Page 147 of Daughter of the Serpent

Before she could react, Axel moved.

In a blur of motion, he was there - faster than breath, faster than thought. His ax flashed, steel catching the light for a heartbeat before the edge pressed firm against Haldor’s throat.

Sylvie bolted forward. “Axel!”

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t move.

She could feel the tension through their bond. It wasn’t just anger - it was a storm, relentless and untamed, barely held at bay.

Haldor stilled, his breath slow, careful. His pulse thrummed beneath the blade, the only sign that he felt the very real threat Axel posed.

“I’ve come just to talk,” Haldor said, voice steady, but there was something in his eyes - something wary.

Because he knew.

Axel was one heartbeat away from ending him.

“Axel.” Her voice cracked as she reached for him, curling her fingers around his arm, desperate to pull him back from the edge. “Let him go.”

A moment passed, tense and unsure.

Then - slowly, begrudgingly - he lowered the ax.

Haldor exhaled, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the moment, but his eyes never left Axel’s.

“You don’t deserve her,” Axel said, his voice slicing through the air like a blade as he stepped back.

Haldor’s jaw tightened, his next words coming out through grit teeth.

“I’mprotectingher.”

Axel let out a sharp, humorless laugh, but there was nothing light about it.

“Protecting her?” His eyes burned. “No. You’re protectingyourself.”

Haldor’s grip flexed over the hilt of his sword. A subtle shift, a readiness, but Axel didn’t so much as blink. He stepped closer, his voice seething.

“You’re afraid.” The words landed like a blow. “Afraid of what she’ll become once she embraces her power.”

Haldor’s entire frame tensed, but he didn’t refute it.

“You’re just like the rest of them - trying to cage what you don’t understand. You don’t want to protect her. You want tocontrolher.”

Sylvie’s breath caught.

It couldn’t be true.

Could it?

Haldor’s face twisted, something flashing behind his eyes - anger, guilt, denial. All at once. “You knownothing.” His words bitter.

Axel smirked - a dark, knowing thing.

“I know enough to see you for what you are.” His voice was venom, his eyes like fire. “I see right through you, Mardovian.”

Neither man moved.

Neither blinked.

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