Page 46 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 46

Knox

T he sun blinds me as I squint through its strong rays. My foggy mind churns as I try to remember where I am, who I am, and?—

It comes back to me in a mighty flood of memories.

My hand instinctively snaps to my back, my fingers finding the shredded clothing and yet the skin is perfectly intact, not even a bump or ridge to be felt. What I do find, though, is raven-black fur and a woman beneath me, squirming. Scrambling upwards, Delilah heaves as I get off her.

“Gods, how long was I out for?” I groan.

“Long enough!”

Something tells me I don’t want to know the real answer and how exactly we came into the position we are in.

Peering around at my surroundings, I find just one demon dragon left, along with Axel trying to heal a badly wounded Zephlyn.

I don’t think, I just move.

Squeezing Delilah’s hand, I open up my wings and shoot directly for Axel, who is hovering midair as the griffin somehow continues to fly despite the nasty gash around his hind and belly. I place my hands atop the wound, and I’m surprised to find I have more than enough magic in my reserves. Without a second thought, I send it careening for the griffin, my heart pinching as his eyes close from euphoric relief.

“Thank you,” Axel heaves, his eyes misting slightly as they remain locked on Ace’s soul pair griffin.

“No need to thank me.”

As the words leave my lips, the skin begins to stitch together beneath my palm.

Before anyone can react, the last remaining demonic dragon swoops. Its mouth drops open, revealing the lines of razor-sharp teeth—all the while the Phooka atop it whips out its bony hand and yanks Elysia from her perch behind Axel.

Elysia screams as the Phooka hooks her to his chest, holding a blade dripping with crimson blood to her neck. The terror that fills Axel’s face is a punch to my gut as he stares at his mate in a precariously close situation to how his brother died.

Elysia’s wide eyes swivel in all directions, taking on a wild gleam.

Axel twitches, Zephlyn only so much as turning to face Elysia, but the Phooka tsks.

“Move another inch and her head flies.”

“The time for negotiations was never . Release her!” I bellow.

The animalistic gaze in Axel’s eyes is a sensation I know all too well. The pure predatory need to protect those we love. It’s overwhelming, a rush of emotions that cannot be contained.

Zephlyn, still healing from his near fatal attack, cannot take on another demonic dragon, and Axel knows that. The sight of it all draws a whimper from the griffins, the sound mingling with the water battle raging on below.

But we can’t tear our gaze away from the sight before us. We can’t abandon our family.

“I don’t want to negotiate,” it spits.

“What the fuck do you want then,” Axel sneers, his temper rising as that blade remains along his mate’s neck.

Milky eyes slowly glide to Delilah where she sits atop Aurora, panting from the exertion of everything. The Phooka grins wickedly.

“The golden witch.”

And then he’s lunging for her.

The Phooka throws Elysia to the side, sending her careening through the air with a piercing scream. Axel jumps off Zephlyn to catch her while the demonic dragon launches for Aurora.

The black griffin retaliates, taking Delilah with her as she lunges for the dragon, aiming for its neck. But my focus is on the Phooka, with its outstretched claws, sharp talons, and the wicked grin on its goat-like head.

For once , I get to her in the nick of time.

Teleporting, I wrap my arm around Delilah while my free hand clings to Aurora for dear life as the griffin turns her head and latches her mouth around the dragon’s throat. The sound of her teeth snapping bones rings throughout the sky, and the dragon suddenly goes limp.

The Phooka’s eyes lock on Aurora, a thunderous expression overtaking the demonic creature, but the griffin’s focus remains on the dragon still in her mouth. It’s why she doesn’t notice that she’s twisted at an angle the Phooka takes advantage of.

The second Aurora drops the dragon from her mouth, spitting its black blood, I stand, unfurling my wings. I launch myself off Aurora’s back, my wings beating rapidly right as the Phooka lunges as its creature falls.

But where I jump one way, teleporting to hurry along, the Phooka expects it and dives in the other direction. Suddenly, it’s atop Aurora with a wicked grin, beside Delilah, who now sits exposed. Its claws skate down her arms, tearing a scream of pain from her throat, and it laughs manically.

All sounds evade me as my wings snap out, stopping me from moving further away.

My eyes widen, my heart plummeting and my anger rising.

Suddenly, I’m before the Phooka, my magic teleporting me, and by its sudden blink, it wasn’t expecting me. Daggers are in my outstretched hands in the next second, and with a war cry, I plunge them into the Phooka’s eye sockets.

Its jaw drops open as it moves to sink its claws into me, but with one swift tug, I pull the daggers out and kick with all my might, sending the Phooka careening for the ocean below.

The sound of it smacking against the ocean’s surface is similar to that of hitting a boulder. And it does nothing but bring satisfaction to my heart.

* * *

Aurora whimpers, brushing her head against Zephlyn’s once we reconvene. However, it isn’t long until his eyes begin to roll. Before the griffin can plummet from the sky I shoot out my hand, sending a pocket of air to hold the griffin steady.

Flapping my wings rapidly, I hover near his belly, grimacing as I find that the skin I healed is beginning to rot, as if dark magic thrums beneath the surface. My heart pounds a furious beat as I didn’t think to suck the dark power out of the griffin.

Gods, the dark magic really does infect everything pure.

Placing both my palms on his injured belly, blue healing light flows onto his white body of fur. Instead of soothing, though, I guide the power to extract the dark magic. I can’t contain my grimace as I pull away, finding my fingers slick with a black substance akin to oil. Yet despite the disgusting feeling, relief floods me. It’s working.

Axel is beside me in an instant, flying in from below, fear in his voice as he clutches a quivering Elysia to his chest. “Is he all right? I thought he was healed.”

The question has Aurora’s golden eyes narrowing, and she snarls in my direction.

I assure them both, the tightness in my chest lessening as Zephlyn comes to again. “He’s okay. I needed to extract the dark magic the dragon infused in its bite.”

Relief courses through me as he beats those glorious wings, and the air magic I used to hold him steady retreats as he begins to fly on his own.

Axel rubs soothing circles along Elysia’s back as silent tears roll down her cheeks. “Is anyone else?—"

Delilah gasps. “Oh, gods.”

Craning my neck, I follow her eyes where they’re on the water below, only for my jaw to practically unhinge.

Harlow’s water dragon form flickers in and out of visibility as a trail of crimson snakes through the water behind her, leaking from a large bite in her midsection.

I suck in a gasp of shock as I choke, “ No .”

Light flares behind her as tails of all colors swim at her back, the mermaids blasting shock waves at the two water dragons that swim for Harlow’s trail of blood. The mermaid’s powers have remained a mystery for the entirety of their existence and still do, because all we can see is that their individually colored magic is burning any creature in their wake.

Until that, too, seems to falter.

The largest water dragon glides past their bursts of power as if it were nothing, the sight making my heart drop. Whatever magic they used to snare the creatures has been either drained or they somehow learned how to fight against it, and they aren’t going to allow themselves to be trapped within the mermaids’ confines again.

A low rumbling growl reverberates from Delilah’s chest, and I have half a second to take her in before she’s muttering an apology under her breath and free-falling.

Aurora’s cry of outrage joins my string of curses.

“Why can’t she just stay away from danger?” I grit out. I move to leap after her but Elysia’s small voice stops me.

“Because she is the chosen one.”

I can’t help but pause remembering before this started that Delilah had asked me when the time came to trust her. Fretting like an overprotective Fae has gotten me nothing but closer to death.

Our bond sizzles between us, guiding me toward an odd sensation of calmness as I watch Delilah teleport closer to the ocean before opening her arms and diving into the crimson-stained water. The small splash that marks her arrival doesn’t deter the water dragons.

Surely I’ve gone mad. Delilah just jumped into the ocean with water dragons hellbent on killing us all, her especially, and yet I feel as if this is what is meant to happen.

That doesn’t mean she has to do it alone, though.

Steam puffs from Aurora’s snout as she tries to track Delilah’s small figure, who continues to swim deeper by the passing seconds.

“Axel, are you?—”

“Yes, give me orders.”

Wracking my brain as my eyes rove the scene, I command, “Leave Zephlyn with Elysia to patrol the skies. Fly on your own to Harlow and try and heal her if you can get in the water?—”

“On it!” he calls out, only to pause. Axel looks torn for a moment, his gaze locked on Elysia’s still quivering form.

“Go!” she urges him. “I’ll be fine. Zephlyn won’t let anything happen to me.”

But apparently, the indecision wasn’t over whether or not to leave her, though.

Axel quickly plants a kiss against her cheek, stunning the blonde Fae, and he pats Zephlyn before flinging himself away, flying directly for a slow moving Harlow.

Elysia’s shock doesn’t last long as she scrambles forward on Zephlyn and gasps. “Oh my gods.”

Tracking her gaze, Aurora stiffens below me right as I do the same.

A golden hue begins to shine within the depths of the ocean. And only one person can create such a radiant color.

It starts as a round ball before growing second by second, stretching far and wide until its larger than the demonic water dragons.

The dragons seem to pause as they feel the disturbance in the water. Even Harlow, trying to glide her way to safety, seems to falter. The mermaids’ power slows as all eyes turn to the water now glowing gold.