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“I’d die for you again. In a heartbeat,” Saint tells her. He sounds so intense, so earnest, that my breath catches.
It’s time to go. Leave them to it, Odi.
“What?” Lou gasps as I turn away, ready to make my way back to the party.
“Nothing. Forget I said anything. I’ll leave you to it.”
Shit! I don’t want to get caught eavesdropping.
I sprint back down the hallway to the main foyer, crashing into someone because I’m not looking where I’m going.
“What’s wrong, Odi?” Axel asks urgently. “Are you hurt? Did someone upset you?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. I just needed a minute.”
“I regret not telling you about Hector, before,” he says, making me frown. “What?”
I shake my head and sigh, but I’m trying to hide a smile. Axel is Axel. Some things will never change. And rather than letting that frustrate the fuck out of me, it’s better to stand back and look at how far he’s come.
“Nothing. It’s okay,” I tell him, deciding to let it go.
“He really did like you. I may have called in some favours he owed me to get him to watch over you initially, but soon I couldn’t get him to leave you alone, even when I ordered him to.”
I give my husband a wry smile.
Axel opens his mouth to say something but closes it again when Lou goes storming by followed by a harried-looking Saint close on her heels.
Something occurs to me from when I was scanning the room, looking at our wedding guests.
“Where’s Rose?” I ask.
“She’s safe. She’s with Zie’s mum today. I didn’t want to risk her getting caught in the crossfire if anything went wrong.” My heart swells with love for this man and a soft smile crosses my face. “What?”
“Nothing,” I repeat, dropping my voice to a whisper. “I just love you. You’re going to be such a good father.”
He blinks, surprised, and then the most beautiful, radiant smile breaks out across his face. It’s so powerful I swear his eyes turn three shades lighter.
“I can’t wait,” he tells me, grabbing the back of my hand and raising it to his lips for a chaste kiss that still manages to set my pulse racing. “But first, we have a cake to cut and a dance to perform.”
I laugh at the way he saysdancelike it’s a dirty word and let him guide me back into the ballroom, ready to put on yet another performance.
I checked in with my contact. Odi is safe. I probably should have checked on her with my own eyes every time I was hauled back to Deathfalls, but by the time my father was done with me, I couldn’t stomach my own reflection, let alone face the girl I love.
Cutting the cake makes me uncomfortable. Everyone gathers round to watch and I feel penned in, under the microscope. I don’t even like cake that much. Thankfully this one doesn’t have those gaudy figurines on top, just a cascading arrangement of flowers which match my bouquet trailing down the four tiers.
The ceremonial cutting knife is polished to a high shine, but dull. I don’t think it could cut through butter, unlike the blade in my pocket.
A wicked idea strikes and I smile suddenly.
“Uh-oh that look spells trouble,” Kaiden singsongs with an excited grin back at me. I shake my head and say nothing.
“Ready, wife?” Axel asks, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me in close. Will I ever tire of hearing him call me that? I’m not convinced.
“As I’ll ever be,” I reply.
The photographer takes some images of us posing with the knife poised to cut, and everyone claps when we finally cut the cake. It’s ridiculous. Why are they clapping? Traditions are so weird.
“Care for the first taste, husband?” I ask, slipping the knife from my pocket, releasing the blade with asnickand cutting a small piece of cake off. I balance it on the edge of the knife and offer it up to Axel.
