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“Quite,” Julius agreed.

“Why is that?”

“We are rather…concerned,” Julius replied. “This whole debacle with Theon is rather worrisome.”

“I don’t see why,” Axel replied. “He has a powerful being tied to him. Better our kingdom than another.”

“Yet at this very moment, she is being housed away from him. We’d been assured this would be handled, but our confidence is understandably shaken,” Julius said with faux trepidation.

“One bright spot in all of this, however, had been the acquisition of a fire Fae,” Mansel cut in. “The Anala Kingdom has always been so greedy with their demands to not share them, but Lady Aithne, in particular, is a real bitch about it. We were rather delighted when you stole one from right under her nose. She has been raging about it ever since.”

“She didn’t seem all that upset at the Tribunal hearings,” Axel said.

“Yes, but while you have been enjoying the Selection Year at the Acropolis, the rest of us have been continuing on as normal,” Mansel said. “Your brother’s shortcomings are becoming more worrisome, which is why we were so interested in meeting the fire Fae who was to become his new Source. Yet she never made it to us.”

“It is my understanding Pavil and Metias were supposed to deliver her to you. Not me,” Axel said, feeling the blood start to pool around his knees. “I am upset that I am just now learning she never made it to you. I have spent the last months guarding her, and they lost her in a matter of minutes?”

His father’s dark huff of laughter echoed in the room. “You always were a terrible liar. Theon can convince anyone of a farce, but you? You’ve never been able to hide anything, have you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Axel gritted out.

His father sighed. “I had a feeling you would be difficult about this. You always are. The problem is, I cannot sacrifice my power right now, nor that of my Source. I will need to get you to the Underground when this is over, and I have what I expect to be a trying engagement after this.”

Mansel was making his way to Eviana, where his fingers trailed along her hip as he moved behind her. His hand splayed across her stomach when he tugged her back against him, and he rested his chin on her shoulder. “You know we got to meet this one before she became our Lord’s new Source as well. Still just as pretty, just as obedient, just as docile as she was that day.”

His new Source?

Axel didn’t know his father had ever had another Source. He assumed it had always been Eviana. They’d never been told any differently. Did Theon know?

“But your brother chose not to let us meet his current Source,” Julius cut in. He still hadn’t moved from where he stood. “And clearly, that has gone poorly. We all agreed it might be better if we met his soon-to-be-Source prior this time.”

“What do I have to do with any of this?” Axel demanded. “Again, Pavil and Metias were supposed to deliver her to you. Not me.”

“Yes, but you have been the oneguardingher,” Mansel said, drawing Axel’s attention back to him. Eviana had created a wooden stake, the end a deadly point, and the Legacy took it from her as she yanked the vines on his wrists tighter again.

His shadows appeared as Mansel took a step towards him. Axel couldn’t hold them back. They would draw this out. Force him to drain his reserves. That was the entire purpose of this.

“The guarding has led to fucking, which is understandable,” his father cut in. “She is quite easy on the eyes, and I’m sure her cunt is just as enticing.”

Axel stiffened, anger crashing through him at his father’s words, and a low growl rumbled from his chest. His shadows thickened, swirling around him.

His father’s lip curled up in disgust. “I warned you not to do this, but in true fashion, you had to be dramatic about it all.”

“Be dramatic? Because I didn’t want these sick fucks to touch someone who didn’t deserve this?” Axel snapped, too consumed with anger and hatred to hold back.

Is this what Tessa felt like every time she lost control? No fucks to give because what was coming was inevitable anyway?

The kick to his side had him sprawling to the ground, his face crashing against the stone. The pain was immediately intensified by Julius, who’d finally moved now, circling him as Mansel twirled the stake in his hand. Apparently they’d be doing his father’s dirty work today.

Axel rolled to his back, turning his head to the side and spitting blood just as the wooden stake pierced his thigh. He let out a string of curse words as Julius amplified the pain, making him feel everything tenfold before the stake was twisted and yanked out. He could feel the splinters left in the wound as if they were shards of glass burrowing deeper.

Whatever control he’d been clinging to was gone, and his shadows converged, rising up to defend him. He heard the grunt from Mansel as he was thrown back, but Julius was there, making the pain so unbearable that Axel couldn’t focus. There must have been a wound on his head because there was suddenly blood dripping into his eyes as he was rolled to his front with a foot. Then a knee was digging into his back, and something sliced along his spine. It wasn’t a wooden stake. This was a blade.

A blade of stone that was draining his magic faster.

He wasn’t sure who was thrashing more, him or his shadows, as the pain all started to blend together. Pain from wounds. Painfrom his power being pulled from him. Pain from empty power wells. Pain from a craving that was increasing by the second.

Then there was a hand in his hair, yanking his head back to see his father standing over him, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. “Where is she, Axel?”