Sofia the First: The Rise of Rulers

Chapter Twenty-Three: Axel

Chapter Twenty-Three

Axel

Son of a bitch. I reluctantly pull my arms away from Astrid's body. Only to immediately take her hand and drag her in the direction of the safety rooms. I assume this is only a drill, Astrid and I did great during the trail. I hope this is a drill I can't help but think it's not though. If it is I might seriously have to smash someone's fucking head in for ruining my wedding. Flashes of heat shoot up my arms as I remember what it felt like to have Astrid shiver against my touch. I need to focus. My kingdom is possibly under attack, I cannot afford to worry about how good it felt to touch my wife. Instead I need to focus on getting her to safety because if we are under attack, Astrid is the only person in this room I'm worried about. I continue to follow the group ahead of us who are also on the way to the safety rooms. Astrid trails behind me and is unnaturally quiet, as if she thinks someone might pop out at any moment. My ears become immune to the sounds of the alarm by the time I reach the rest of the royals. My brother is there, Sofia under his arm. I can tell by his rigid stance he does not think this is only a drill. I look behind me and catch Astrid already looking, her eyes portray nothing. I can't tell if she's worried but I nod at her anyway.

"It'll be ok." I tell her before turning back towards Hugo.

"Why aren't we getting inside?"

"We don't have a key."

"We don't have a key to our own fucking safety room?"

"No Axel. We don't."

"Well can we get one? We need to get the girls in there so that we can see what the hell is going on."

"You think I don't know that, smart ass?"

"Clearly not because instead of figuring it out ur sitting here trying not to piss you pants."

"Oh fuck off."

"You two stop it. Fighting with each other is not going to help us get into the room either." Hildegard says from where she stands next to Zander. I quickly scan our group and do an internal head count. Nine. We have only nine.

"Where is James?" I direct the question at Vivian who has never looked smaller than she does now. She's terrified. The fear of everyone else is getting to me and causing me to grow restless.

"He went to find help." She says fidgeting with her bracelet.

I'm just about to tell her what a stupid idea that was when I see a tall blonde idiot turn the corner of the hallway. He's walking. Fucking walking.

"Put some pep in your step, James. Hell man the fucking palace is under attack." Zander yells at him.

He doesn't quicken his pace as he walks up to us. It's then that I realize the alarms have stopped sounding and the hallway is eerily silent.

"A small community only a mile away was ransacked and left in flames. Three children and twenty-seven adults were found dead and they have over a hundred injured so far."

"Oh my god." Sofia says under her breath.

I'm too caught off guard to respond. It's horrific, the thought of something like that happening so close. While I was in there lusting over Astrid there were children dying. Something turned in my stomach.

Astrid's arm brushes mine as she walks to Hildegard, they both hug. Hildegard is crying and Zander is rubbing soothing circles on her back. It's their kingdom that was attacked. I want to comfort Astrid too. I want to hug her and tell her that I'm glad she's ok. I don't though. I don't talk to Astrid about feelings. I lie to her about feelings. I pretend. I'm always pretending. Pretending I hate her when it's the opposite of what I feel. I would prefer her hating me than not feeling anything for me at all. I remember when she first started courting Christian, she wouldn't even glance at me when I entered a room. Wouldn't notice me if I walked by. It was as if I didn't exist; and that, that was worse. I made a vow to make sure I never knew what it felt like to have her forget about me. So I teased her. I annoyed her, so that now when I enter a room she looks at me with a glare. But at least she looks at me. Now she calls me names and tells me she hates me, but at least she talks to me. I don't hate the way her face scrunches up when she gets annoyed, either. I love seeing her flustered. I just love seeing her. But true emotion, I avoided that like the plague. So I restrain myself from going over to her now, and touching her like I want to.