Chapter 120
Chapter 120
Elvira
I try not to think about the pie. I fail within ten steps.
Liora keeps snorting beside me like she is going to choke on air. Every time she glances at me, she loses the fight again.
“Please stop,” I mutter.
“I cannot,” she says, wiping a fake tear. “You pied Selene. That is art.”
“It was gravity,” I say. “And my terrible coordination.”
“Which is sometimes art,” she says cheerfully, and pushes open a set of glass doors. “Come here. Distraction time.”
The room smells like crushed flowers and silk. There are also tall mirrors, racks of gowns that look like they have their own opinions. Threads float in the air like lazy fireflies. This place is infused with fae magic, and it all belongs to my new friend. I am… impressed.
“Welcome to my studio,” Liora says, spreading her arms like a magician. “Try anything. Touch everything. If a sash bites you, swat it.”
I stand in the middle like a scared tree. “Anything?” I look around, then panic. “No. I can’t wear anything that’s in here. These dresses are too nice!”
“That’s the point! You are not wearing a haunted potato sack tonight. If you want to win Axel’s ass, then you need to look good!”
“But these dresses are too fabulous!” I argue, but damn, I’m weak. I’m already pulling my hair up, already letting her turn me toward a mirror. I do not love my reflection, but I do not hate it today either. That feels like progress.
“See! You’re smiling already! Just watch it grow bigger while I work!“.
Liora’s hands are fast. Fabric floats from a rack and drapes itself over my shoulder. Another length of silver tulle winds around my waist like a quiet sea. I do not know the names for the details. All I know is that I look softer, more beautiful in her colors.
She steps back, humming. “Blonde… Pale skin… Medium height… We could do frost silk with a midnight underskirt. Or mirror lace with smoke. Your eyes will burn the room down.”
“My eyes hurt in bright rooms,” I say, because honesty is a reflex when I am nervous.
“Then we move the light where you want it,” she says. “You are the event, not the room.”
tam almost smiling at that when a shadow fills the doorway.
“Delivery,” Axel says.
My spine does the thing. My pulse does jumping jacks. I look at him in the mirror, and then I have to look away because he is still shirtless, still looking like a daydream, and still smelling like every freaking wish that I’ve ever had.
Liora brightens like she planned this. “Captain. What a coincidence.”
“Hi,” he says to her, but his eyes find me in the mirror. “You dropped this.”
He tosses me a hairclip. I catch it.
“Thanks,” I say, already putting it around my arm.
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Chapter 120
“You’re welcome.”
Nothing more is shared, but Axel doesn’t leave. His gaze rakes the half–built dress, the silver on my shoulder, the way my hair is pinned. I forget to breathe until he clears his throat and looks away.
“You are going to break necks,” he says lightly.
“Do not flirt in my studio unless you are prepared to buy a necklace,” Liora says without looking up. “Compliments cost/
Axel’s mouth tilts. “Since I’m not going anywhere, you could charge me later?”
“Gladly,” she says, and starts pinning something at my waist. “Stand still or I will stab you, Elvira.”
I stand very still, self–conscious because Axel hasn’t looked away. Then, when Liora walks to get something, he moves closer.
“You okay?”
“Yes,” I say too quickly. Then, “No…”
His eyes soften. “Which mood is real?”
“The ‘no‘ is my real mood,” I admit. “I’m not fine.”
Pain flickers over his handsome face, and then it looks like he wants to say more. Before he can, we are interrupted by the scent of Selene. We
both turn around, and there she is, charging into Liora’s studio while followed by two fae women.
“Captain,” she purrs. “You missed final drills.”
“More like I skipped them,” Axel says.
“Skipped them? Oh.” She looks unsure for a moment, then smiles brighter. “If you skipped them because you aren’t feeling well, then maybe it will cheer you up to hear that I’m more than willing to be your choice for the ball pairing.”
“What pairings?” I ask before I can stop myself.
Selene’s gaze slides to me. It is a slow rake. I feel my face heat like I got caught stealing a crown.
“The King may open the dance with a chosen circle,” she says. “Most Guard officers are chosen to be in that circle. It is tradition.”
“That means that whoever Axel chooses as his ball partner will get special enchantment privileges,” one of her friends adds. “Safety sigils. Ward marks. Extra glamours.”
Selene tips her head. “And obviously, I want that.”
Liora shoots me a look that says, “You hear that, right? If Axel asks you to be his partner, then you’re safe in the Dream Court.”
I’m about to give her a look back, but Axel speaks before I even can think.
“I wasn’t going to ask you, Selene,” he says. “Elvira is my partner.”
Silence. Then sound returns like a dropped tray.
Liora whistles under her breath. Selene’s smile thins until it almost slices. Then she speaks, but it is so obviously forced.
“That is… generous,” Selene says. “Considering.”
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Chapter 120
“Considering what?” Axel asks.
“Considering she is still learning which fork to use,” she says sweetly. “And the Court is easily scandalized.”
Something sharp lights behind my ribs. Shame tries to jump in. I do not let it. I keep my chin up and find my mouth.
“I can learn,” I say. “I am a fast study when people aren’t openly underestimating me.”
Liora chokes on a laugh. Axel’s eyes glint. Selene’s friends bristle. Selene does not blink.
“How quaint,” she says, then turns to Axel. “We should discuss your patrol orders.”
“Later,” he says. “I am busy right now.”
Her gaze goes to me again. It is colder now. “Try not to trip again, little wolf. You are not in the human rud anymore. The floor is made for people who belong.”
She glides out. Her perfume takes its time leaving, like it wants to be rude on her behalf.
Liora snorts. “I am making your dress brighter. Just to annoy her.”
“Do not fight her for me,” I say, even as my hands shake. “I can handle it.”
“I know you can,” Liora says. “It is more fun if I help.”
Axel is still watching me. His jaw is tight in a way that most people would miss. I know better. It means he is thinking with his fists.
“You do not have to be my partner for the night,” he says, soft and private. “If you hate the idea.”
A laugh escapes me that sounds a little broken. “You just declared it in front of your fan club.”
“I can undeclare,” he says. “Say I got confused by the pie fumes.”
I should say yes. Let him off the hook. Save myself the rumor storm. My mouth betrays me and says, “I do not hate it.”
He goes still. Then he smiles in that way that ruins reasonable thoughts.
“Good,” he says.
Liora claps once like a conductor. “Since Elvira is your partner for the ball, you need to gift her something.”
“Gift me something…?”
Axel reaches into his pocket to fish up a blue ring. Runes crawl over the magical rock like light trapped under ice.
“Tradition,” he says. “It lets everyone know that you belong to someone during the ball.”
He steps closer. I tilt my face without thinking. His fingers are careful under my jaw, and his smile is making me weak. Those lips twitch a
little, forming this gorgeous smile while the ring is placed on my finger by his manly fingers.
“Done,” Axel says. “Now you’re mine for the ball.” He pulls his hand back like it almost hurts to let go.
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I swallow. Do not swoon. Do not do anything stupid.
“Thank you,” I say, and then I ruin it by sounding like I mean it too much.
Chapter 120
He opens his mouth. The door opens first.
Eden steps in, braid high, eyes bright and a little worried. She pauses when she sees all three of us and takes in the scene before duty wins
“Azriel wants a security briefing in ten,” she says to Axel. “We had a ward flutter. The outer ring.”
His attention snaps to her like a switch. “North gate or east.”
“North,” she says. “It settled, but I want eyes.”
“I will take Beta Ryn and two from the third line,” he says. “I will check the towers on the way.”
She nods. Then she turns to me, and her face softens. “And you. Tell me if you want me to slap Selene later, I will do it during dessert
I huff. “You have a Queen title to uphold. I have Liora.”
“True,” Eden says. “She is more ruthless than me since it is allowed.”
Liora blows a kiss. “Confirmed.”
Eden reaches for my hand. Her fingers are cool, steadying. “Stay inside the inner ring after dusk,” she says quietly. “I do not want to scare you, but people here have been paid to know if our werewolf guest has your name.”
My stomach drops. “My name…?”
“Logan has paid people to find you. Or maybe it was Paris. Either way, there’s someone who didn’t like that you escaped the pack. It took a toll on their pride.”
“Sounds like Paris,” I say. “Not Logan.”
Eden squeezes once. “True. We don’t know yet, but… it does sound like her.”
Axel’s eyes flick between us. His mouth flattens. “I will assign someone to watch over you.”
“You will not,” I say fast. “I can protect myself.”
you have to do it alone.”
“I know you can,” he says, even softer. “But that doesn’t mean you h
いま
There it is. The part of him that I fell for. The caring and soft guy who would do anything to keep the ones he cares about safe.
“Fine,” I say, sighing. “Assign me a shadow. Not a babysitter.”
Axel snorts. “Easy. I will just assign myself.”
“What?!”
Liora nods at the window before I can say anything else. “You are both missing something.”
We look.
A stain blooms in the sky, and something falls through.
Axel moves first. His body is already between me and the windows before my brain catches up. He drags the curtain down with one sharp pull, throws it over us, then shouts toward the hall.
“Ward breach. Studio three.”
Chapter 120
The word breach makes the glass sing. Runes climb the walls. A sound like bells rings somewhere in my bones, it is too much like the lo time, and I feel my lungs misfire.
“Breathe,” Eden says in my ear. “If you don’t panic, Azriel’s magic won’t hurt you.”
I do what she says, and hate that I need her calming voice. I hate it even more that we are under attack, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I can do.
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