Chapter 50 Axel #2
“None of them were a First,” Kyra said. “They were not in a position to make such demands.”
“Not in a position? They are gods.”
“Yes, but they are Lessers. Everything in Devram mirrors other worlds in one way or another.”
“Like the Source Marks?” Tessa asked with far too much sweetness. Theon and Luka took note too, both of them stiffening at her tone.
Kyra looked more and more uncomfortable as this conversation went on, and Axel was rather impressed. For someone who didn’t want to be the most powerful in the room, Tessa was handling it with far more grace than any of them would have.
“Yes,” Kyra agreed. “Like the Source Marks.”
“That mirror something else.”
Kyra shifted in her chair. “I won’t deny that there is corruption in the realm, Lady Tessa.”
“Do you deny your participation in it? Do you deny going along with it to maintain your seat of power? Of forcing the Fae Anala felt the need to protect to still serve at your feet?” Tessa pressed, lightning flickering in her eyes.
Her gaze flicked to Kyra’s Source, then to Gatlan. “Forcing Fae to endure such Marks?”
“We do not treat them beneath us here,” Kyra tried, lifting her chin.
“It doesn’t matter if you do so outside your own borders. You simply prioritize those you deem more valuable,” Tessa spat bitterly.
“Tessa,” Theon murmured, reaching to take her hand.
“No, Theon,” Kyra said, holding up her hand. “If we are to be allies, we need to be able to speak freely.”
“You know of twin flames?” Tessa asked, tapping her wineglass with her nail. “You know they’re incorporated into the Source Marks?”
Kyra cleared her throat. “Yes, I did know. That was happening long before I acquired my seat.”
“And you didn’t think to do anything about it?”
“We have all made mistakes. We all have regrets. I think you’ve learned that well over these last months,” Kyra replied.
Tessa’s eyes narrowed, but she went on. “Changing how things have been done for centuries is not an easy task, my Lady, especially when the majority of those in power do not want change. When they are vehemently against it. Instead, it must be accomplished by making smaller changes. Letting them build into something bigger. Over and over again, even when it doesn’t feel like a difference is being made in the end.
“It is making a difference when no one will likely know but the person who receives the gift. It is keeping as many as you can safe and mourning those you lose. It is welcoming those who manage to escape and giving them refuge. It is watching and observing those who show the slightest bit of sympathy because maybe, just maybe, they will end up joining the cause. It is working endlessly for something you may never see come to fruition in your lifetime.”
Her voice cracked as she continued. “It is hoping, when all feels lost, that a young heir who Selected someone who could be this world’s salvation or destruction will let her be who she was always meant to be.
It is hoping she will choose this world too, despite how it broke her and used her and does not deserve her.
It is hoping, even when it seems pointless, because hope sees the invisible.
What is possible. What hides in the dark, hope drags to the light.
Hope is never truly lost as long as one person still dares to dream of something better. ”
Axel was staring at the Anala Lady. Everyone was. The room had gone silent and still. Something reverent hung in the air.
“I once thought hope was pointless,” Tessa said softly.
“What changed your mind?” Kyra asked.
“A friend gave me music,” she answered, her eyes finding Axel. “When my world was breaking, he cared enough to give me something to drown in when there was nothing else.”
Axel offered her a small smile, and she returned it, even if it was a little muted and sad.
“But I can agree we wish for the same thing, Lady Kyra,” Tessa said, picking up her fork once more.
Kyra smiled, doing the same. “Then it will be my pleasure to show you what we’ve built here.”
After they were shown their rooms, they were led to a building on the other side of Idalia, and Axel was shocked to find it was another portal station. Portals that anyone could use— Legacy, Fae, mortal. It didn’t matter.
The first portaled them to the other side of Sulien Forest, on the east side of the Terrarun River. If he was shocked about the portal station, he was amazed at what they found.
An entire city of Fae.
It spanned for miles and was larger than Idalia.
All of them were Fae that had sought safety from the other kingdoms. Mothers who wanted to save their children.
Lovers who were desperate to stay together.
Those who had dared to defy the Legacy and were facing the Underground or death.
All the Fae from the Sirana Villas, the Celeste Estate, and the Pantheon.
Thousands of them were housed here, and they were clearly running short on space.
“We cannot risk going too far south,” Tana, the Anala Heir, was explaining as they walked through the streets. “The cities there are mainly Legacy, but the Fae that are there are employed and paid fairly. Nothing is forced.”
“And this city is guarded,” Gatlan, her Source, added. “Hundreds of members of our forces are trained outside the city. It is part of their duties to serve on rotation here, as well as the other cities.”
Axel had been watching the male and Corbin. They had apparently been friends during their formative years at the Anala Estate. It was yet another reminder of how much the Fae were forced to sacrifice for the kingdoms. Friends. Relationships. Hopes and dreams.
It had him slipping his arm around Kat’s waist and tugging her into his side while he held Maddox on his shoulder, the babe sleeping soundly and warmed by his mother’s magic.
Tessa had asked to visit a school in the city, and they had opted to stay outside. In a rare moment alone with the Anala Lady, Axel asked, “Lady Kyra?”
She turned to him with a smile, waiting for his question.
“You called Kat a ‘lost fire Fae,’” he ventured. “But with all these security measures…”
“How did it happen?” she finished when he trailed off.
Axel nodded, and Kyra sighed. “We have people on the inside in nearly every kingdom. As you can imagine, it is a dangerous thing to ask of someone, and they risk everything by doing so. But when passion and hope win out, the risks don’t seem to matter. ”
Maddox started fussing, and Kat reached to take him, snuggling him close. Her head was down, focused on their son, but Axel knew her well enough to know she was trying to process whatever Kyra was about to tell them.
“A little over two decades ago, one of our greatest assets found their way to us. He was deep in the Achaz Kingdom and could sense power,” Kyra continued, and Kat’s head snapped up.
“You speak of Brecken,” Kat said, eyes wide.
“I do,” Kyra agreed with a sad smile. “He did much for the Fae in Devram. So much more than anyone realizes. But all those noble actions still came with costs, and you were one. I did not know what he’d done until it was over. I was furious, but he swore he’d make it right.”
“Brecken is the reason Kat was outside the Anala Kingdom?” Axel asked, not following where this was going.
“He was,” Kyra answered. “Brecken had come across a desperate mother. A Shifter who’d had a child with a Fae. She was being held at the Sirana Villas, and she begged Brecken to take the child and hide him. Refused to be told where so she couldn’t be forced to betray the secret.”
“Corbin,” Axel said, the pieces slowly coming together.
Kyra nodded. “Our alliance was still new and tentative. He didn’t fully trust me yet, which was fair.
We keep strict records of all our Fae, and we knew exactly how many children were at the Estate.
He swapped the child out.” Another sad smile at Kat.
“He took you to the Falein Estate. As I said, I was furious. He wouldn’t tell me where you were, but he swore an oath to watch over you and keep you safe. He checked on you often.”
“And when my Selection year was getting close, he took me to Tessa,” Kat whispered.
“I do not know those details,” Kyra said. “I was to claim you that night under the Accords the moment your fire magic showed itself, but…”
“I claimed her for Arius first,” Axel finished. “You were irate.”
She nodded. “So was Brecken, but it appears to have worked out in the end. Fate can be funny like that.”
“Don’t let Tessa hear you discuss the Fates,” Axel snickered.
Kyra hummed. “Yes, the Fates have not been particularly kind to her.” A few seconds passed before she said, “Before the others return, there are two people here I think you will find of interest. One you may not wish to speak to. The other, I think you would like to meet.”
His stomach dropped.
His mother and his sister.
“I…” He pushed out a harsh breath, shoving his hand through his hair. “Cressida,” he finally said. “I do wish to speak to her.” He glanced at Katya. “Alone.”
“I can arrange that,” Kyra said.
So while everyone else continued to tour the kingdom, Axel went with Kyra’s Source to a small town on the other side of the Terrarun River at the base of the Raghnall Mountains.
Just inside Sulien Forest, it was built into the side of a mountain.
The kingdom’s own mini Underground it seemed.
Then again, it wasn’t quite a prison. There were not bars, but semi-comfortable rooms that they weren’t allowed to leave.
“Just knock when you’re done,” he said, and Axel nodded as he was let into a room.
It was sparse. A small sitting room with a table for two, a sofa, a small desk, and a bookshelf. A doorway led to what he assumed was a small bedroom and bathroom. Cressida had clearly heard the door, because she emerged from that room a moment later, then froze when she saw who stood in her space.
“Axel?” she gasped, rushing to him and throwing her arms around his neck. “Thank Arius you’ve come for me.”