CHAPTER 4
Axel
F
or once, Tobias’s heavy-lidded eyes were wide in his pale face, his back straight as he stared at Axel. “You can’t be serious. They’ve taken action?”
Axel glanced over his shoulder, verifying that Katy was still chatting with his mother, before angling his body away from the post-dinner mingling.
He kept his posture relaxed and his head at a normal distance from his friend.
Lowering his voice, he scolded, “Relax, Tobias. Your body language is loudly declaring your concern.”
The other young man slowly dropped back into his usual slouch, lifting the glass that had drifted to his waist. The motion was forced, but at least his face was hidden from most of the guests, and he looked more natural than before. “But the council. They’re really going to make an issue over it?”
“It’s only rumbling still,” Axel replied. He swirled his own glass. Unlike the amber liquid in Tobias’s, the liquid in Axel’s glass was clear. Drinking mainly water was frowned upon, but he preferred to keep his wits about him. He was more likely to slip up when dulled by spirits.
Besides, he had never cared for the taste of wine.
“Rumbling isn’t good, either,” Tobias pointed out. “Today’s rumbling is tomorrow’s proposal.”
“I know. That’s why I need your father to put pressure on the grumblers.” Axel took a long sip from his glass, casting his eyes around the room to ensure they were still sufficiently separate from the group. “His influence should help curb the worst of it.”
Tobias frowned into his glass. “If he’ll do it.”
“If?” Axel replied sharply. His eyes darted over. “He’s not—”
He cut off when a hand slipped into his elbow, sliding over the thin fabric of his sleeve in a caress before squeezing once. “Hello, Tobias. What are you two chatting about over here?”
Tobias glanced at Katy before meeting Axel’s eyes. Axel gave him a subtle head shake, trusting that Katy would stay focused on his friend as she waited for an answer. “Boring nobility stuff.”
“Is that so?” Katy narrowed her eyes. “You both seemed quite invested for ‘boring nobility stuff.’”
Instead of replying, Tobias looked at Axel again and took a sip from his glass. Axel would have appreciated some assistance, but as the prince and Katy’s husband, it was only natural that the decision fell to him.
Especially since it was his decision to keep it from her.
“You know me, my love,” he said with a broad smile. Settling his hand over hers, he continued, “I am incapable of doing anything halfway, whether performing an elaborate song and dance at a musical soirée or discussing mundane items that are unfortunately necessary to the realm of royals.”
“You’re hiding something,” she accused, her suspicious brown eyes skewering him. “I know your tells, too.”
“What reason would I have to keep something from you?” Axel resisted the impulse to press a hand to his chest; it would further convince her of his deception. “I know well how you dislike dishonesty.”
She did. If she ever found out, he was going to be in deep trouble.
“That’s a good question. I’ve always thought you were smarter than that.”
Tobias raised an eyebrow behind Katy’s back.
Not wanting to draw her attention to him, Axel kept his focus on his wife and ignored his friend’s silent communication.
“I believe my father would dispute your understanding of my intelligence. If he could, I am sure he would put you on the throne in my place.”
“Isn’t he?” Tobias murmured against his glass.
“Isn’t he what?”
Tobias gestured toward Katy with his drink. “He let you marry her, didn’t he?”
Chuckling at his friend’s reply, Axel opened his mouth to respond when another voice broke into their conversation. “Your Highnesses! I was hoping to catch up to you.”
The thin, wheedling voice instantly sobered him. Katy dropped his arm as they turned together to face the last person he wanted to see today. Or any day, for that matter.
“Lord Ulrich,” Axel stated flatly.
“So delighted to see you again, Your Highnesses,” the advisor said, his lanky, shoulder-length brown hair swaying as he waddled up to them.
Axel fought to keep his jaw from tightening at the other man’s mocking grin. He refused to give Lord Ulrich the satisfaction. “What do you want?”
Katy, usually the firebrand in the royal family, pinched her eyebrows together before turning to their visitor. “Can we help you?” she asked politely.
“I wished to extend my congratulations for your wedding anniversary,” he replied smoothly. “I know it is belated, but allow me to offer my best wishes for many more happy years for the two of you.”
“Thank you,” Katy acknowledged when Axel remained silent. She shot him a questioning look, but he kept his glare on the advisor. He couldn’t bring himself to answer that—that—
“It’s been, what? Five years now?” Lord Ulrich continued, a sickly-sweet tone oiling his voice. Axel clenched a fist at his side when the man shot Katy a smug expression; she didn’t need more pressure.
Instead of getting angry, Katy smiled sweetly back. “That’s right. It’s so reassuring to know that King Steffan’s advisors can count that high.”
Lord Ulrich’s face dropped into a scowl for a moment, and Axel relaxed a little. There was his feisty Katy.
The advisor soon recovered, pasting a smile on once more.
It was as fake as the one Axel would have worn, could he have mustered it.
“Indeed. To commemorate the occasion, I have a gift for you.” Reaching into a pocket of his waistcoat, the short man drew out a small linen bag.
He held it out, letting it swing from the drawstring.
Axel stared at the nobleman, ignoring the bag. He didn’t want anything Lord Ulrich had to offer.
“Aren’t you going to take it?”
Katy’s concerned eyes tickled the side of his face with their gaze, but Axel maintained eye contact with his father’s advisor, his shoulders stiff and straight. Behind him, Tobias shifted his feet but swirled his glass and said nothing.
Axel’s father was the king. The nobles bowed to him, not the other way around.
Unfortunately, it was a balancing act, and it was unwise at this moment to upset this particular noble. And from the smirk on his face, Lord Ulrich knew that Axel knew it.
Finally, Axel snatched the bag, grabbing the drawstring just above the closed mouth. “Fine,” he snarled, still glaring.
“We thank you,” Katy supplied, watching Axel from the corner of her eye. She gave Lord Ulrich a slight smile as she placed a hand on Axel’s upper arm and squeezed. Her fingers dug in, reminding him that he should be gracious, so he managed a thin smile.
The advisor’s grin stretched to reveal his teeth. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
Not if he could help it. Axel wanted to throw it in the nearest garbage bin and forget it existed.
The hand on his arm tightened before Katy reached over and extracted the bag from his grip. Their roles had reversed, it seemed; he was being hot-headed, and she was performing the function of diplomat.
Since when did she know how to be diplomatic? And why was she wasting the effort on the infuriating lord in front of them?
“Oh!” Katy’s soft exclamation drew his eyes to her. In her hands was a small, detailed wood carving of a dragon, its wings extended as if preparing to take flight. It was incredibly lifelike.
As they looked at it, her hands began to shake, and she shoved it back into the bag.
One of the wings caught on the edge, but she jabbed it free with a pointed finger.
She ran a hand over her hair before giving Lord Ulrich a weak grin.
“Thank you,” she said again, pursing her lips and swaying backward. “It’s—it’s, um—”
“Is there a problem over here?”
The tension in Axel’s shoulders lessened when Lord Ulrich’s smile faltered at the stern voice behind them. It shouldn’t take a guard to make a nobleman back down from a prince, but Axel was thankful for the assistance.
“Ah, yes, how are you, Sir Otto?” Lord Ulrich greeted, a slight sneer in his voice as he turned his attention to the newcomer. “The fortunate cousin of the crown princess.”
“Head guardian of the crown princess, I think you mean,” Otto corrected, taking a step forward and resting one hand on the hilt of his sword. His blue eyes were as cold as the steel under his hand.
This was where Katy usually chimed in with a cheery, Now, now, Otto, play nice. But she stood silently, holding the linen bag by its drawstring and eyeing it like a snake that might bite. The expression on her face made Axel wonder if she was about to be sick.
“Naturally,” Lord Ulrich replied. His lip curled, but he turned his attention to Katy and said, “If I may make a suggestion, it would look lovely on your fireplace mantle.” Then with a slight bow, he gave them one last smirk and walked away.
“Are you all right, Kat?” Otto asked in an undertone.
Ceasing his glare at the retreating advisor’s back, Axel looked at his wife. She was shaking again. First researching myths, then diplomatic, now quivering because of a wooden dragon?
“I’ll be fine. How do we get rid of this thing?” she asked as she held it away by two fingers.
Otto reached out, but Axel beat him to it. Plucking the drawstring from Katy’s grasp, he said, “I’ll take care of it. If word gets back to Lord Ulrich that his present left with one of our guards, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
The bag hung lightly from his fingers, but a weight settled in his mind. Now that the annoying advisor wasn’t staring him down, Axel found himself surprisingly eager to examine the little dragon. It may have come from Lord Ulrich, but that didn’t make it dangerous. Just annoying.
But well-crafted, if his quick look had been accurate.
Loosening the drawstring, he was about to tip it into his hand when Katy’s sharp voice stopped him. “Don’t touch it!”
He looked up, startled, with his upturned hand frozen under the bag. “What?”
“What’s wrong, Kat?” Her cousin’s eyes darted between Katy and the small bag that was now in Axel’s hand.
“Clearly, she suspects our dear friend of nefarious intentions,” Tobias’s lazy voice murmured. When Axel looked up at him, Tobias simply raised an eyebrow and took another sip of his drink.
“Promise me you won’t touch it,” Katy pled, watching him with desperate eyes.
“But why?” It was just a piece of wood.
She took a step closer. Glancing at Tobias and Otto, she leaned in and put her lips next to his ear. “Because I think—when I touched it, I felt—” She took a deep breath. “According to what I read, magic-users can bind a spell to objects. I think that—”
“Katy.” Facing her, he gripped her shoulders, concerned by her new obsession. The bag swung against her arm, and she shuddered. “Magic is not real. You don’t need to worry.”
The desperation didn’t leave her eyes. “Promise me, Axel. Please.”
It was silly, but— “Fine,” he sighed, squeezing her shoulders. “I promise not to touch it.”
~
Since Katy seemed afraid of Lord Ulrich’s gift, Axel walked her to their study before heading to his suite to dispose of the little dragon.
It settled deeper into his mind as he walked. Strange that Katy had such a strong reaction to it. He hadn’t been thrilled to accept it, but she hadn’t appeared to care when it was first offered.
Pulling it from his pocket, he passed the bag from one hand to the other. The linen was a fine weave, almost smooth, like silk under his fingers. The delicate edges of the carving created hard spots around pockets of empty space.
He rubbed a finger across one of the edges.
He’d promised Katy he wouldn’t touch it.
He didn’t think it was necessary, but it was important to her.
So he wasn’t going to touch it, but…he felt an overwhelming urge to look at it one more time.
He hadn’t been able to examine the details while Katy held it.
For a moment, as Axel closed the door of his suite behind himself, he wondered at his desire. He hadn’t even wanted it; why was he now so eager to keep it?
He shook his head. It didn’t matter; he had taken it so he could get rid of it.
Gripping it by the drawstring, he strode determinedly to the fireplace on the far side of the room, swung the bag…and tossed it onto the mantlepiece.
He shook his head again, twisting it sideways as he fought himself. He was going to burn it.
One look couldn’t hurt.
No. It was going in the fire.
He reached out to pick up the bag but loosened the drawstring instead. Grabbing the bottom of the bag, he carefully shook the dragon out onto the narrow stone slab, leaning closer to examine it.
The detail was amazing. Tiny ridges had been carved into the back for scales, and the bones stood out on the extended wings, causing the appearance of an actual membrane stretched between them.
Four little spikes stuck out from the end of its curled tail, and even its small mouth, wide open in fury, had miniature sharp-looking teeth lining the jaw.
“Incredible,” he murmured. It looked like it could come to life at any moment.
Unfortunately, incredible or not, it had to go. He didn’t want anything from Lord Ulrich. Besides, it made Katy nervous.
Nervous? Terrified.
Fetching tools for starting a fire, he knelt on the hearth and prepared a small blaze. It wasn’t entirely proper to do it himself, but as long as he cleaned the ash from his trouser knees, no one would ever know.
Now came the tricky part. Axel rose to his feet and picked up the bag, turning it inside out over his fingers. Gripping the dragon through the linen, he worked the bag back over it.
It occurred to him that the dragon didn’t have to be in the bag to burn…and then his hand brushed against it.