“It’s a good thing you know a witch you can ask, then.” His lips twitched and I rolled my eyes.
I didn’t need a reason to see Nick again, besides wanting to, but this was a legitimate reason to talk to him as soon as we returned through the gateway. “I want to talk to Zane again too.”
“Funny how you didn’t think it was him I was referring to.” His teasing expression morphed into something a little more serious and I braced myself.
“Be careful, D. I like Nick, a lot. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt over this.”
I waved him off. “I’ve known him a week. Calm down.”
“And yet your magic reached out to his and broke a punishment spell performed by the fucking witches’ council.”
My eyes snapped to his, mouth open in shock, becauseChlah Ferath.
“Fuck.” Axel screwed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, they were full of apology. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. You know I would never do it on purpose, but your thoughts were just soloudwhen I picked you up from Nick’s.”
The initial flare of anger fizzled to nothing as I watched the emotions play across his face. Ididknow Axel. Knew that his control was limited in the human realm and that he would never delve into my thoughts without my permission.
Never.
“Why didn’t you tell me before now?”
“Because you didn’t want to share a secret that wasn’t yours to tell, and I didn’t want you to know that inadvertently, you already had.” He gripped the back of my neck. “Because I knew you’d feel guilty.”
He was right. I did feel guilty.
“And you shouldn’t because it’s not your fault I can’t control my magic over there.”
“It’s not yours either.”
He shrugged but didn’t correct me.
Progress.
“I won’t tell anyone,” he added quickly. “I have no interactions with the witches’ council, and I couldn’t care less about keeping this from them. If I’m honest, I’m glad you broke that fucking spell. It sounds barbaric.”
“I didn’t exactly break it. Just shaved a year off the sentence.” I bit my lip. Now Axel knew, or now that I was aware of it, would it hurt to tell him the whole story? He pretty much knew the important parts. “He had a nine-year sentence, with three years left on it. After we had sex, it changed to two.”
Axel stared at me for a good few seconds, and I saw him warring with the need to comment. Laughter filled his eyes, chasing away the seriousness of a moment ago.
“Just say it and get it over with.”
“You really do have a magical dick.” He held up his hands. “Sorry, sorry, but I couldn’t not.”
I huffed, but Axel sobered pretty quickly.
“All joking aside, what happened?”
“I don’t actually know.” I’d gone over it and over it in my mind, but sometimes magic was just unpredictable. “Like I said before. Neither of us are shifters. We don’t have fated mates.”
Axel hummed, tapping his chin with a finger. “You could ask Sarhin. She married Nathan Calder, after all, and persuaded the high court to let him live here. There must be more to that story than is widely known.”
It was tempting. I wanted to understand why my magic reacted to Nick’s in the way it did, but… “If I ask her, then she’ll know about me and Nick. I don’t want to risk the high court replacing me because they think my focus is elsewhere.”
“You make a good point.”
I was saved from further discussion by the arrival of Gabriel.
He looked… happy. That was the best way to describe him. So happy that I immediately felt bad for dragging him away from what was obviously a good visit with his mum.
