Page 58 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 58

Knox

M y heart drops to my stomach when Delilah leaps through the doorway.

I throw out an air bubble before her head submerges, my chest heaving with relief as she forms on the other side of the doorway, waving back at us with a smile that lights up the depths of the ocean.

Axel claps his hand on my back. “Gods, she really does jump into situations headfirst, doesn’t she?”

My gaze flicks to Elysia. “The same could be said for all of you.”

As if to prove my point, Elysia bursts out with laughter before throwing herself through the doorway, creating her own pocket of air with her limited power. The girls tread water side by side, their eyes shining bright with happiness.

My own smile spreads as I watch Delilah, taking a moment to myself to remember this point in time. That even with all the chaos surrounding us, even with our true goal for being here hounding our hearts, she’s still able to find joy.

I haven’t seen her smile like that in months. It’s breathtaking watching the one you love shine.

Axel’s head drops back with a groan at Elysia’s antics.

Lenox snickers. “I like her.”

Before we can bask in the small lilt of his smile, he dives into the water, far less graceful than the women. The whale paddles backwards to make more room for us as we file out.

Lenox turns around and glares, waving at me before pointing to his head. Snickering, I push another air bubble through the doorway. He heaves in relief, then his lips move a mile a minute, no doubt cussing me out.

His angry look is only half-assed, though. This is the first time since we lost Ace that things have felt normal . Or, as close to normal as we have been in a long time, considering the situation we’re in.

Who would have thought that all it would take was a dip with a whale to see my family become themselves again?

Perhaps I’m not failing them after all.

“Buffoon,” Harlow mutters before turning to me and pinning me with a glare. “Pull something like that on me and I will cut you.”

Her parting words don’t do what they intended, and as she jumps into the water, the sound of my laughter following after, she sends up a vulgar gesture in my direction. Delilah beats me to it and forms an air bubble around her.

“I’m not letting you go last,” Axel says.

My laughter dies as I turn to him, where he gazes back at the waterfall. Without even noticing it, he’s fallen back into the mindset of my second.

I don’t say anything. I clap him on the back, snap my lips shut, and leap.

Water surrounds me, cocooning and oddly hugging me. It’s far warmer than the icy ocean we had treaded above.

My heart leaps with joy as I lift my head to the whale. I find I can’t even force myself to turn at the sound of Axel’s splash as he joins us. Being beside such a majestic creature, and one of this size, threatens to steal my breath.

Now that we’re all here, it lifts its fin, stretching it out wide. The momentum of it sends ripples and currents toward us, making us all swim to keep beside it.

Delilah reaches out with a tentative hand and clasps onto its fin, and when it doesn’t thrash her off but instead keeps its fin outstretched, waiting for the rest of us, joy sizzles through my veins.

Quickly swimming beside my mate, I wrap an arm around her waist and hold on as everyone joins us.

The texture beneath my hand isn’t as slimy as I would have thought it to be. If anything, it feels more like thick rubber. I’m so mesmerized by the texture, peering down at the small barnacles stuck to his fin, that my heart jolts once we start moving.

Delilah shrieks with joy beside me and I can’t help but join her. A burst of laughter falls from my lips, and for the first time in what feels like years, I have fun .

Gods, I never thought I’d think about fun again, let alone experience it. All I’ve had in my heart is loss, grief, sadness, and the endless pit of failure suffocating me.

The only time I’ve ever felt anything other is when I’m with Delilah. But with everything going on around us, it was hard to feel anything but suffering.

Until now.

My cheeks ache with how far my smile stretches.

This is what I want.

If I had one wish in my lifetime, I would be selfish and wish upon every star to have endless moments like this with Delilah, to be beside the love of my life, smiling.

It’s too bad Nolan isn’t here to see this. He deserves this type of happiness and joy too.

As strange as this situation is, it lights a fire under my ass. I’ve always wanted to help my people, to save them from the troubles of war and confinement. But somewhere along the way, I forgot exactly what we were fighting for.

Forgot why we have suffered.

Forgot what we have suffered for.

Happiness.

My people—everyone—deserve to feel happiness.

When I look toward Delilah again, she’s already staring at me with tears pooling in her eyes, feeling every emotion flooding me. I give her a small smile.

Then, I can’t help but laugh. The pod pass us on their patrol again, their tails moving effortlessly through the water. Again, they don’t seem to notice us.

“They won’t believe this!” I call.

“Not in anyone’s wildest dreams,” Delilah says in awe, her eyes back on the water in this part of the ocean.

Below us, corals brim with various mammal life. Fish of all shapes and sizes and species, schools of them. Numerous whales swim far below and above us, some even with small baby whales beside them. None compare in size to the one we travel with, though.

Water dragons twist and turn in the far distance, but not the kind that attacked us. These are ones with pure magic thrumming through their veins. Ones with families and loved ones and a bright light shining in their eyes.

Delilah squeals with delight beside me. Tracking her gaze, I see what has her bouncing with such excitement.

A pod of dolphins emerge from the depths of the ocean.

Dozens upon dozens come into my line of sight, each as beautiful as the next. Swimming in harmony together. Leaping, twirling, borderline laughing with joy. The whale doesn’t bat an eye at them, just continues swimming even as the pod surrounds us, high-pitched squeals emanating from them.

There’s no bloodshed, no whines of pain. There is only joy and happiness within these waters.

I’m not sure who did this, let alone how they cast such a large spell upon the creatures, hiding them from the dark magic, but I am beyond grateful to whoever did. To see such undisturbed, carefree life brimming in these waters, unharmed from the travesty that dark magic has inflicted upon everything else, it’s enough to have my eyes burning with unshed tears.

I’m so focused on watching the wonderous life surrounding me that I’m stunned when we suddenly stop. I peer around the whale’s body, my attention drawn to where it looks on.

To my eyes, all I can see is the endless ocean stretching for miles. However, as it lifts its fin high in the sky, sending us tumbling through the water, I’m momentarily stunned as we all scream in shock.

The whale doesn’t go far, though. It only swims to the side.

Delilah turns to the whale, its eye blinking at her in innocence. Then its head slowly lowers before rising again as if dipping…

Delilah hums before turning to the awaiting ocean. With a deep breath, she lifts her hands and golden light shoots out of her palms. I expect it to spear off into the ocean, but it smashes against an invisible wall in front of us, one that shows a golden outline of a door.

Quickly swimming to it, I place my palms against it and push.

What I didn’t expect was to get sucked through the doorway with the momentum. The air bubble around me pops as I land with a grunt onto a stone floor, the air knocked from my lungs. I pound my chest with a sputtering cough.

Then a figure lands on top of me, chasing away the small amount of air I was able to suck down. I grunt in pain all over again.

Delilah gasps. “Sorry!”

She bites down on another apology as we peer at one another. The corner of my lips twitch as I take in her wet hair and drenched clothes.

Another moment later, we burst out laughing.

But at the sound of rushing water, I teleport us out of the way, my arm clutched around her waist like a vise. There’s a splash, and then something hits the ground hard.

“Didn’t want to break my fall, pretty boy?” Lenox jokes, grunting.

Delilah blinks furiously at the joke he made. I nudge her discreetly in the stomach, thankful that she wipes her stunned expression off her face just in time.

Lenox pulls himself to standing, wiping off water on his face, when something small and fiery flies through the door, taking him to the ground again.

Harlow’s cackle is manic.

“That,” she emphasizes as she shoves off him, “is karma.”

He glares at the tiny Fae-witch. “When is your karma going to get you?”

She shrugs. “When I die.”

The subject is quickly dropped when Axel comes through far more graciously than the rest of us. He simply steps through the door carrying Elysia in his arms. She barely registers Axel’s cocky grin as she squirms out of his hold. “I can’t believe we just crossed the ocean!”

“Upon a whale no less,” Delilah says, giddily.

Harlow turns to the doorway we fell through, sputtering, “Did we swim across to the other side of the building?”

“The magic thrumming through this place is ancient. I don’t doubt it,” I note.

Delilah turns to me. “Have you ever encountered such magic?”

I shake my head, my eyes transfixed on the ocean beyond. “Only ever in stories.”

We all watch as the whale peers through the doorway one last time. Delilah gives it a little wave as it blinks, then swims off.

She’s the first to turn away, so she sees it immediately. “Oh my gods,” she breathes.

I whirl, expecting an attack. But what I see instead should be impossible.

Floating before my eyes are hundreds of islands, suspended throughout the sky, without a ground in sight.