Page 44 of Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance

Rinse it out.

Feel the water.

Water, not blood.

It’s water.

Water.

Hot water.

Hot like fire.

Her fire.

Her fiery blood.

Fuck!

By the time he finally stumbled out of the shower and reached for a towel, he was exhausted, and he still needed to brush his teeth and get dressed. He found a pile of clothes on the vanity that he’d completely missed when Bree had been talking to him. Then again, he couldn’t focus on much, even now.

Brush teeth.

That was what he needed to be doing.

Toothpaste onto toothbrush.

Brush.

Brush.

Brush.

Clean teeth to sink into her throat and stain them red.

“Godsdammit!” he spat, toothpaste spraying as he threw the toothbrush at the mirror.

He braced his hands on the vanity, his head hanging between his shoulders. He didn’t know how much longer he could do this. He just needed a taste. Something to curb the craving. Something to fill the aching emptiness of his power. Something to drown in that wasn’tthis.

He suddenly understood exactly why Tessa lost herself in a liquor bottle or in bed with another. Any type of distraction would do at this point, whether it be pain, pleasure, or inebriation.

As it happened, Mansel was even a welcome distraction when he came through the door and barked at him to “get fucking dressed.”

In black pants and a black shirt he’d tried buttoning for a full minute before he gave up due to his shaking fingers, he followed Mansel through passageways he may have traversed before. He wasn’t sure. However, he wasn’t led to the same dining room. He was led up a few more flights of stairs and through a parlor. Pulling aside a curtain, Mansel gestured for him to go through, and he stepped onto a balcony.

They were underground, of course, so there was no sky or sun, but the air was still fresher out here than wherever they’d been keeping him inside. A small table for two was set with a light meal waiting, but Bree wasn’t seated and waiting. Her back was to him where she stood at the railing, arms stretched out and hands resting atop it.

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Axel moved in her direction. The food wasn’t even remotely tempting. It wasn’t what he wanted, and it would taste like ash. He did pause when he noticed a small glass of red. It was no bigger than a shot glass, but he’d swiped it up and gulped it down before he’d even registered what he was doing.

There was a faint salty taste among the copper. A water Fae then. Still not what he wanted most, and the small taste only made the craving worse, not better. His shadows gave a feeble twitch that hurt his soul, his legs nearly giving out at the gnawing ache as his power demanded more and more.

Bree still hadn’t turned to him, but a rustling sound had him spinning to find Julius there with a goblet and a smirk. The male said nothing as he held the silver chalice out to him. There was no hesitation when Axel grabbed it and drank the entire contents in three gulps. He could feel a drop run down his chin, and he swiped it up his thumb, sucking the digit clean. He knewin his bones there would be no more given to him this day unless he agreed to whatever Bree wanted to discuss with him right now.

Setting the goblet aside, he made his way to her. She glanced at him briefly, her honey-colored eyes flicking over him, before she looked back out over the Underground below her.

He knew then where he was. He could see the structure below that resembled the Tribunal building. One had to go through it before entering the House of Four that was built into the wall of the Underground. The House was as high as the cavern itself and branched off into four distinct wings, each painted with a symbol of the four clans. Bree’s symbol was a triangle inside a circle, and this high up, he could see the entire Underground. He could even make out the tower that housed their penthouse suite in the Charter District on the other side of the Underground network.

“It is beautiful, isn’t it?” Bree asked, her raven hair pulled over her shoulder.

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