A Rejected Wolf and a Court of Ash (Eden and Azriel) novel Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Elvira

The worst part isn’t that he doesn’t remember me.

It’s that he is trying to be nice about it.

Axel stands a few feet away, shoulders tense, jaw tight, his entire body radiating discomfort, but his voice? Soft. Careful.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Like I’m the one who might be overwhelmed.

I want to laugh. Or cry. Or maybe just sink into the floor and never get up again.

“I’m fine,” I lie.

He frowns. “Sorry if I’m being weird. I just… don’t know where I am. Or who any of you are.”

Azriel steps forward, his expression tight.

“That’s not supposed to happen,” he mutters, mostly to himse

cleansing.”

Eden looks up sharply. “What did you do?”

spell shouldn’t have erased memories. It was a bond unbinding, not a

Azriel’s gaze is locked on Axel. “It might be temporary. The body sometimes reacts to trauma by pushing things out. Give him time to rest and maybe it will come back.”

Eden places a hand on Axel’s arm. “You’re the captain of have trusted you with everything.”

Axel stiffens. “I believe you. I just… don’t feel it.”

The silence that follows is suffocating.

“I will show him to a room,” Eden says quietly.

“No,” I blurt. “Let me.”

y guard. You’ve been with me since before I became Queen of the Dream Court. We

Eden gives me a long look. I know what she is thinking, that he is not the same. This will hurt.

“I will be fine,” I add. “Please.”

Azriel nods once.

I don’t wait. I walk. Axel follows.

He doesn’t remember the path, but his steps match mine, as if his body remembers even when his mind doesn’t. That should comfort me

It doesn’t.

The silence between us stretches until can’t take it anymore.

1/5

jure fae guard system. They still look to you for

Is eyes are the same. His expression isn’t.

“That explains the stares,” he says dryly. “Everyone acted like I was supposed to say something important.”

“You usually do.”

He gives a small, rueful smile. “Was I good at it?”

“The best.”

He chuckles. “So, you’re not just pretty, but you’re kind, too.”

And yours, I want to tell him, but I don’t.

“You were important to everyone here,” I say instead.

We stop at the door of the room that used to be ours. I open the door, but I don’t make it inside.

Axel raises an eyebrow at me. “You’re not coming inside?”

My cheeks heat up. “N–no… I mean…you don’t remember me. And sharing a room is…”

“Hot?”

“I was going to say weird since we are strangers…”

“Strangers? You don’t act like I am a stranger to you.”

“But I am one to you!”

He leans against the doorframe, eyes flicking over me, then smirks.

“I could be made to remember.”

The look he gives me is playful, heated, and sends my brain into a spiral.

He takes that the wrong way and approaches me. “We could have some fun together in bed, if you want.”

What?!

No!

I slap his arm. Hard.

It makes a sound that’s louder than I expect.

He winces, laughing. “Okay! Damn, you’ve got a right hook for someone so small.”

I try to shake it off like it’s nothing, like I didn’t just swat away the ghost of a man and mate I miss so much it makes my bones ache. I want him, but that kind of flirting? It makes me feel sick. Because he doesn’t know I used to belong to him. That means he would flirt like this with any pretty female that came along.

“Don’t flirt with me like that,” I snap, “You don’t know me.”

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Chapter 117

He sobers a little. “But I want to.”

My breath catches. It’s stupid, I know it’s stupid, but something about the way he says it undoes me. Like he is not just stating a fact, but reaching out to something he doesn’t even understand.

I recoil slightly, caught off guard. I hate that my heart skips, that the anger in me melts just enough to make room for ache. He doesn’t remember me. This is nothing. A stranger’s charm. But it still hits like a memory I didn’t know I needed.

What does it mean if he wants to know me without the bond?

I don’t know and since I don’t, I just open the door and step back. “Get some rest. Maybe it’ll all come back tomorrow.”

“Will you be here if it does?” he asks, voice quieter n

how.

I look at him.

He is looking like a large, lost puppy. A handsome one.

Fuck, my knees are already weak.

“I’ll be here,” I whisper.

He smiles. “Promise?”

કતાર

“Promise…” I mutter.

Then I walk away..

Later, I’m curled into myself in one of the guestbooms. My arms around my legs, chin on my knees. Everything hurts, but quietly. The way

bruises do after the color fades.

I got what I wanted. Sight. Clarity. The world back in color.

And it cost me the only person who made the darkness bearable,

Was it worth it?

I still don’t know.

A knock.

Not Axel.

Eden.

She steps inside and closes the door behind her like she’s done this before. Like she knows I won’t send her away.

She doesn’t speak right away. Neither do I.

“He seemed… steady,” she says finally.

“He’s always steady,” I whisper. “That’s the worst part. He doesn’t know me, but he’s still so… him.”

Eden sits down across from me. Her presence is quieter

now than it used to be. Or maybe I’m the one who is quieter.

“What happened to you after we… parted?” she asks softly.

21h

Chapter 117

My breath catches. Shame creeps into my spine like ice.

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