Page 14 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)
Chapter 14
Delilah
T he fall of the demonic army sends a wave of victory throughout Azalea. It’s felt throughout the homes and hearts of those who managed to escape the demons’ wrath.
Shock and astonishment are written stark across the faces of Knox’s men, along with awe and surprisingly fear as they gaze upon me. I’ve never wanted to invoke fear in those around me—unlike Peter when he was posing as the human king—although if it’s the price I must pay to defeat the dark magic that plagues these lands, I’ll do it.
Knox sends for those who have survived to come out of hiding and pack a bag. At first, I wondered why until I took in my surroundings and the catastrophic damage the demons inflicted upon the city. Buildings are in tatters, rubble lies at our feet, and scattered throughout the streets are those of whom we have lost.
We may have won this battle, but they destroyed Azalea in the process.
Our survivors will find shelter in the Fire Court city, Ornx, amongst their bunkers and Aloriah’s most trusted and esteemed warriors. Although I don’t voice aloud that most of them are fighting along the front lines and the last time I was in the city, I ran into drunk fools. Truth be told, we have nowhere else to send our people.
After evacuating the city and going door to door, street by street, to count those we lost, there is a heaviness in the air as we climb the hill to Knox’s estate, where more loss awaits us. The grief that has been weighing upon our shoulders these past weeks has reached an all-time high, to the point I’m finding it hard to breathe. As if deep down, we know that the three thousand people we lost today are just the beginning.
Nobody flies, or teleports, or speaks. Not about how the demonic army fell, or how they managed to get past Knox’s wards. Although I receive the occasional glance, mainly at my now faintly glowing golden skin. It’s not as predominant as before, the glow having settled into a quiet humming of power.
Upon entering the main gates of Knox’s estate, I groan at seeing the decaying demons burning in the pits of fire. The smell is going to linger for weeks to come.
Knox peers at me out of the corner of his eyes. Since the battle, he hasn’t stepped into my mind to hear what I’m thinking. I don’t think he’d ever admit it, but if I had to guess, I’d say there’s a part of him that’s afraid of what he might find within me. And I can’t say that I blame him. I haven’t looked at my well of power again, either.
Harlow, now in her Fae form, pauses within the garden, her eyes roaming the trodden yard and blood-spattered archangel statues. She places her hands on her hips and doesn’t deign to look my way as she declares, “You know the language of the archangels.”
Five sets of eyes turn my way.
My exhaustion is evident as I drawl, “What nonsense are you babbling on about now, Harlow?”
Her eyes narrow into thin slits. “You spoke in their language. How?” she demands.
The memory of the foreign words rolling off my tongue as my magic healed Axel springs to mind. I at least have the decency to wince but Harlow chooses to ignore it.
“How did you bring Axel back from the brink of death? We all have healing abilities but no one can stop death in its tracks.” Her eyes begin to glow with a red tinge. “And while we’re on the topic, why can you, the Fae that turned up on our doorstep, suddenly kill demons?” She throws her hands in the air. “Why the fuck is no one talking about how you’re now suddenly glowing and shooting out golden power?—”
A blast of shadow knocks into Harlow, stunning her speechless. “Watch your fucking tone when talking to Delilah,” Knox growls, stepping between me and Harlow. More shadows leak off his shoulders, down his arms. “She just once again saved everybody’s life!”
Harlow snorts. “Step aside, lover boy. Just because she’s your mate doesn’t mean she can’t be questioned.”
“I don’t think Delilah is the only one who should be questioned,” Lenox drawls, his mask held firmly in place once more.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snarls.
He doesn’t even glance her way as he says bluntly, “You know exactly what it means.”
Fire erupts along her arm, drawing a heavy sigh of exhaustion from Knox.
I look to Axel, shocked for a moment to see his eyes for once clear without the glazed look of substance wracking his body. They’re also widened, and it takes me a moment to realize that he hasn’t been here sober in weeks. He hasn’t had to experience Lenox and Harlow’s new dynamic.
“What questions do you need me to answer, second ?” Harlow spits as if it’s a dirty word, and I can’t help but see out of the corner of my eyes the way Axel visibly flinches.
“Harlow!” Knox snaps. “Reign it in, now .”
Harlow has the wits to snap her mouth closed, but that only works for so long. “I think we all need to answer some questions, the drunk included.”
I gasp. No one has called him out on it so blatantly before, and if I allowed myself to look further into that then perhaps we would have to admit that we’re part of the problem. After all, Axel confessed to me just last night that he wanted to die, and at the first sign of battle he runs in screaming and falls within a few minutes. The once mighty, undefeatable warrior was suddenly dying. Perhaps he should be watched closely.
If Axel had died today, I would have been responsible once again for death because I keep tip-toeing around him and his sadness. Clearly, coddling him is getting nowhere.
An emotion finally flickers across Lenox’s eyes, but it’s not what anyone expects. Revulsion burns as bright as a star as he spits, “Shut your mouth, half-breed.”
Knox sucks in air through his teeth. I freeze entirely.
The blow hits its mark like a slice to her heart. For a moment, a split second, Harlow isn’t the stone-cold spy. Instead her face crumbles, fracturing before our eyes as she stumbles backwards a step and clutches her chest. I could have sworn I saw silver lining her depths before she blinks furiously.
Lenox heaves wildly, his chest rising and falling as if a volcano erupted within his chest but I don’t pay attention to him, not as Harlow stands there looking as broken as the city of Azalea.
Knox looks as ruined as Harlow as he softly says, “Lenox…”
His eyes snap closed, before he swallows thickly and turns toward me. “How did you stop Axel from dying?”
With his attention now firmly on me as he tries to brush that last passing moment under the rug, my heart seizes, taking in the horrified expressions of not only Harlow and Knox but Axel too, witnessing the new version of Lenox for the first time.
I don’t know what to say but I don’t have to. Lenox isn’t the only one who wants this moment to be done with.
“Do you want me to search for an explanation for Delilah’s transformation?” Harlow asks. Her gaze remains firmly on Knox, acting as a lifeline she’s clinging to.
“Harlow, we don’t?—”
“Do you want me to search?” she asks again, cutting off whatever he was about to protest.
For the first time since I’ve known him, I watch as he falters slightly, unsure of what to do—how to handle the new dynamic that is tearing us apart. I take a step forward, if only to prevent Harlow from breaking right before us. “I’m not sure what happened but when I saw Axel go down, a flood of memories hit me and I gave in to my power. I thought Knox would have to bring me back, that the magic would consume me, and it did, but not in the way Knox and I feared.”
She nods, urging me to continue. My eyes flick down to her shaking fingers. I’ve never seen Harlow come undone. So I quickly add, “I don’t know how I knew their language. Technically, I don’t, but my magic does, and what I did was entirely its will, using me as a vessel instead of the other way around.”
“That’s dangerous,” Knox says, his soul taking tentative steps down the bridge between our minds for the first time since my transformation.
“I don’t think so,” I answer honestly. “All this time we were afraid of it sweeping me up and swallowing me whole but instead I’ve…joined with it.” I shake my head, bewilderment humming through me. “It’s such an odd sensation but I don’t think it’s anything to fear.”
“Having too much power is a problem in itself,” Knox says roughly.
Everything is something to fear. Every step we take we have to peer over our shoulders and make sure Peter isn’t coming for our throats.
“I think what we need to figure out is why only Delilah’s magic now suddenly affects the demonic creatures and”—she winces, for once appearing apologetic—“what you are now.”
I was about to explain how the ethereal voice returned telling me it was “time”…until I hear the end of Harlow’s statement. My brows furrow, lowering in tandem with Knox’s. “What do you mean what I am?”
Knox moves to my side. “She’s a Fae, Harlow.” At this point, though, I’m not even sure he believes it entirely.
“We don’t know who her parents are. What if her blood isn’t only carrying Fae genes?”
Knox slowly turns to me. He’s barely been able to take his eyes off me since I transformed but now…he’s looking at me differently. Not with fear or awe but with wonder as my skin still shimmers with a golden hue. “I’ve never encountered a creature with magic like hers,” he admits, pride somehow swelling in his voice.
I taunt him down the bond, staying firmly behind my door, Why don’t you come over here and I’ll show you something truly worth that stare?
Teasing me now, are you, Angel?
Just giving you a firm kick. Seems as if you need a little push.
His eyes spark with humor. The world around Knox and me falls away, along with our many questions and problems. I simply ignore it all as Knox strides across the bridge, his hand lifting, stretching toward the doorknob to my mind—only for him to retreat as quickly as he arrived at the sound of steps on the gravel driveway.
Knox’s court stop talking altogether as we turn to watch a figure, in a white dressing gown, amble up the hill, panting slightly from the steep incline. Knox steps in front of me, unsheathing his sword, and Axel for the first time in eight weeks takes up his stance as second, leaving an awkward moment as Lenox falls into his original ranking of third. They flank us both, as they would have months ago, while Harlow slowly struts forward, swinging the dagger in her palm high into the air before snatching it again.
The closer the figure comes the more I feel as if I’ve met them before.
My Fae sight doesn’t stop me from noting the blonde hair hanging limply at her shoulders, matted and crusted with blood. Her eyes are a soft blue, yet her cheeks hold not an ounce of color, as if the very life was drained from her and every step is a fight. Which might explain the sword swinging half-heartedly from her side, leaving a trail of black and crimson blood.
“Knox…do you know her?” I ask.
He doesn’t take his gaze off the sword by her side as he answers, “No, do you?”
“I could have sworn…”
Axel straightens, his entire body turning rigid. The blade in his hand drops to the ground, bouncing off the gravel with a clink as he sucks in a sharp breath.
My brows furrow as the girl reaches the top of the hill, stepping through the gates of Knox’s estate, and then freezes mid-step. Her head snaps upwards, those blue eyes now widened and sending her blood-crusted hair flying in all directions.
Yet she doesn’t lock her gaze on Knox or me, Harlow or Lenox.
It lands firmly on Axel.
She sucks in a breath, similar to Axel’s, and suddenly her cheeks bloom with a crimson blush, replacing the pale gauntness of them.
Her face…the complexion. Where have I seen it?
“Do we know you?” Harlow says dryly.
But Harlow might as well have not even spoken. The woman takes a tentative step toward Axel.
She parts her lips, but gets no further. Axel roars in fury, grabbing his sword on the ground and lunging for the mystery woman, knocking the breath from her lungs as he pins her to the ground. Axel lifts his sword high and brings it down with a mighty cry.