Chapter 45

My attention is jolted as Alessandra strides into the room, Ingrid by her side. My heart sinks at the sight of Kollis, his aura darkening as the two women approach. Alessandra's eyes burn with fury, directed solely at Kollis, who smirks back at her, taunting her.

I feel Axe rise beside me, mirroring my confusion and suspicion. "Is everything all right, Alessandra?" he asks, his voice low.

But before she can respond, I sense something strange in the air, a subtle shift in Alessandra's aura. "Axe, something's not right," I warn him quietly. "There's something off about her aura."

"What do you mean?" Axe whispers back, his brow furrowed.

"I don't know," I reply, my eyes fixed on Alessandra as she confronts Kollis. "But it's been tampered with."

Ingrid stepped forward, her expression grave. "Axe, we need to tell you something about Kollis."

I stand up, inching my way around Axe to watch a look of fury come over Kollis' face.

Axe grips the sides of his chair until his knuckles turn white and looks over at Beliard who immediately shuts all of the doors leading out of the dining hall.

Without another word, Ingrid and Alessandra approached Axe and place their hands on his temples. A moment later, Axe was surrounded by a rush of images and sensations, memories that weren't his own flooding into his mind. Through are mindlink I watched the events in the garden play out. Anger like I haven't felt in a long time takes over me.

"How dare you! " I hiss at Kollis. That wiped the smirk right off his face.

"I...I have no what you are talking about" he stammers out, trying to appear confident, but failing miserably. The slimeball thought he was going to get a way with this.

Axe calls his blade to his hand, slicing it through the air. "Guards, grab him!" I hear him say behind me.

I slowly advance around the head of the table. Fury builds in my body. He turns to leave, but notices all of his exits are blocked. I can see the change in him instantly. He's preparing to fight. Good. I've been itching for a fight with this bastard.

Kollis stands at one end of the dining hall, his hands crackling with red energy as he prepares to strike. I stand on the other end, my hands glowing with a variety of elemental magics. The room has descended into chaos. Chairs are scrapped back from tables as they scramble to get out of the way. Axe runs behind me, trying to force me away, but I put my hand on his to push him back.

Kollis spoke first, his voice carrying across the room. "You are outmatched, Velvet. You know that, right?"

I don't respond, instead focusing my attention on the task at hand. I had trained for this moment and I'm determined not to let Kollis get the best of me.

With a wave of his hand, Kollis sent a wave of red energy hurtling towards me. I respond in kind, sending a wall of fire to intercept the attack. The two energies collided in the center of the room, sending sparks flying in all directions. A leaping arch of pure magic shimmers in the air above us.

Kollis launches a barrage of red energy attacks while I counter with a combination of wind, water, and earth magic. The dining hall was transformed into a battlefield, with tables and chairs upended and shattered and the walls cracked and scorched. Axe situates himself beside me as he adds his own magic to the fray. He barely misses Kollis who leaps out of the way at the last second.

Despite Kollis' power, I refuse to back down. I could feel the energy coursing through my body, and with each passing moment, I grow stronger. With a fierce determination that wells up inside my soul, I combine all of the elements of magic, creating a glowing white and blue tinged stream, I use my hands to manipulate it into a giant orb. Kollis stops his attacks momentarily to gape at my creation before starting his attack with a more gusto. Axe adds in his own power to my orb. It's now a living thing, so hot that I can feel the heat engulf me.

"I'm going to do something I should have done at that first dinner, Kollis. I'm going to turn you into a sorch mark on the floor. I'm going to erase you from history." I seethe. I breathe deep and throw the energy ball straight at his chest. It finds its mark and an loud explosion rocks the hall. Axe shields my body from the blast. My ears are ringing painfully, Axe tries his best to cover them with his hands. When the magic dispels, I gingerly look over to where Kollis stood and just like I said, he's nothing more than a sorch mark on the marble floor.

As the other guests start to gather around us, I hear their low murmurs, and my anger begins to fade, replaced by a sense of dread. The reality of what I've just done is setting in. I've never killed anyone before, and I never wanted to. Does this make me a monster?

Axe senses my inner turmoil and speaks up, "Do not blame yourself. He deserved to die. If you had not done it, I was more than willing to do it myself."

His words bring some comfort, but I still feel the weight of the situation on my shoulders. Alessandra and Ingrid are hovering in the back, their concerned gazes fixed on me. They see me as a porcelain doll on the brink of breaking, not the person who just unleashed a torrent of magic.

*Can we go, please?* I ask, trying to escape the uncomfortable situation.

Axe wordlessly swings me up into his arms and carries me out of the dining hall. My mind is racing, and my heart is heavy. Despite the satisfaction of taking down Kollis, I can't shake this hollow feeling inside me.

"You know, I almost stepped in to save the day." He says suddenly.

"Oh is that so?"

"That was until you pulled my magic into yours."

"I did? I thought you lent it to me."

Chuckling Axe looks down at me "No my love, you ripped it right out of my fingertips. I was shocked, but kept summoning it for your use."

"Hm, I don't remember it that way. I recall very clearly that you gave it to me" I tease back.

Axe takes me to his room, or really mine too and gently lays me on the bed. I can hear the sound of thunder in the distance. Axe opens the balcony door to let the rain scented breeze waft into the room. I kick my shoes off while Axe undoes the lacing on my dress. I discard it before slipping beneath the covers and meeting Axe in the middle of the bed.

"I feel almost sick to my stomach thinking about what he did to Alessandra. I tried to warn her before."

"I did not want to discuss this yet, but I had been following Kollis. I knew he was an underling with a master. I was hoping he would lead me right to him."

"What the hell Axe? Why didn't you tell me? I thought this whole time you didn't take me seriously."

"I did take you seriously. Probably too serious. If I would have told you, you would have doubled down on your efforts to follow him and I could not take that chance. Bailard agreed with me."

"SoBailard was in on this too? You two caveman thought it was fine to leave me in the dark." I say with anger.

"Velvet, if I would have told you that I was following Kollis and looking for his High Mage, what would you have done?"

I stay silent, because he knows exactly what I would have done. "Whatever" I grumble. I'm not giving him the satisfaction of being right.

Axe just grins at me and pulls me deeper into his arms.

"So what now? If Kollis is dead than how are we going to find this High Mage?"

"There is no 'we' finding a High Mage. To answer your question I have a direction of where to go. He gave us just enough to start our seach in ernest now."

I don't argue with him but if thinks I'm sitting on the sidelines while he gets to be inspector gadget over here, he's wrong.

"I do not think you are going to sit on the sidelines, but in order to keep you safe I am not giving you clues."

I slap him on the chest "Stop reading my mind."

He just smirks. "Go to sleep Velvet. I can feel your exhaustion."

"Fine, but I'm going to sleep because I want to, not because you told me too." I try to hide my smile. I can always count on him to take care of me.

"Always and forever."