Chapter 50 Axel #3
He was stiff as he reached for her arms and pulled her off him, gently shoving her back a few steps. His lips curled back as he said, “I didn’t come for you. I only came to say goodbye.”
Because at the end of the day, she was still his mother.
“Say goodbye?” she cried. “What do you mean?”
“You kept things from Theon. From me. You betrayed Arius Kingdom and tried to have Tessa killed,” Axel said coldly.
“I was forced to keep those secrets,” she argued. “And betraying Arius Kingdom? I was betraying your father, not the kingdom. Do you know what he did to me?”
“I do,” he answered. “I’m sorry you had to endure that.”
“You’re sorry?” she repeated, her features turning cold and angry. “As if that changes anything.”
“It doesn’t. I know that.”
“I suppose I should be grateful. After all, I got you in the end, right?”
“I could never replace another child,” he replied.
“That’s not what your father said,” she sneered. “A male. A spare heir. I should be honored to provide such a thing after giving him such a disappointment the first time.”
“But you never really loved me, did you?” he asked.
She lifted her chin. “I did what I could.”
“You tolerated me. Used me as a weapon against Valter and Theon. Favored me out of spite,” Axel continued, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
She was quiet, and when that silence stretched on for nearly two minutes, when she refused to look at him, he knew he was right.
“I have a son,” he said, and her head snapped up, emerald eyes wide.
“What?” she gasped. “I have a grandson?”
“One that you will never lay eyes on,” he replied. “Because you will remain here. For the rest of your days.”
“I am your mother,” she cried, lurching forward and clutching at his arm. “You can’t leave me here!”
“My mother was kept locked in the Underground for nearly a decade,” Axel snarled, once again removing her hands from his body. “She has held my son. She has rocked him to sleep. She is the only reason you are not in the After.”
“You cannot leave me here!” Cressida cried again as Axel turned away.
He knocked twice, the door opening a moment later, and as he stepped through the door, he looked over his shoulder one last time. “Goodbye, Cressida.”
He could still hear her furious cries echoing while Kyra’s Source led him back out of the small incarceration unit, and when they stepped out in the daylight once more, he reached for his hood again.
“Dey? I didn’t know you were going to be here,” the Fae male said, and Axel turned to see who he was talking to.
Dark red hair was cut to her shoulders, bangs touching brows over emerald green eyes.
In fitted pants and a shirt, she had daggers strapped to her thighs.
She’d clearly been trained to fight. Her eyes were narrowed, studying him, and he didn’t need the shadows drifting around her to know who she was.
Knew she was five years older than he was, weeks younger than Theon.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he stayed put, waiting for her to make the first move.
She stepped up on the first stair, stilling once more. “You’re her son?” she asked.
“She birthed me,” he replied. “But I don’t claim her as my mother.”
The female didn’t respond. Only studied him more, and he didn’t care.
He’d long since stopped caring what other people thought of him.
He had a family he’d kill for, and an Underground full of people in his care.
If his sister decided she wanted nothing to do with him, it’d hurt, but he’d move on. He’d understand.
“Aiyana told me of you,” she finally said, moving up another step.
“I’ve been told of you as well,” he replied. “But I’m guessing you’ve known of me far longer than I’ve known of you.”
“Probably,” she answered, venturing another stair closer. “You were speaking to her?”
“For the last time,” he said, watching the mist of shadows trail her. “Have you met her?”
She nodded. “Once.”
“And?”
Her lips thinned. “She took one look at my shadows and cried. Sobbed about what her life should have been to have produced an Arius heir.”
“Her life?” Axel questioned.
“You heard me.”
He huffed a laugh of disbelief. “Yeah, that tracks for her.” He tipped his head, studying her. “And now?”
She was still four steps down from him, spine ridged. “Aiyana will return to her sons, and I…” She shrugged.
Axel took a step down this time. “What do you want to do? Stay here?”
Her hands clenched at her sides, and he knew what she was going to say before she said the words.
“I’ve been forced to stay hidden here,” she replied.
“Valter is dead. No longer the Arius Lord,” Axel said. “Would you like to see the rest of the realm?”
Her shadows thickened, caressing her in a way they used to do to him. “Your brother won’t consider me a threat?”
“He’s not the ruler, and even if he was, no. He wouldn’t, and he wouldn’t be a threat to you.”
“I’ve heard…things. About him. And you,” she ventured, her nerves finally flickering in her eyes.
“Most are true,” he conceded. “But much has changed too.”
She remained quiet, features hard.
“Think about it?” he said, jogging past her down the stairs. “I have to get back to my wife and son, but when you’re ready, we’ll be waiting.”
“You have a wife and son?” she called after him.
He paused, turning to walk backwards down the street. “I do.”
“What are their names?”
“Kat and Maddox. What’s yours?” he tossed back.
It was small, but her lips curved up at the corners. “Kasdeya, but everyone calls me Dey.”
“Let me know when you’re ready,” he repeated. “Mads will need someone to teach him to wield his shadows when the time comes.”
“Me?” she asked, her brows flying up.
He shrugged. “Who better than family?”
Her power writhed beside her until a panther of shadows took shape. He grinned, and she smirked back. And in that moment, he knew they’d see her again.