Page 119 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

They stared at each other a moment longer before she lightly cleared her throat. “Anyway, good night, Axel.”

“Kat?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll do whatever I can to keep you with me,” Axel said. “It might not be much, but I’ll try.”

She smiled softly. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“Why do you say that?”

She shrugged before snuggling down into the blankets. “Can you put on music to fall asleep to?”

“Classical?” he asked, already pulling his phone from his pocket.

“Whatever you choose. I don’t need classical music here.”

He didn’t know why her words mattered, but they did something to him. She felt safe with him when she should feel anything but. He couldn’t keep her safe from whatever fate his father decided for her. He couldn’t keep her safe from the horrors of the Arius Kingdom. He couldn’t keep her safe from him because his blood lust would only get worse. More than that, she wasn’t his to protect.

His magic bristled at the thought, but it didn’t matter. Attachments were dangerous. Look at Caris. Look at Pen. Fuck, look at Theon and Tessa.

No, Katya wasn’t safe with him at all.

22

THEON

“Ihear a Match Contract was signed. The first one of the Selection Year.”

Theon looked up from his phone to see Dagian Jove, Heir of the Achaz Kingdom. Dagian was scrolling on his own phone, one hand in his pocket. A seemingly civil conversation between two of the realm’s heirs.

“What does it matter?” Theon asked, returning to his own scrolling.

“The Match of an heir is always a big deal, and yet there has been no formal announcement made,” Dagian noted.

“Again, what does it matter?”

“It doesn’t look good, does it?”

That had Theon looking up again to find Dagian’s golden eyes on him. “How does my having a Match Contract look bad?”

Dagian shrugged, slipping his phone into his other pocket. “Arius Kingdom has so many secrets coming to light lately. Keeping a Match Contract quiet only adds more suspicion.”

“And when has Arius Kingdom ever given a fuck?”

A small smirk curled on the corner of Dagian’s mouth. “I am only suggesting that perhaps Arius Kingdom should be trying tobuild a better rapport rather than further distancing itself from the rest of the realm. Relations, after all, are rather important, especially when we’ll be housing your assets in the near future,” he said, waving in greeting to Lealla and Mahina, who had just entered the room.

Theon’s phone buzzed with a message at that moment. His fingers tightened around the device as he read it. He looked back up, ready to snap a retort to Dagian, but he was already walking away.

Which was fine. He didn’t have time for Dagian’s games.

Haven’t you figured it out yet? You’re already in the middle of them.

Scarlett’s cryptic words rang through his mind as he left the room, and he’d come to the conclusion he hated the silver-haired female.

He hated her for showing up here and being so fucking vague.

He hated her for her arrogance and constant dismissal of him.

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