Page 154 of Daughter of the Serpent

“Axel - ” She started, but her voice barely made it past her lips.

His gaze flickered, unreadable. “What is it?”

She felt it then - the weight of his eyes, the way they swallowed her whole. Warm liquid honey and gold. Burning. Searching.

She opened her mouth, but the words tangled in her throat.

How could she say it?

How could she put into words what had unraveled between them? How had he changed her life the minute he entered it? Or what it felt like when she was drowning in him, in the fire of his hands, the breathless ache of his kiss? How what he told her that night had stayed etched in her heart ever since?

Axel clutched her hand, his grip warm, steady. Concern flickered across his features.

“Say it.”

A tremor ran through her, winding its way down her spine. The words were there - aching, pressing - but she faltered. As much as she wanted to sink into Axel, into the quiet refuge he offered, the world was still waiting. The weight of everything - Haldor, Rederick, the trials - pressed in.

“Did you mean what you said?” Her voice was quieter than she intended. “About Rederick? The elders?”

Axel didn’t answer right away.

The wind howled between them, tugging at his cloak, at the space between them.

Then, finally, he spoke.

“Yes.”

He took a step back, his gaze drifting to the horizon. The sea stretched endlessly before them, dark and unknowable.

“All of them fear you.”

A shiver ran through her - not from the cold, but from the weight of his words.

“And rightly so.” His voice was quiet, steady. “You are powerful, Sylvie.”

The words settled into her bones, sinking deep. The wind howled, but it couldn’t drown out the intensity of his voice.

“So powerful,” he murmured, “that even Rederick fears what you will become.”

Her stomach twisted.

“That’s why he’s so desperate to break you.” Axel didn’t move, didn’t waver. “Especially now.”

Her eyes widened.

“You are so close to becoming all of who you are. So close to revealing the truth.”

Sylvie’s breath hitched. “What truth?”

He hesitated. Then, finally, he stepped in, closing the last sliver of space between them.

“Tell me, Sylvie,” his voice was a whisper of fire against her skin. “What do you think happens to Rederick and his prophecies... when the very one destined for darkness survives? When she is proven worthy by the gods?”

Her breath stilled.

His eyes burrowed further into hers, and a certain fire raged.

“He will be exposed for the pretenderhe is.”