Page 54 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Surely you are not asking us to turn against your family?” Kylian said, arching a brow, but Axel had spent enough time with them to know he was pushing for Axel to reveal his hand.
“Maybe not today,” Axel said with a shrug.
That had both the Alpha and the Beta sitting up straighter.
“Explain,” Giselle hissed. Gone was her lilt. Instead she sounded like the giant python she preferred to shift into.
“If anyone could negotiate with them about us being allowed to see the sky, I would think it would be a familial relation,” Axel said. “I will not be relegated to the dark the rest of my days, and I certainly won’t raise a child who never knows what the fucking sun is.”
Each word grew shorter and darker. He might not have his shadows anymore, but he was still a godsdamn St. Orcas. He’d still been raised to command a room. Still been prepared to rule. He’d hated his father for it, but fuck him to the After and back, he’d been raising him for exactly this. Now he’d take all those lessons and use them, just not in the way his father had planned.
Both of their eyes flicked to Katya, where she still held his hand, their fingers intertwined. But while Kylian’s gaze lingered on her belly, it was Giselle who said, “We’d heard you had taken a bride, but I didn’t truly believe it until you walked in here with her.” She settled back in her chair, once again resting her chin onher palm. “A St. Orcas son taking a Fae as a wife. Whatever did your father say? Or is that why you were sentenced here in the first place?”
His lip curled back, baring his fangs. “I wasn’t sentenced here,” he snarled. “I came here willingly.”
She huffed a sharp laugh. “Oh, you naïve thing. No one comes here willingly.”
“Naïve?” Axel repeated, stepping forward. He released Kat’s hand, but she moved with him. His brother, however, stayed back, letting him do this on his own.
It should have terrified him. Theon was always the one to take care of him. To shield him. But maybe they’d both finally learned that it couldn’t always be that way. That eventually he needed to find an identity outside of the family. Outside of Luka and Theon. And Theon needed to let him.
But he wasn’t alone.
Not as shadows slowly drifted across the floor, threads of flame weaving among them.
The Alpha and Beta were both wide-eyed, and Kylian’s knuckles were white where they clutched the arms of his chair as he said, “The babe is an Arius Legacy.”
“The babe is a St. Orcas,” Kat said, chin held high. “And is currently next in line after Theon.”
“That means nothing,” Kylian said. “The Arius Heir will have an heir of his own. He already has a Match.”
Axel felt Theon’s power swell at the words. It was subtle, but he knew his brother’s magic when he felt it. Knew his brother was working to keep it leashed.
“You can take that chance,” Kat said. “But everyone knows that even if that is the case, Theon and Axel are close. You truly think Theon will allow his nephew to remain here? That he won’tnegotiatewhen he takes the Arius throne? And whose side do you wish to be on when that time comes?”
“You are a clever little thing, aren’t you?” Giselle said, studying them both with newfound interest.
“What do you wish of us?” Kylian asked.
“Your allegiance,” Axel said. “I’m sure you have heard whisperings of Bree’s plans. I wouldn’t even be surprised if she had already been here asking the same thing of you I am.”
Neither the Alpha nor the Beta moved or gave any indication that what he’d said was true, but he knew it was. While they’d been holed up putting together their plans over the last week, Bree had been planning this coup for decades, if not centuries. Fuck, the Shifters could even be part of it, but he had to try. For Kat. For their son. He cared more for these people than Bree ever would. She’d made it clear she wanted all of Devram, and the Underground was just her stepping stone.
“If she enacts her plans and we are forced to stand against her, I want assurance you will be on our side,” Axel continued.
“On the possibility of you negotiating our freedom with your brother somedayifhe holds the Arius Kingdom throne?” Kylian said with a scoff. “That could be decades from now, and with the way the kingdoms are divided at this moment, the Arius Legacy might very well not even have a kingdom in the coming days.”
“And what has Bree promised you?” Kat asked. “Power? Freedom? You think she will give you any of what she takes? You will be in no better position than you are now.”
“We will always answer to someone,” Giselle said. “Whether it be a Lord, a god, the stars themselves. We will not be faulted for choosing our alliances to ensure the best for our people. So what is it, exactly, that you are offering?”
“A choice,” Axel said. “Something rarely given to anyone in Devram. You’re right. I can’t guarantee a godsdamn thing, but I can vow to never stop trying.” He pulled a small knife from his pocket, slicing the blade along his palm and letting his blood drip to the floor. “Whether or not you join me, I vow to neverstop fighting for the freedom of people who don’t deserve to be locked away in the dark. You are a threat to everything they have built. They know that. Bree knows that. She wants to use you for it; I want us to fight for the freedom to simply live among them. Not as beings beneath them, but as people worthy of that simple right.”
“Under your rule, then?” Kylian interjected.
“I have no desire to rule,” Axel said. “But I will certainly help lead if I am asked to fight for justice, and I’ll pursue it even if there’s no one at my side. I’ve spent more days these past years in the Underground than I have with my family. And yes, I was forced to at my father’s hand, but I wouldn’t trade it either. Because I’ve seen what they fear. A people capable of changing fate if not kept in cages.
“I don’t require an answer today. You know where to find me,” he said, once again taking Kat’s hand as he turned to walk away. He’d said all there was to say, and he wouldn’t beg, just as he’d never beg at Bree’s feet. Never again.
