Page 71 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 71

Delilah

A t Knox’s command, his court leap through the portal with a roar. They go in swinging with magic and swords. Screaming a war cry of agony and torture from their souls.

I move to follow, but Knox stops me. Before I can protest, he silences me with a kiss so passionate my knees threaten to buckle. But as quickly as it started, it stops, and he tears his lips from mine with a heave.

Dropping his head to mine, he whispers gutturally, “I’ll always find you, in this life or the next.”

“Forever and always,” I whisper. “As one.”

“As one.” He opens his mouth, but before he can utter the words that will curse him, I kiss him and give him a push.

The moment his boots touch the ground, his arms are swinging. Black tendrils leak in all directions, wrapping around the necks of Phookas, demonic hounds, and other creatures I can’t dare to look at for too long. Some are met with suffocation, others a broken neck, and those who slip through his shadowed power are met with the mighty warrior of Knox Holloway and his steel. He’s a whirlwind of power and grace as he enacts his revenge upon his enemies. There is no mercy as he makes their blood spill.

I’m about to jump through and relinquish my golden power upon them so they don’t rise again for round two when something stops me.

There are Fae among the demonic lines, fighting through glazed, milky eyes.

My jaw drops as my heart somersaults.

The Fae from the in-between fight alongside him…as his puppets.

My heart pinches painfully at the thought of Nolan having to stop his mother and sister from killing him, but I have to shake the thoughts away before I get lost down that path.

I turn to the griffins at my back, waiting for their command.

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

And so the scales shall devour their dark souls. ”

I repeat this part of my prophecy, but this time consider my theory on it.

I didn’t tell anyone my thoughts, not after I’ve put hope in their eyes too many times only to rip it away. If we lose this, I don’t want to be responsible for the heart-crushing reality.

Even Knox…I didn’t want to break his heart if this doesn’t work.

Without explanation, I dip my head and the griffins launch, Zephlyn first and then Aurora, into the skies of the war raging on.

Then I take a deep breath and leap into the battle of the millennia—into the battle of my destiny.

* * *

The portal behind me is swept away in shadows before it can end up in the wrong hands. And before the hounds around me that lie dead can rise, I click my finger and watch as they ignite into golden flames, never to return to these lands.

My magic thrives here, humming its anticipation as it continues to pour from my hands.

I don’t need to touch the twin dragon pommel swords at my back, or the daggers at my hips. I don’t need a blade in my hand when I can simply snap and the demonic creatures fall.

Trailing behind Knox and his destruction, I burn those he kills and plow through the few who manage to slip through his grasp. My power is hungry for revenge, greedy for the destruction of the demons.

Zephlyn dropping from the sky sends my heart racing, but he only plucks Elysia from the ground and turns them both invisible. One of the rarer griffins to possess such a power. I’d give anything for Aurora to?—

A smirk grazes my lips. I forgot my own power once again.

Finding Aurora fighting amongst the demonic dragons and griffins alike, I can’t help but grin devilishly as she suddenly disappears from view. The dragon, with its mouth exposed and jaws unhinged, stops short, where it was about to snap at her hind legs. Gratitude sizzles along our bond as I keep Aurora invisible without so much as a thought.

As the dragon blinks its confusion, its neck suddenly snaps, cracking at an odd angle. Its eyes go unseeing a moment before its throat is suddenly ripped out, and then it plummets.

Aurora continues moving throughout the skies, ripping out the necks of her enemies who can’t see her coming.

My head snaps down from the sky, my eyes flaring as a hound slips past my magic. Before it can get to me with its outstretched claws, I unsheathe the twin dragon swords at my back and decapitate it with both of them at once. The hound’s dead weight drops, but before I can move past it, I pause, something within its decapitated neck stopping me.

There.

Lined around its dark oily blood are small golden flickers of amber.

I startle, jumping back just in time as the hound erupts in golden flames, turning into nothing but ash.

My heart hammers wildly in my ears, the twin swords in my hands now suddenly clammy from my wet palms.

I was right.

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

And so the scales shall devour their dark souls.

It’s the blades . The blades can kill those who are corrupt. He doesn’t even need to show his true face. I just need to get close enough to?—

A scream tears from my lips as pain like an inferno erupts along my spine.

“Hello, Angel.”

In my periphery, I see Knox’s dashing face as he holds the blade embedded in my back. Blood dribbles down my mouth and I’m helpless to do anything as he smirks.

There is nothing behind those eyes I love so much.

Not even a flicker of light.

“Let’s leave the princeling unaware of this, shall we?” he drawls. The voice, while familiar, does not resonate with my heart.

That grabs my attention, and I snap forward to where I thought Knox was.

Up ahead, he still rages against the demons, and shortly behind him, a girl follows that looks like…me. The demonic creatures keep a wide berth from her and it won’t take Knox long to realize it isn’t me. She can’t replicate the golden power.

Before I can try and get my magic to stir, the blade embedded within my back moves, grazing my spine in such an agonizing move my vision tunnels.

My magic snaps, striking out like the serpent it is.

My entire body glows golden, my wings snap open, and the movement and my power push the blade from my spine. The Fae imposing Knox at my back curses and drops me.

Before I can allow the pain to engulf my body, I spin, bringing the twin dragon blades to his neck. Avoiding his sapphire eyes, I grit my teeth and spit, “Show yourself.”

“I was looking forward to having an audience this time,” it pouts.

I push the swords in further, wincing internally, until black blood oozes down his neck. Until his eyes widen at the golden ambers dancing along the cut that no doubt burn like the depths of hell.

Fear tinges their eyes and mold into their true color—soft blue.

I can’t help but grin. “I was hoping to see you.”