Chapter 51
AXE
Dinner has been sent to our guest suite in the lodgings adjacent to the capital building.
Vessa takes only three bites, though I can hardly blame her for her lack of appetite.
If we were in Yinsew under different circumstances, I would take her to my favorite rooftop restaurant to watch the sunset.
Perhaps even stop by the Old Candor to see a play.
All I want is for her to lift her gaze to me without shame, because it damn near kills me. I don’t have the heart to tell her what I’m prepared to accept—that I’m not getting off clean this time. To think I just got her back . . .
You need to tell her, my wolf urges. It’s time.
Today took a lot out of her, I counter. It’s too heavy of a burden.
How much longer must I listen to these cowardly excuses?
I shake him off, crossing the kitchenette to join Vessa in the bathroom where she readies for bed, slipping out of her pantsuit.
A humming rage rises in my chest. Bruises on her ribs and stomach have faded to abhorrent blue-green splotches.
Puncture wounds on her thighs have scabbed over with red-black rings.
If you let this moment be defined by anger, you will regret it, the wolf interjects. I’ll be damned if that isn’t the most ironic thing I’ve ever heard him say.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, I want you to know—" I halt.
I can’t do this. If I tell her how I feel, how I’ve felt since the day I met her, surely, she’ll be marked for death.
Just like everyone else I cared too deeply for.
To think she would even reciprocate . . .
Why would she after I let the most precious thing I’ve ever held slip between my fingers?
After my careless actions got her tortured, violated, and nearly killed?
“Yes?” Vessa whispers. All the stars of the universe are in her eyes, flickering with hope.
“I want you to know that I’m so proud of you for standing your ground. No matter what comes down on us tomorrow, I won’t let any harm come to you.”
“I know,” she whispers, looping her arms around my waist. “I’m all yours,” she murmurs against my chest. “No vampire, no ruling, no distance between us will ever change that.”
Three little words. That’s all you have to say.
I ignore my wolf’s exasperated sigh, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Goddess give me the strength to keep from sneaking out tonight and slitting Preston’s throat.”
Idiot! the beast implodes.
"He lost his daughter. Hasn't he suffered enough?"
Blinking, it hits me that she may have a point. My eyes pan down to her neck. “Your mark. Looks like it’s finally healing.”
Vessa inhales sharply. “He was trying to remove it.”
Fists curling at my sides, I watch her shuffle to the bed, pulling back the covers. “Those pricks didn’t deserve the mercy of your bullets.”
Vessa slips under the sheets, staring at the floor. Fuck. This is not what I want going through her mind just before she goes to sleep.
I ruffle my hair, tossing a pair of couch pillows on the carpet. “Sorry. I’ll just—"
“Will you hold me tonight?”
The request is simple yet drenched in sorrow.
“Of course,” I answer. Stepping to the edge of the bed, I remove my suit jacket, shirt, then my pants until I’m left standing in my boxers.
I lift the top sheet to join her. I almost swear out loud, realizing how much she’s physically caved in over the last week and a half.
How much color has drained from her cheeks.
She survived, the wolf reminds me. Be grateful.
Vessa brings her fingers to my chest, tracing over the V that she engraved. A single tear drifts down her cheek. I catch it with the pad of my thumb, erasing it. Something else is weighing on her. Not a grievance, but a lingering fear that hums through our bond.
Nuzzling her face against my chest, she finally stills. My arms close around her, securing her there. Exactly where she belongs.
Vessa
Naomi unrolls a scroll that rests on the grand podium. "Vespera Lemaire, will you please stand before the Council?"
The regent’s brow is creased. For a moment, she hesitates, staring at the ruling distastefully. Several of her colleagues share the same expression.
"You will receive no disciplinary action for your role in the lives you took while defending yourself against those who participated in your assault and kidnapping.”
I expel an enormous sigh of relief.
"However," she continues, "given the revelation of your .
. . alleged identity, the Council recognizes that we now have something our enemies would kill to possess.
You may not be lycan by blood, but you are still subjected to our laws.
Your title will remain in place, though if you fail to uphold your duties, it will be removed without chance for appeal.
You will be watched carefully in the coming months, Vessa.
Don't try to make anything other than an ally out of us.
You will need us, should the Blood Master bring war to Immaren.
Now that he knows where to find you, we would urge you to start making preparations. "
"Thank you," I breathe.
"You are dismissed," she says, then redirects. "Aleksandr Skornokovy, please stand before the Council."
Axe does as she commands, lifting his head high.
"Commander Skornokovy has been spared losing his title and his mate's joint authority. Given his active probation and now a third consecutive violation against the Maxim Minora, the Council is issuing an official suspension. Aleksandr, you are hereby sentenced to one hundred and twenty days of internment at Basza Kovityk.”
Axe's nostrils flare.
Probation? What probation?
"This decision is entirely unanimous."
Nell bites her lip. "This is bad. Really bad."
Jabir scoffs. "Four months is nothing."
His mate stammers. "Not on the eastern barriers of Dyvron, it isn't. That’s where the most heinous criminals from all five continents are shipped away. Basza Kovityk . . . it means soul breaker.”
Axe takes a step forward, his face impossible to read. "When do I leave?"
Naomi opens her mouth, but Cecily answers for her. "Given the ordeal your mate has recently experienced and the likely threat of vampire retaliation, we have decided to be lenient, allowing Bleeding Sun the necessary time to adjust."
They are to send word on his arraignment no later than the summer solstice. Only two months, at best.
"This is bullshit," Dominik protests.
"I-I don't understand," I stutter. "Why not serve his sentence in Alban?”
Dominik’s eyes ripple with fear. "They're sending him to that hellhole for a reason. They don't want his blood on their hands. They want to strip him of control. To suffer knowing that he's leaving his pack vulnerable. Leaving you."
"Half of those prisoners are there because of us." Nell’s voice trembles. Jabir wraps his arm around her consolingly, though he hardens his gaze at the regent.
Air dies in my lungs as I stagger back a step, finally coming to grips with what no one dares to say aloud. Axe is being sent there to die.
Anger scorches my veins, rushing up to my heart. Pulse thumping in my ears, I race to the podium. To Axe.
My cry rings out like a thunderstrike. “You can’t do this!”
Naomi scolds me. “This decision is final. As Luna Superior, I would advise you to—” She cuts herself short.
Cecily leans forward, her entire face drained of color. “Goddess above . . .”
Axe pulls me to his side, hands sliding up my arms. “Vessa. Look at me.”
Slowly, I raise my chin. Sapphire eyes widen with astonishment. He cups the back of my head. “Do you feel any different?”
All I feel is icy rage, swirling within my chest. In my periphery, the entire panel of councilmen reel in shock. Some jaws hang open; others have risen out of their seats.
“Mother help us,” one of the eldest councilmen murmurs.
Cecily barrels down the steps. She stops two feet from where Axe and I stand, careful not to make any attempt to come between us. I glance down at my arms. My skin has drastically lightened, casting a shimmering, milky glow.
Impossible.
“Your eyes,” Axe breathes, his voice merely a whisper. “Vessa, your eyes are white as death.”