Page 77 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“As long as I’m not running to keep up with you,” she retorted.

“Point taken,” he said, beginning to meander down the road at a much slower pace. “I was…upset, and like you, my power is drained.”

“You can have blood,” she said.

And she said it so simply, nonchalantly, that Axel was tugging her to a stop. “I can’t just take blood from you.”

“Of course you can.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are only given a weekly ration. Taking more than that?—”

“Can send you to the Underground?” Katya interrupted, looking around at the obviousness of where they stood.

“Well…yeah. It’s a grave offense in Devram to need more than what you are allotted,” Axel said, suddenly feeling very foolish at trying to convince her of this when he was one of the worst offenders of them all.

“Most aren’t caught,” she said with a shrug, beginning to walk down the road again.

“How do you— Wait a minute,” Axel said, finding himself rushing to catch up to her now. “How long have you known Legacy need blood? You aren’t told that until your Selection.”

She huffed a laugh under her breath. “I was raised in a kingdom that values knowledge above all else,” Kat replied. “Iknow a great deal of things that other Fae do not, even once they have been Selected.”

Axel wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so instead, he took her hand once more, leading her through the Apparel District until they came to a shop that specialized in garments the hired mercenaries favored. A bell rang above the door when they stepped in, and a tall Fae looked up from what he was doing at the shop counter. Then he straightened.

“Axel St. Orcas,” the Fae said, eyeing him before his pale green eyes drifted to Katya. “You brought a friend.”

“Turner,” Axel said with a nod. “Samson told me where to find you.”

“Did he now?”

“I need some blood.”

“Go to the Dispensary District,” Turner said.

“No time. I’ll pay whatever you want,” Axel said, the desperation suddenly back in full force. Katya had been a distraction for a moment, but not anymore. Certainly not after she’d offered himherblood. Now that was all he could think about.

“She a prisoner you’re transporting?” Turner asked instead, his gaze flicking back to Kat.

“No.”

“She the fire Fae everyone has been whispering about, then?”

“What have they been saying?” Axel asked.

Turner shrugged. “Just that the Anala Lady is upset that she was taken from her kingdom.”

“Oh?” Axel said. “What else have you heard?”

Turner smirked. “The blood or the information. Your choice.”

“The blood,” Axel answered immediately. He could get the information from someone else.

Turner wandered through a door to some back room, returning a minute later with a bottle twice the size of the flask.

Fuck. Yes.

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