhere,” Axel muttered.

Tristyn sighed. “Everything has been unusually quiet since the Sirana Gala. It has everyone on edge.”

Axel nodded, but that was about all he could do.

The male offered nothing else, instead turning to Kat. “Have you eaten today? I can hear your stomach and your heart rate.”

“I have,” she answered. “I don’t…feel right.”

Alarm spread through Axel at those words. “What? Why didn’t you say anything?”

She glanced at Tristyn before focusing on the bedding beneath them.

“You didn’t tell him,” Tristyn said.

“Tell me what?” Axel demanded.

“He doesn’t need to know. He’s dealing with enough,” Kat cut in.

“That’s not how this works, kitten,” Axel said, shaking his head and grimacing. All he could feel were the dregs of his power. Every instinct in him was telling him to fill those reserves, to make sure he wasn’t defenseless, to take back his power. It was making it hard to focus on anything else with the familiar mania creeping closer, but he could sure as fuck focus on something that would affect Kat.

“Tell me,” he ordered Tristyn.

The male didn’t hesitate, despite Kat’s protests. “When you change fully, the bond between the two of you will die.”

“The twin flame bond,” Axel clarified.

Tristyn nodded. “She will feel it.”

Axel lurched up, ignoring the pain that assaulted him. “What does that mean?”

“She will feel the bond being ripped from her soul,” he answered. “You will too. It will make the change even more agonizing, but because she took the Mark to find you, it will be intensified for her.”

“Because that piece of her soul she offered up will die too,” Axel said in horrified understanding. He turned to Kat, taking her face in his trembling and clammy hands. “I am so sorry.”

It was all he could say. All he could do.

“It was worth it to find you,” she replied.

“No, kitten. I wasn’t worth this at all,” he said, full of sorrow. “But I will do everything in my power to repay you for your sacrifice.”

“Someday you will see what I see, Axel,” she said. “You will see that you are more than a spare heir, more than a bloodline, more than what your father has led you to believe. Someday you will see yourself as I see you.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but the words stalled in his throat as everything inside of him screamed for blood. He knew this feeling well. Knew it was the craving demanding, and this was more intense than it’d ever been. Dark mist swirled around him as the last of his shadows were ripped from his soul. The next sound that came from his mouth was raw agony, a bellow of pain so severe he wished Arius would come for him. All he could smell was blood. All he wanted was blood. Nothing else mattered.

Until his eyes fell on her.

On the way she was curled into herself, swallowing her own screams of despair.

Tristyn was there, hovering over him and waiting to intervene. He seemed to know not to touch him right now. Axel was certain if he did, he’d snap and someone would end up dead. Him. Tristyn. He didn’t know.

“Kat,” he rasped, reaching for her, but she jerked back from his touch.

His heart shattered at the action. It was worse than everything else he was feeling.

“Give her a minute,” Tristyn tried. “Drink this.”

He extended a bottle of blood, sympathy lining every part of him.

“When will it stop?” Axel demanded.

“When the change is complete.”

“How is it not?” He lifted a hand, his muscles and bones screaming at the movement. Another wave of torture surged through him, his jaw and gums burning. He’d meant to show Tristyn he had nothing left, that his shadows and power were gone. That he was nothing anymore, but instead he was given more anguish, drawing another bellow from his soul.

It mixed with Kat’s cries, a symphony of torment that would haunt him for the rest of his days. But her cries also drew his attention, particularly to her throat. Suddenly, all he could hear was her heartbeat, fast and strong. He could practically see her veins fluttering with warm blood. The power he was craving was right there for the taking.

A bottle was shoved in his face, but that wasn’t what he wanted. One sniff told him it wasn’t as powerful. It wasn’t fresh. It wasn’t fire.

“Fuck,” a male muttered as Axel surged forward for the defenseless Fae in front of him. He could swear his canines lengthened. Perfect. That would make his strike more precise.

His fangs didn’t sink into warm flesh of fire, but it was powerful blood that flooded his mouth.

It still wasn’t what he wanted most, even if it was enough to satiate the need. The power he drank was soothing and mighty, a sense of peace and calming coming over him. But more than that were flashes of images he didn’t recognize.

A female with red-brown hair and violet eyes.

Another female with dark skin that glowed with a silver aura and raven black hair floating around her.

A kiss beneath the moonlight.

Swords clashing.

A panther prowling.

“That’s enough,” Tristyn growled, yanking his arm back. Axel’s fangs tore his flesh, but the male didn’t seem to care. “She needs you.”

Clarity settled over him as he realized what had happened. That Tristyn had intervened, given him his own blood so he didn’t take from Kat.

“I can’t,” Axel rasped. This was all too fresh, too new. He didn’t trust himself yet.

“I won’t go anywhere, but she needs you,” Tristyn repeated, stepping out of the way.

Kat was still curled into herself, her curls matted to her brow. Her entire body trembled, and tears streamed down her face.

“Is it over?” Axel asked. He needed to be sure before he reached for her.

“Yes,” Tristyn said. “The effects will linger a bit longer, but the change itself is complete. And the bond you two shared is…”

He didn’t need to finish that statement. He could see the back of her left hand where a black Mark no longer showed, faded into nothing.

Axel crawled across the bed, reaching for her, but she shrank back from him again.

She may as well have twisted a dagger in his chest.

“Kitten, let me help,” he whispered.

“You can’t. The bond is dead. You can’t help,” she gasped. “It hurts. It hurts so much, and I?—”

She broke off as a sob escaped her. It was enough to make him ignore her protests, and he pulled her into his chest. She may have told him he couldn’t help, but she still buried her face in his chest, clinging to him. He could hear every beat of her heart. Could hear the blood rushing through her body. More than that, he could hear the babe, his heartbeat strong and steady. The babe was fine. Katya may not be. He may not be. But their child was fine. He just needed to fix the rest.

He leaned back enough to tilt her chin up, swiping a tear away with his thumb. “I still choose you, Katya. Bond or not, I still choose you.”

Another small sob came from her, and she reached up with shaky fingers. He felt them brush along his cheeks, gathering the dampness. Then she showed him her fingertips, faint red glimmering there.

“Your tears are red,” Kat whispered.

“And yours are heartbreaking,” he replied, pressing a kiss to her temple before he pulled her back into his chest.

“I’ll be in the other room if you need me,” Tristyn said, slipping from the room. The door clicked softly behind him.

For once, Axel wasn’t worried about hurting her. He knew in his soul that in this moment, he wouldn’t attack her or try to take from her. In this moment, it was just them and their brokenness, but they were together. That’s what they’d promised each other.

So they sat in their heartbreak and cried.