Page 69 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 69

Knox

A sick sort of satisfaction fills my veins as Delilah and I stand side by side, watching as she burns our enemy’s home to the ground. Yet nothing will soothe the ache in my chest after seeing my parents’ faces today for the first time in decades. They were significantly younger in the memory than when they passed, so much so I wonder when the trial occurred.

Delilah spins on her heel, her palm resting on the dagger strapped to her hip. It’s jarring to witness her without the dragon pommel sword at her back. Shaking off my desolate thoughts and locking away the emotions that rose to the surface at seeing memories of my parents and the crippling failure at once again putting my innocent people in harm’s way, I trail after Delilah. Becoming the king everyone needs in this moment.

On the other side of the mirror portal, Lenox, with a thousand emotions swirling in his gaze, comes to an abrupt halt as we approach. He peers through the mirror with longing.

“Gods, can we hurry up and put him out of his misery?” Harlow snaps.

I wave my hand with a flourish. “Go on then, no one is stopping you.”

She straightens suddenly. “I’m not going first.”

Delilah rolls her eyes before marching forward. “Gods, Harlow.”

Without a passing glance, Delilah steps through the swirling mirror, bringing immense relief to Lenox’s features.

“Need someone else to go and ensure your safety, Harlow?” I ask mockingly.

She glowers at me. “I didn’t see you stopping her.”

I shrug, far too exhausted to deign a response before she walks through the portal. Axel gives me a look before turning his gaze past my shoulder to the burning castle behind me.

Adverting his eyes, I wait until I hear him walk through too, then before they can worry about me being lost, I crane my neck behind me and leap, making sure that nothing morbidly insane can follow us through the portal.

“She’s WHAT ?” Lenox explodes the second I come through.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I see they filled you in.”

“Filled me in?” Lenox sputters. “H-how is this even possible?”

Before his endless stream of questions can pour out and make my headache bloom further, I step into his mind and show him exactly what we saw. It takes everything within me not to flinch as my parents come into view, and the moment Phoebe’s face—the queen of Air—is revealed.

Lenox doesn’t have the same success as I do. His body visibly shudders.

Surprisingly, Harlow lifts her hand to touch him in comfort, but drops it quickly, as if fully realizing what she’s doing.

“Can we trust anyone?” he whispers gutturally.

“No.”

The sharp response comes from Delilah, who stands behind us all, her gaze locked on the twin daggers impaled in the boulder keeping the portal open.

One thing I can always count on feeling these days is worry, and I’m in no short demand now that Delilah’s side of the bond fumes with anxiety and anger. It practically burns me, and I know nothing and no one can do anything to stop the whirlwind of thoughts, except one.

The death of Peter Maloone.

Delilah’s head finally rips away from the swords. “Oh my gods.”

Her tone of disbelief sets off an internal alarm within me, wailing a warning to be cautious. “What is it?”

“The campfire story.”

That’s not what I expected. “What campfire story?”

“When we were traveling through the human lands with the rebels, there was an evening where we all told stories around the fire. Nolan shared one?—”

“About a tale of a woman passing down a generational dark magic curse,” I cut in, awe and shock thundering through me once more as the final puzzle piece clicks into place.

Harlow gasps. “I’ve heard Nolan share the story before. It ended with the twins being banished.”

“Are you telling me that all this time the answer to all our questions was laid out before us in…a campfire story?”

Delilah barks out a laugh.

The sound is so sudden and jarring every member of my court whips their gaze to my mate.

She can’t stop.

The sound fills the room but holds not an ounce of humor.

“Of course it is,” she continues to laugh, wiping the corner of her eye.

Slowly stepping toward my mate, I raise my hands in surrender. “Delilah, what’s so funny, Angel?”

She holds her stomach as she bends over, cackling hysterically.

“R-right in front of us the whole time!”

“You couldn’t have known,” Elysia says softly.

Delilah snorts. “Oh please, he probably spread that story himself ! Getting off on it like one sick joke while he tormented us all right beneath our noses.”

The admission tears from her mouth, and she sputters with a raspberry, laughing once more.

“I can slap her,” Harlow offers.

Elysia whispers under her breath, “You will do no such thing!”

“Someone needs to slap some sense into her. She’s lost her mind.”

“Harlow!” I reprimand through gritted teeth. “Not the time.”

Delilah stops suddenly, taking a deep breath. “No, she’s right, I think I need some?—”

Harlow is in front of her before anyone can stop her, smacking her right across the face.

Delilah’s head whips to the side by the force of it, her hair splaying out in the air. In the next millisecond , I have Harlow pinned to the wall, my hand on her neck, my canines flared at her throat. Fire burns in my eyes.

“If you ever so much as lay a finger on her again, I will tear you limb from limb and throw each piece through a different portal so you’ll never be whole again.” Shoving her into the wall harder than before, I bellow, “Do you understand?”

The half-witch has the guts to smirk at me. A murderous growl rumbles from the depths of my soul.

A tiny hand lands on my arm. “Knox, let her go. I asked for it.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Can we focus on what really matters?” Delilah pleads. “We know who our enemy is. We know their names, their faces , Knox. This is everything we have been searching for.” She huffs before yanking on my arm, forcing me to drop my hold. “For gods’ sake, Knox, I needed that!”

I look to her, but at the sight of the red burning handprint on her cheek, I growl again.

Delilah rolls her eyes. “Can we deal with this later, please?”

“Knox, she’s right. She stopped laughing. Let’s get back to what matters.”

This comes from Axel, who I turn to glare at.

“Shall I order Harlow to do the same to Elysia and tell you to drop it?” I sneer.

The Fae glowers. “No.”

“Precisely.”

Delilah snarls, a low dangerous sound in her chest that oddly has me straightening, especially as she commands me . “Drop it.”

Rubbing a hand down my face, I turn to Harlow. “Apologize,” I command.

She rolls her eyes but huffs, “I’m sorry.”

It’s the least genuine apology I’ve ever heard so for good measure, I wrap shadows around her waist and place Harlow far away from Delilah and me, more so to keep her safe from my protective rage that still wants to rip the spy’s throat out.

Ignoring Harlow’s protest, I turn to the rest of my court. “Does anyone have any thoughts on how to take them down?”

Harlow shakes her head. “It’s going to take one heluva plan to get the dark lord?—”

“Peter,” I interject, wanting to strip him of his menacing title.

And by the coy smile gracing Delilah’s lips, she likes the sentiment.

“Peter,” Harlow repeats with a roll of her eyes. “He’s no fool, he won’t return to his true form knowing it’s the only way to kill him.”

“What if we don’t kill him?”

Everyone stops to turn and gawk at me. Including Delilah.

“You cannot be serious,” Axel spits, his temper flaring.

“We have finally found something that he truly cares about—something that will strike his black heart. Why don’t we take it away and banish him to the prison world to live out his days in misery?”

After all, that’s what Delilah originally wanted. And by the flash of emotion in her gaze, she remembers the vow she made before we set off for the human lands all those months ago.

“And let him find a way to leave again?” Harlow tsks. “Not a chance.”

“He won’t transform into his true form, though, and this will just continue to go on. Day in and day out, people are suffering. We don’t have time,” Elysia argues, reminding us all of the great cost.

“We can talk about it all on the way home. We have the answers we were searching for, and now we know his face. The rest we can figure out,” I suggest.

Elysia turns behind her to the portal. “Perhaps we can use this to travel home?”

“I thought it was just a portal to the prison world,” Delilah muses, her head cocking to the side as she studies it.

Elysia shakes her head. “I don’t believe so. There is no such thing as creating a portal for just one world. This has just been spelled to show?—”

The moment her fingers graze the gold trim her body freezes.

Axel lunges, wrapping his hands around her waist to pull her back, but instead he’s flung across the room from the power.

Elysia’s eyes grow murky as she recites.

“ One set was birthed the other forged, brought together their blood will pour.

But don’t be fooled, for the mirror majesties have a pull.

Join your steel and lunge with a roar, and weave your golden fate.

And so the scales shall devour their dark souls. ”

Lenox gives Axel a helping hand as he rubs the back of his head with a grimace. All the while, Elysia recites the passage over and over and over.

“It’s the blades,” Delilah whispers.

The second the words leave her lips Elysia sags, heaving and panting from exertion as if she just ran a long distance. Axel is next to her in a heartbeat, his movements hesitant before he shakes his head and drops to his knees, rubbing her back soothingly.

Elysia’s mouth drops open to speak but gasps fill the large room instead as the mirror swirls with blue light, the image changing from the cobblestone driveway of the prison world with the castle going up in golden flames to?—

“It’s the griffins,” Lenox shouts in surprise, taking a step forward to peer through.

My gaze flicks back and forth, from the image of the cave-like island in the middle of the ocean in the mirror portal, along with the two griffins that fly above scouting the area, to the twin dragon pommel swords jutting out of the rock before the mirror. Delilah steps forward, our bond tugging relentlessly as emotions swirl through her heart. She must have sent something down the bond to Aurora because the griffin halts midair.

Gods, now I’ve gone and terrified her. She probably thinks something has happened , Delilah worries.

Don’t worry, we will be reunited with her shortly to ease her worries.

Narrowing my eyes on the mirror, I can’t help but ponder out loud. “I wonder if it’s sentient.”

“What makes you think that?” Delilah asks, her gaze riveted to the portal and Aurora and Zephlyn beyond.

I wave my hands at it as if in answer. “It was listening to Elysia. The moment we doubted that we could choose where it sends us, it changes to where we need to go.”

“No wonder he figured out how to summon demonic creatures from other lands,” Harlow says, gesturing to the portal. “He was inspired by his own prison.”

Lenox rubs the scruff along his jaw as he steps beside Harlow, almost…reflexively as he thinks. Her eyes widen but the surprise is there and gone as she slips a mask of indifference over her face once more.

Elysia and Delilah exchange a glance.

Looks like I’m not the only one who noticed.

Lenox’s voice fills the silent room. “Do you think we could take it with us?”

“I don’t see why not.” I shrug. “How we’re going to carry it and stow it, however…that will be tricky. We can’t have this falling into the wrong hands.”

“That’s if it doesn’t decide to disappear after spitting us out,” Elysia murmurs.

Delilah’s hand moves to her necklace. “Perhaps we conceal it. We can keep an eye on it without others knowing…if it doesn’t disappear.”

“Would we have to leave the swords in?” I voice aloud.

Delilah gasps, spinning to them as an emotion akin to loss tumbles down the bond between us. “Gods, I hope not. I can’t bear to part with my sword.”

Elysia steps beside her, shaking her head. “The prophecy I just received said join your steel and lunge with a roar. My guess is it’s the reunited blades.”

Delilah’s chest heaves with relief.

Turning away from the mirror, I face the room. “There’s so much history here, the secrets that were buried by their black magic. We need to come back and explore it.”

“We need to move it closer to Aloriah,” Axel mutters under his breath.

Lenox grunts. “It was no doubt there in the first place. It’s a safety concern for the royals to travel this far. If something were to happen, they’d be stranded.”

“Lenox is right,” I muse. “I’m not sure how but I have a feeling the twins dragged it out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“If Hazel was following us…” Axel stiffens at Elysia’s words. “How long until she reports back that we know everything?”

Elysia’s question makes everyone pause. Tension rises.

“We should move—quickly,” I say suddenly. “Everyone through the portal. Delilah?—”

I cannot believe these words are about to come out of my mouth.

“—I’ll stay half in and out of the portal, latched onto your hand, but you’ll have to be the last one out. I don’t trust the portal to remain upright once you pull the swords out.”

She nods her head encouragingly. “Both of them?”

“Both,” I confirm.

While my court jumps through the portal, mumbling assurances to the griffins and mermaids at our sudden reappearance, I spare one last glance around. Something deep within my heart and soul feels connected to this place. A part of me wonders if it’s my magic knowing it’s returned to its rightful place, or perhaps my blood as a Holloway knows its right to rule the lands of Aloriah and the Essence Court.

There and then, I make a vow. I’m unsure if I can keep it, but I wish it nonetheless.

To return to this now risen island, to the place where the governing courts deserve to rule out in harmony, and restore it to its former glory.

The mirror behind me glows, as if in answer to my silent vow.

I don’t have time to wonder if my thoughts are correct. Instead, I place one foot through the mirror, ignoring the odd sensation as I keep my other foot firmly planted within the governing island, and hold out my hand to Delilah.

“Here goes nothing,” she mutters.

Sliding her hand in mine, our bond burns bright as a hum of electricity strikes through our touch. Delilah shivers as she places a hand on her original dragon pommel sword. Then a golden hand of power wraps around the hilt of its new twin.

Taking a deep breath, she exhales slowly.

“In three, two… one !”

I don’t waste any time. The moment Delilah pulls the twin swords free, her grasp on them and her hand in mine, I’m yanking her and launching us through the portal.

We fall onto the rocky terrain of the city’s entrance. I don’t even mind, my chest heaving in relief. We made it.

I turn, also seeing the mirror has remained standing—or perhaps I should say floating. The blue swirl still glows on its surface, but we can no longer see the room we came from. All that peers back at me is my disheveled self, along with a stunned Delilah.

“Care to share your memories?” Naia asks suddenly, making Delilah flinch beside me.

Can they be trusted? she asks.

Something tells me the mirror would have vanished if we shouldn’t.

Delilah hums under her breath before turning to the pod. Then I can’t wait to see the expressions on their faces when they see the memory of us swimming around them.

I fight to hold back my smile.

Opening a section of my mind to Naia, I send memories of all we encountered her way. We wait as she works to digest it all.

Delilah was right, though. The second I show her our time crossing the ocean, the look that passes across Naia’s face is priceless. Her jaw unhinges, her red glowing eyes widen, and she gasps so loudly her pod surround her in an instant.

Whether Naia has the ability to share all that I’m showing her or her pod just has blind faith in her, I’m unsure, but the death glares they were sending my way halt entirely as Naia rushes forward with her gaze pinned on the portal behind me.

“I can’t believe it,” she breathes.

“So, it’s true then. There was once a governing city,” her second Amelia hums.

Definitely has some form of mind control beyond psychic abilities.

Not one of my court members comment on it. Yet they’re probably filing that piece of information away for later.

“What do you mean it’s true ?” Delilah asks.

Amelia shrugs, suddenly playing coy. “Just that we’ve heard from the ocean of such a thing before.”

“How long ago?” I ask.

“What is this, an interrogation?”

“Amelia,” Naia reprimands. “Answer him.”

She rolls her eyes, her candor so much like Harlow I find myself wanting to laugh, until she says, “Around the time the curse was first placed upon the Fae and these lands.”

“One hundred and fifty years ago,” Delilah whispers.

“The twins sure were busy,” Harlow mutters under her breath.

At the mention, Axel freezes again, his shoulders hiking up to his ears.

“Did you hear anything else from the ocean at that time?” Delilah asks.

Amelia opens her mouth to respond when the pod suddenly snap to attention, flanking their queen, power swirling at their fingertips.

Stiffening, my own hand drops to my weapons and I’m beside Delilah in a heartbeat.

“What is it?”

Naia’s gills have flattened, her entire body tense. She hisses, “That thing has a mind of its own.”

Amelia releases a sound close to a growl. “And it wants us to fight.”

At first, I’m unsure what they’re speaking of, wondering if it’s another riddle but then I take note of where their eyes have landed and it’s not on me, but past me. Slowly turning, I can’t help but drop the sword from my hand, the metal hitting the rocky terrain with a clang that rings in my ears.

“Gods,” I breathe.

Perhaps I’m calling upon them. We certainly will need them as I peer through the mirror that has shifted once more.

I’m no longer looking at my face, and the fear likely upon it. Instead, I’m peering through to a world of blood, gore, death, and war.

One that is upon the front lines of the war we have been fighting for weeks.

One that has the dark lord, Peter Maloone himself, marching alongside the lines of his demonic army as he overthrows Aloriah, leaving utter destruction in his wake.