Page 18 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 18

Delilah

K nox and I stumble back into our bodies with such a jolt my breath hitches. My gaze snaps to Elysia’s wrists and ankles, where rope burns mark her skin, matching those of the vision I received months ago.

The tree. The screaming. The blood. The hooded figures.

“When?”

Just one word from Knox’s mouth and she knows.

“Last night. I spent ten hours walking to Azalea.” Her jaw grinds. “Imagine my shock when I came here for safety and encountered demons instead.”

Hence the crimson and black blood staining her nightgown.

No wonder she looks so familiar. It’s why I couldn’t place her, why she said we hadn’t actually met. I had seen her sisters and her mother. The similarities are uncanny.

Axel leans against the door, rubbing the heel of his palm against his chest as if he’s in pain. Panic encases my body. It’s the bond…a real bond. He can feel everything she is feeling, and I think he’s just now coming to terms with the fact that he tried to kill his mate. And that he wasn’t the only one to try within the last twenty-four hours.

Axel has enough guilt over Ace. I can’t imagine what this is doing to his psyche.

Turning to Elysia, I can’t help but point out, “That vision…I received it months ago.”

“I did too. I saw it all and I still couldn’t stop them.” Her swallow is audible. “Believe me, though, I tried. However, it seems someone knows about the prophecy vision and wants access to it.”

Knox snaps his gaze to mine. Is that why they tried to take you this morning?

They’ve been trying to kidnap me for months.

He’s never stormed the city for you, though.

“Once you’re done with your private conversation,” Elysia drawls slowly, “let’s try and get back to the men they sent to take me away. My mothers and sisters died for this cause.”

My brows furrow. “What cause?”

“They’re after the prophecy. For once, you have something that tyrant needs.”

My eyes widen at that. “How much of the prophecy did you receive and when?”

Elysia rubs her eyes with the heel of her palm, exhaustion weighing heavily upon her shoulders. “Last week, although I doubt I have the full prophecy. I’ve only been receiving snippets. The archangels must want us to translate a few at a time.”

“You truly believe the archangels are still alive?” I ask.

“Don’t you?”

Knox slides his hands into his pockets. “Do you have a theory?”

“Not particularly. I was too busy trying to keep my family alive.”

Knox’s eyes soften. “You’re right. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Elysia’s hard resolve fractures with a small splinter of sadness. She blinks hard and clears her throat. “Thank you.”

“How do you know the language?”

“I don’t. I hear the snippet they give me, and when I wake, it’s translated in my head. It’s all very?—”

“Convenient,” Axel cuts in.

Elysia’s eyes narrow. “Have something to say, mate ?” She spits the word as if it’s personally offended her.

Axel shrugs. The guilt he was feeling seems to have passed. “I just find it convenient that you’re the only one who can translate it.”

“I don’t. It means the archangels chose me for a reason, led me here for a reason.” Her lip curls with a snarl. “It certainly wasn’t for you.”

Axel’s shoulders tense. Before he says something he can’t take back, I step forward. “Why did you send the vision to me?”

“It wasn’t a conscious decision,” she says. “In fact, I didn’t even know until now that I did it.”

“Perhaps you didn’t,” Knox acknowledges.

“You think it was the archangels?”

Axel throws his hands in the air with a growl. “Why are we talking about this with her present? For all we know she’s going to run back to the king.”

“Peter,” I murmur under my breath, receiving an arched brow from Elysia before she turns back to her newfound mate.

“You just went through my mind and saw I am not your enemy.”

“ I ”—he emphasizes—“did no such thing.”

“Don’t trust the ability of your king?” she retorts.

While the two are focused on each other and their verbal pissing contest, they don’t notice the guilt suffocating Knox. My heart pinches at the shadows swirling around his mind’s entrance.

I’m beginning to believe Peter isn’t the only thing I can’t defeat. The belief Knox has, the pressure he puts upon himself to save his people, feels like I’m constantly fighting a losing battle. If only he could see himself through my eyes.

Before pulling back into my body, I send warmth down and through his mind, to remind him of all that he should be proud of. The lives he saved today, the fact that we won this battle. He has never given up on his people and not a lot of royals can say the same.

Knox’s spine straightens as he gives me a knowing, grateful look, his shadows trailing a gentle caress down my spine. He turns to Axel. “There was no indication of such an alliance, and despite your belief in me, Axel, I checked everything.” He adds softly, “I won’t miss anything again.”

My chest tightens at the raw emotion in his voice.

As if sensing the need for a change in topic, Elysia stands, making Axel take a step back as she splays her hands in surrender. “What will it take for you to believe me?”

“The archangels themselves.”

“For gods’ sake.” She throws her hands in the air. “I can’t just summon the archangels! And to be frank, I don’t care if you believe me or not. I don’t need your trust.”

Axel’s smirk is cocky as he drawls, “Really? Is that why you just asked me what it would take for me to believe you?”

Knox steps between the pair, just in time too. Elysia makes a move, no doubt to pummel the Fae. “Perhaps it’s time Harlow and Lenox join us.”

I snort. “Are they still trapped within the shield?”

A small grin curves his lips. “Why do you think we haven’t been interrupted?”

Elysia claps. “Loving the sparks between the two of you but perhaps we can move to a more comfortable location?” Sarcasm drips from her every word. “It’s not like I’ve been walking for over ten hours or anything.”

“Demanding brat,” Axel mumbles under his breath.

“What did you just say?” she snaps.

“Okay, time to go!” I sing. Latching my hand with Knox’s, he teleports us all to the sitting room. Along with Lenox and Harlow, who are no longer speaking or facing each other.

Great, seems we need to keep everyone separated tonight.

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but perhaps you should summon Nolan?

Humor dances along his features. Oh, how far we have fallen that we need Nolan to bring the peace. He rolls his eyes. I’ll tell him to come through my mind. He might need the distraction. He lost a lot of men today…ones he’s fought beside since he was a teen in the warrior academy.

Sadness fills my heart but I can’t sit with it for too long. With everyone in the room, tension gathers far too quickly.

“She’s sitting in my chair.” Harlow stares down Elysia, but to my surprise, she returns the favor, assessing the half-witch as if she were an opponent.

They hold eye contact until Elysia rolls her eyes and stands. “As you wish.”

“Hmm.” She regards her with a sneer as she plops into the cushion. “Who’s going to start talking?”

Nolan arrives then, drenched in sweat and blood. He must’ve come the moment Knox called for him.

“How bad is it?” Knox asks.

Nolan rubs the back of his neck. He looks to his dirty clothes, then to the couches, and remains standing. “It’s not good.”

“I’ll send for Edgar to set up a meeting with the court royals tomorrow. For now…” Knox leans back, placing his palm over my leg as he recites the passing hour and all that we found within Elysia’s mind, leaving out the sordid details of her past. Which, by the look on her face, I take it she’s grateful for. She still flinches when he explains her family's murder, though, and glares with such ferocity at Axel as Harlow details the moment he tackled her.

“You’re telling me that the only person who can supposedly translate the prophecy just so happened to show up on our front doorstep when we needed her?” Harlow asks, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

“I can’t translate it,” Elysia clarifies.

Harlow turns her cunning gaze on her. “You’re receiving the translation, then. Not the Fae the prophecy is meant for, but you. A random psychic.”

“Seer,” Elysia corrects, her nose scrunching. “Mermaids are psychic, and I’m not related to those old hags.”

Nolan chokes on nothing but air as he gapes at Elysia.

“Perhaps we’re not meant to uncover the prophecy all at once. If we were able to translate, we’d uncover it in its entirety,” Knox proposes, drawing his court’s attention. “The archangels work in mysterious ways.” He leans forward, elbows on his knees. “What do you have so far?”

Elysia looks directly at me as she recites it, her voice taking on a musical lint.

“Seven set forth their crafted fate, placing salvation in the hands of the one they hate.

With whispered words and secret curses, the future of all lies dormant.

Until one day all that glittered was no longer gold.

With a path brimming with loss and suffering, shall you take it, the veil of deceit shall rise.

With the stains and splatters of our kind, lie the ruins of our fallen demise.

With courts now tattered and broken, you must seek, the one you want bleeding at your feet.

With this prophecy, you shall find, all the answers you must hide.

Trust very few so as not to repeat, the treacheries that brought you to your knees.”

The last line serves as a reminder of Hazel. The lies and deception she wove sits like a ginormous griffin in the room. The unjustness that she’s still out there somewhere, still alive and breathing, while Ace is not.

Hazel’s motives were purely driven to bring back her daughter. A life for a life never felt so cruel until now.

“What does any of that mean? It’s all gibberish,” Lenox scoffs.

“It’s called a riddle, you moron.”

Lenox’s canines flare in Harlow’s direction. “Shut your mouth, you filthy witch!”

“You want to see a witch?” she says sweetly. “I’ll show you a witch.”

Shadows snap over their hands and mouths, Knox silencing them both without even looking their way. “Perhaps we should visit the mermaids for answers. If anyone knows how to solve a riddle it would be them.”

Elysia looks as if she ate something bad. “You actively speak to the mermaids?”

“They’ve been helpful in the past?—”

“To an extent,” I cut Knox off, my tone hard as steel.

“When do you want to go?” Nolan asks, moving the conversation away from another minefield.

“If all goes well with the royals’ meeting, perhaps we should pay them a visit tomorrow.” Knox turns to me, still ignoring Lenox and Harlow squirming in his shadowed confines. “Do you have any other questions?”

Before I can speak, Elysia cuts me off. “Not to sound rude but what should I do in the meantime? Whoever killed my sisters and mother is no doubt searching for me.”

Knox gestures with his chin to her now pristine nightgown. “Did you not slay your captors?”

“Of course I did, but they were only messengers. Whoever sent them in the first place has likely sent more. Peter, as you call him, is out for blood. Yours”—she nods at me—“and mine. They want the prophecy translation.”

“And how do they know you have it?” Nolan asks, silencing everyone.

Elysia crosses her arms. “I’m not the only seer. Someone is watching everyone.”

“Great, you’ll lead them right to our door,” Axel mumbles under his breath.

“Axel,” Knox calls. I expect Knox to scold him, but instead he says, “You can look over Elysia until further notice.”

The pair sputter.

“I don’t need a bodyguard! If anything, I need a guard from him !”

“Don’t make me do this,” Axel pleads.

Knox holds up his hand. “I’m not arguing with you two. Axel, you’re officially assigned to watch over Elysia until I say so.”

Axel grinds his jaw, his eyes flaring with annoyance. I bite down on my cheek. The time for coddling is over, it seems.

Knox’s sapphire eyes land on Elysia’s wide, incredulous ones. “Despite his lack of sanity earlier, Axel is one of the finest warriors among my court.” He pointedly slides his gaze to Axel. “And a Fae with such loyalty would never disobey a direct order from his king.”

Before anyone can say anything further, Knox drops the shadows from Harlow and Lenox.

“How did the demons breach our wards?” Nolan asks, steering the conversation away from the four grumpy Fae.

“That is what I wish you to find out,” Knox declares, looking to Harlow. “Those wards were impenetrable until today. I want to know how they broke through my spells.”

Harlow dips her chin, for once not talking back.

Knox takes in a deep breath before rising and holding out his hand for me. He wraps an arm around my waist and faces his court.

“Do not bother washing up. There are still matters to attend to in the court. Since it’s evacuated, the city can wait. For now, help the soldiers outside with the demons.” Knox steers me in the direction of the door and yells over his shoulder, “If you need me, don’t.”

“Delilah,” Elysia calls, halting our movements. I crane my neck, finding her face gravely serious. “Today’s attack was just the first. There are far more to come.”

“I know,” I say softly, the vision of the world coming to an end springing to the forefront of my mind. Along with the feeling of falling through the universe without an end in sight.