Page 43 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)
Chapter 43
Delilah
T he sight that Knox sends down the bridge of our minds is not one that shocks me, because I’ve seen it before. Two nights ago, I received a vision of the events that are about to occur, along with a second, which showed me exactly who I would lose if I warned a single soul.
As the ships shakes with more vibrations, I swallow my fear and let out the anger that has been building since the moment I stepped foot into that abandoned library. Anything to avoid the indignation and betrayal flaring down the bond.
Knox snaps out of his shock, issuing orders again. He doesn’t look at me. “Axel, take Zephlyn and use his invisibility to come up behind them, but don’t dismount. The second you do they’ll snap their jaws over your body and swallow you whole.”
Axel stands shell-shocked for a moment before he slaps a hand down on Elysia’s wrist and pulls her with him. She tries to dig her feet into the ground, to no avail. “I’m not going with you!” she grits.
He turns around so quickly she stumbles. “There is not a universe where I leave you unprotected against a demonic army of water dragons. Stop fighting me!”
Knox ignores them and barks another order. “Lenox, stand at the front and use your fire to ward them off from climbing onto the ship.”
“These water dragons are no ordinary kind,” I whisper, making Knox finally snap his head toward me.
They have not only been summoned from their demonic world but have also been created. The vision showed me just how capable those muscles are beneath their scales, with their ability to swim at a startling pace.
“It would take them no effort to slither up the ship,” I say and before Knox can ask how I know, Lenox steps forward.
“What of the mermaids?” Lenox asks, cutting the tension with his voice.
Swallowing thickly, I clear my throat. “They’re prepared.”
Ignoring the stunned and quizzical expressions, I turn to Harlow. I know Knox is her king, that he is the one giving orders, but this…this has to be done, and he doesn’t have the heart to do it—Fae warrior or not. But still, my heart pinches painfully and my eyes sting with tears at what I have to ask of her but am dreading.
Her eyes soften toward me. “Let me do what I’m best at.”
Knox shakes his head. “She can’t go against three at once. That’s absurd!”
Harlow cuts a look in his direction. “Do not underestimate me.”
“I’m not underestimating you, it’s common sense.”
“Do you trust me?”
“This has nothing to do with trust and everything to do with keeping you alive, Harlow.”
She lifts her chin, a stubborn gleam in her eyes. “I won’t die.”
Without another word she strides toward the railing and steps on. Before she pushes off, she turns to me.
“Remember what I said: our anger is power.”
And then she leaps, flinging her arms out wide, plummeting for the water below where she will come face-to-face with a nightmare.
Her resounding splash fills the air just as Knox spins on me.
I’ve seen Knox furious before, but I’ve never had that fury aimed at me. Rage burns through him, but he shakes his head and spits, “Any orders for me?”
“Stay alive.”
Aurora lands with a huff beside me then, hot steam puffing out of her snout. I move to her, but a large hand wraps around my wrist.
“Tell me what you have planned. I know you have one so don’t lie to me.”
I shake my head. “We don’t have time for this, Knox.”
I brush off his grip, then jump onto Aurora’s back. With pleading eyes, I turn to him, begging, “Get on!”
He teleports behind me, his grip around my waist tight and protective, but I can still feel the anger simmering along our bond.
“I’ll explain it all later, I promise.”
“If we survive this.”
Breathing deeply, I shove aside the pain and heartache that I hear in his voice and instead muster up the strength and courage needed in this moment. “We will walk away from this, Knox. Then you can scream and rage at me, I deserve it, but until then we need to work as one.”
All things considered, it’s not fair to use our precious ideology against him. But he’ll understand, once I show him everything. I know deep within my bones that if he was in my position, he would do the same thing.
“You once said that when I wasn’t strong enough you would be the strength I needed, so let me be that for you now. Trust me, Knox.”
My words are infused with every ounce of feeling I can muster in this moment as we fly into the sky atop Aurora’s back. Zephlyn, Axel, and Elysia, all invisible, arc around to approach the water dragons from behind.
I feel more than hear the breath whoosh out of him as he drops his forehead to my shoulder. “Okay,” he says softly before straightening. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“When the time comes, don’t stop me.” He stiffens behind me, making me repeat, “Trust me.”
“I trust you with my life.”
Rolling waves come into sight in the distance, approaching faster than I anticipated, the magnitude of them making my stomach drop and my heart sour. “Good. It’ll be needed,” I whisper.
Below, the pod snaps into action. Naia leads them, the rainbow of their tails growing fainter by the passing second as they descend deeper into the depths of the ocean, hopefully to attack from below.
Knox sucks in a sharp breath, and Aurora’s hackles rise, a low growl rumbling from her chest, as the demonic water dragons come into view.
Twice as long as the ship and just as wide, they skim through the water, their scales the same color of the ocean. If it weren’t for the clear day and the glints of sun, we wouldn’t have been able to see them, let alone fight them. They’re beautiful beasts, and if it weren’t for the fact they were sent here to kill us, I would have admired the creatures.
But as the leader’s head lifts from the water, letting out a ferocious roar and its sharp teeth and long fangs shine off the water, my body chills. Then its eyes lift, ones as deep as the crimson pumping through my veins, and something akin to recognition flashes in its depths before narrowing.
It descends, faster than I expected for a creature of its size. The other two follow at its flank until they submerge so deep their scales blend with the ocean.
Knox, using his thighs to keep him steady on Aurora, stands, peering on either side of her. “Where did they go?” he calls.
Ignoring his question, my eyes don’t leave the spot they vacated. “Game on,” I mutter. And with one mighty tug on our soul bond, I pull Aurora high into the air, right as a dragon shoots out of the water, its sharp teeth on full display. Its mouth snaps shut within inches of Aurora’s hind legs before it falls, its body slapping against the water and spraying it in all directions.
My hands are at the ready, golden power swirling around my palms as another arcs out of the water, this one higher than before. Its mouth opens wide to fill its belly with our bones, but I meet it with a golden fireball, unleashing myself with my own roar.
The moment the fire hits the dragon’s open mouth, it recoils with a scream of such pain I can’t help but cry out too. Aurora’s ears flatten and her hackles rise. Smashing my palm over my ear, I’m shocked to feel wetness. Pulling my hand back, I find crimson smudged across my fingers.
“Delilah,” Knox says suddenly.
“I’m okay,” I whisper hoarsely, quickly wiping it away on my pants as I peer at the water below.
A dark shadow is swimming upwards at an alarming rate.
“Fly, Aurora!” I call out, just in time.
Aurora banks as another water dragon arches out of the water, showing off its eel-like body. My eyes widen as its tail arcs fully out of the water, the shape similar to the mermaids.
The reminder of mermaids has me leaning forward. “Fly around in a zig zag circle, don’t let them guess you’re next move.”
Not needing any further instructions Aurora takes off, flapping her gorgeous wings at an alarming rate. She suddenly cuts left, then right as not one but two dragons jump out of the water.
“They weren’t ordered to kill us all, otherwise they’d be going after the ship.”
“I know,” I say solemnly. “They’re here for me.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I lift my hands and aim, sending two golden fireballs for the water dragons. But as quickly as they appeared they disappear, my magic landing in the water, sizzling into nothing but a gray cloud of smoke.
Knox fires as one of the smaller water dragons leap out of the water. Knox’s fire lands, hitting its side, making the dragon’s body cave in on itself as it roars in pain.
I pull my hand back to launch a deadly blow while it’s distracted, only for my hand to stutter as a fourth shape appears, this one an identical color to the ocean’s blue. I wouldn’t have been able to see it if it weren’t for the ripple in the water, the change in pattern.
“Stop!” Knox calls out, wrapping his hand around my wrist.
The fourth shadow emerges, a water dragon similar to our attackers, yet entirely different.
This is no ordinary water dragon.
It suddenly drops, disappearing entirely before water explodes, spraying in all directions as Harlow, shapeshifted into a water dragon, larger than our attackers, opens her mouth—and snaps it closed around our enemy.
Black blood spurts from its body, staining the ocean like an oil spill.
The dragon in her mouth thrashes wildly, spinning this way and that at such an alarming rate Harlow is thrown to the side, her hold on the dragon dropping. Before the water dragon can turn on her, I send golden fire after golden fire, making my power rain down upon it.
Its cry of pain is different from the rest. It doesn’t simply flinch or roll in discomfort, it’s pure agony. The golden fire not only hits its scales but latches onto them, burying a hole into its side through scales, flesh, bone, and muscle.
The two dragons around it pause, yet only for a moment before the largest of them all—the leader who set its sights on me—turns as quick as a snake and takes off, shooting through the water, heading directly for Harlow.
Knox lifts his hands behind me and claps them together. My eyes widen as the water below is disturbed by two large rolling waves, coming to smash against one another right where the water dragon swims. Its body is momentarily stunned, rolling in the undercurrent that Knox created.
I search for Harlow but come up short. The water dragon does the same once it escapes the turbulent water. It pauses, its follower doing the same.
The corner of my lips lift, a cunning smile spreading across my face as color begins to bloom below the water dragons.
Knox sucks in a sharp breath as white, red, green, blue, pink, and purple light shines from the ocean’s depths, creating a circle around the water dragons that they try to swim through, only to cower back as if they were burned.
The mermaids rise, their hands lifted above the water. Their lips are moving a mile a minute, their cold voices drifting toward us on a breeze of Knox’s doing as they chant in a language I’ve only heard once before.
When Eleanor was taken by the sea.
The water dragons begin to writhe in pain, their screams filling the air around us. It makes me pause completely, until shadows looming along the surface of the ocean in the distance snag my attention.
I lift my head, my brows furrowing, for I can’t see a cloud in sight. But as they grow closer, I can see the shadows dancing along the water aren’t shaped like clouds, nor do they move like they are.
Suddenly, I know why Axel, Elysia, and Zephlyn haven’t arrived yet.
Along the horizon are Phookas, with blades of steel, riding among the spines of demonic dragons.