Chapter 27 Axel #2
Axel huffed a laugh as she bent to pick up the food that had spilled everywhere, breaking off another piece of chocolate as she did.
She piled it all back on the plate, setting it on the end of the bed before retrieving the water bottle and taking a drink.
As she recapped it, the small bit of mirth between them dissolved, and she focused on Luka once again, worrying her bottom lip.
“I am sorry, Axel,” she said quietly. “I did learn how to hurt and hate from this realm, but I learned what true friendship could look like from you.” She turned her head to look at him. “I truly am sorry, but I know pretty words don’t mean shit.”
“In this case, they do, Tessa,” he said, far more gently than their previous words had been.
She nodded, looking back at Luka. “Did you really marry her?”
He huffed a laugh, moving closer. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he said, “Yeah, I did. Did you really marry Theon?”
It was her turn to huff a laugh. “Yeah, I did. You’re going to be a father.”
“Glad to see we’re continuing to state obvious things.”
She glanced at him, giving him a weak smile. “I can’t imagine that was planned. Was it?”
Axel sighed. “No, it wasn’t, but it is something we need to talk to you about.”
Her brows arched. “Me? I don’t know anything about children. Even when I was one, I was never really around them.”
“It’s not about raising them or anything,” he said with a wink. “But rest a bit. Eat some food. Kat is sleeping, but I know when she wakes, she will want to speak to you right away.”
“I don’t know what kind of help I’ll be, but I can try.”
“That’s all I ask,” Axel replied, taking a step toward the door. Then he paused, turning to walk backwards as he spoke. “I have an extra phone and earbuds. I’ll bring them to you.”
Her smile was small but there when she answered, “I’d like that very much.”
“I’ve never seen a Mark like that,” Razik was saying when Axel and Kat came into the room a few hours later.
“But you’ve been alive for…a long time,” Tessa argued. “You could have seen it in passing at some time, right?”
“These two are older than I am,” Razik said dryly, gesturing to Cienna and Tristyn. “I don’t see you questioning their lack of knowledge.”
“Have any of you seen anything similar?” Theon cut in, standing next to the chair Tessa was curled back up in. “Or do any of you have any idea what it could be or do?”
“I’m well-versed in Marks, wild fury,” Tristyn said. “That is one I’ve never seen before.”
“So it just appeared? That’s not possible,” Theon said in frustration.
“Of course it’s possible,” Eliza said from where she perched on the end of the bed. “Scarlett can create new Marks because of what she is. Why wouldn’t Tessa be able to?”
“But I didn’t,” Tessa insisted.
“That you know of. Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing,” she countered.
“Cienna?” Theon asked, looking at the Witch.
“It is a new Mark we’ve never seen before,” Cienna replied. “Tessa is unlike any other. It would make sense that she can create Marks unlike any other.”
“I’ve only ever drawn one Mark,” she argued, all eyes on her now. Her fingers dug into the fabric of the armchair, and Theon sat on the arm, taking one of her hands in his. Some of her tension eased, but even Axel could see it was still present.
“Be that as it may,” Tristyn said, “the fact remains you are one of a kind, Tessa. I suspect you will continue to discover new facets of your gifts throughout your immortal life.”
“But as for that Mark,” Cienna said, gesturing to Luka’s still form. “We won’t know what it does until he wakes. And even then, we may not know right away. Magic is volatile, and a debt is owed.”
“And when will he wake up?” Tessa gritted out.
“When he’s ready. My answer to that has not changed,” Cienna answered.
“Let’s table this for a bit,” Theon said, locking eyes with Axel and Kat where they still stood just inside the room.
“Is this a good time?” Kat asked tentatively, because of course she did. Axel didn’t really care if it was a good time or not.
“Of course, Kat,” Theon answered with a reassuring smile.
“Here. Sit,” Tessa said, already rising from the chair.
“I’m fine,” Kat started, waving her off.
“Sit, kitten,” Axel insisted, a hand on her back to usher her forward.
She sighed in resignation, letting him guide her around the bed, trading places with Theon and Tessa.
“You can sit on the bed, Tessa,” Theon was saying.
“I’ll stand,” she replied, sliding her hands into the front pocket of the oversized sweatshirt she was wearing. One of Theon’s, Axel assumed.
When they were situated, Axel cleared his throat, “While there have been some developments here since I saw you last, Theon, we have something more pressing to discuss.”
“Your visions,” Kat interrupted.
Theon’s brow arched, and Tessa blinked in surprise. “My visions? You mean my dreams?”
“But that’s what they are, right?” Kat asked. “You see potential futures?”
“Sometimes,” Tessa replied cautiously. “But I can’t control them. I can’t ask to be shown a possible future. I just…am.”
“And they change?”
Tessa nodded slowly. “Yes. Often. What is this about, Kat?”
“We have been going to see Miara every week to monitor Kat and the babe,” Axel explained. “The last time we saw her, she was rather ominous about when the babe would come. She said he would not make full term, but if he came too soon, he wouldn’t survive.”
The room fell silent, Kat’s hand rubbing along her stomach. Axel was certain she didn’t even realize she was doing it.
“I just wanted to know if you’ve seen anything, Tessa,” Kat said quietly.
Tessa shook her head, and Axel believed her when she said, “I’m sorry, Kat. I haven’t had any dreams with the two of you in quite some time. And when I have, you’ve never been with child.”
“But visions can change, right?” Kat persisted, a quiver to her voice that had Axel wrapping an arm around her shoulders where he sat on the arm of the chair.
“My visions change often,” Tessa said gently. “But I think my dreams are different from what they see.”
She motioned to Cienna and Tristyn with her last words, and Axel locked eyes with the Witch. A female he’d known his entire life and who he had some sort of relationship with.
“Cienna?” he asked, feeling Katya tense beside him.
“The future is ever-changing,” Cienna said.
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“I know what you’re asking, Axel,” she replied. “And I do not have the answer you wish for.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that before. She’d been the one to warn him he was close to turning. She’d been the one to tell him it was too late to turn back. Why wouldn’t she be the one to tell him there was nothing they could do about this projected outcome?
“And what have you seen?” Axel asked, not breaking her stare. But when she didn’t speak, it was answer enough. “You’ve seen the same as Miara and didn’t say anything?”
“This is exactly why,” she answered, her tone going sharper than usual.
“How many days have you spent worrying? Trying to figure out an alternative? How many nights have you lost sleep trying to come up with a way to change a possible future? Ensure it doesn’t come to pass?
There is every possibility these exact actions send you down that path. ”
“So your proposal is to do nothing?” Axel charged. “You expect us to sit back and just let whatever happens happen?”
“We do not tempt the Fates, Axel.”
“No, you don’t tempt the Fates, Cienna. You don’t get to make that choice for the rest of us,” he shot back.
“Live your lives, Axel. Trying to trick Fate is a waste of your days.”
“I will waste them all if it ensures my son survives.”
The look that crossed her face was almost pained as she said, “I know. That’s what I fear.”
The silence that settled over the room was palpable. Kat had tipped her head back against the back of the chair, her eyes closed, and Axel knew she was trying to keep in tears.
“If I dream of him, I will tell you,” Tessa said quietly. “I have altered more futures than one. I can try.”
“Thank you,” Kat whispered, her eyes remaining closed.
Tessa looked at Axel, and he nodded in appreciation. “While we’re discussing dire situations, we need to discuss Bree.”
They listened while he and Kat recounted what had transpired after they’d learned of the babe—when Axel went to call Theon and returned to a delivery of Bohden’s severed head.
“I know we all assume it is Bree, but do we have any proof of that?” Theon asked after they’d caught everyone else up on what had been happening in the Underground.
“I’m considering the invitation that came the next day to be proof enough,” Axel answered.
“Invitation for what?” Theon asked. He’d taken a seat on the edge of the bed, but Tessa still refused, standing a few feet away from him and listening.
“For dinner. At the House of Four,” Axel replied. “All the Underground Leaders were invited.”
“When is it?” Theon asked. “I can go with you.”
“That’s the thing,” Axel said, scratching the back of his head. “It was addressed to me and Kat.”
“Who gives a fuck?” his brother replied. “This has gone on long enough. Bree is not taking the fucking Underground.”
“If you go, it will undo all the work we’ve put in here these last months,” Kat cut in. “We’ve built trust and relations largely on the fact that Axel chose a Fae as his wife.”
“She’s right,” Axel said. “In fact, I’m certain she’s the only reason the Apparel District tentatively aligned with us in the first place.”
“So the two of you are going then?” Theon asked, reaching out and tugging Tessa to a stop as she started to pace.
“No,” Axel said at the same time Kat said, “Yes.”
He sighed. They’d been arguing about this since the day the invitation had arrived.
Well, maybe not since that day. Kat had waited until the next morning to ask him what she should wear to this dinner.
He had informed her she absolutely was not going, and then it had been a continual argument that had gone nowhere since.