Page 107 of Heir of Broken Souls

Reluctantly pulling away from the edge, I turn to Lenox. “Sorry, what did you say?”

He clears his throat. “I was saying that you’re probably going to fall another hundred times before your mind and body work in sync together without you having to actively focus on it. When I was trying it your way the other night?—”

“The other night?” I cut in.

His eyes widen a fraction, the only sign of something amiss. He shakes his head. “I misspoke?—”

“No, you didn’t.”

He gives me an exasperated look, all but begging me to drop it.

“What did you do the other night?” I ask. And then it dawns on me. I lower my voice. “Was that why you were drenched? Because you were?—”

He rubs the nape of his neck with his palm, a crimson flush covering his cheeks. “I wanted to help and no one had thought to mimic your body to see what was going wrong.”

Something within my heart cracks, pinching painfully at the revelation.

He’s still in there—our Lenox, the one that has a heart of gold and is loyal and kind to a fault.

My eyes must soften because his back straightens and he curses. “Stop it.”

“Lenox, that’s awfully sweet.” I lay a tentative hand on his arm as my other moves to my chest. “Truly, you have no idea how much it means to me that you would go that far to help me.”

“Of course. You’re my family.”

Chapter38

Delilah

Iguzzle from my waterskin until it’s empty. It was my suggestion to make the time pass with sparring. Although no one knows my suggestion has more to do with seeing what Elysia is capable of, which I’m stunned to find is not much at all.

I guess I had a preconceived notion that all Fae were trained fighters, or knew how to wield a blade, at the very least.

Elysia broke that stereotype this morning—tenfold.

I knew she said she wasn’t trained with a sword but…it’s like watching a newborn calf wobble on unsteady legs.

The headache that bloomed shortly after watching her fumble with daggers grew insurmountable once Axel joined her. The pair wouldn’t stop bickering, so much so Knox sent them away—sent themallaway—to spar downstairs.

Gods knows why they’re still bickering. You’d think they would have accepted the pairing after Axel was clinging to her during the storm, not to mention his reaction to her while she received a vision. But whatever happened between them after Elysia’s slumber—when they had disappeared for a time—has raised their hackles once more.

Axel probably said something foolish.

If I thought Lenox and Harlow’s bickering was once dreadful, the spiteful mates are on another level entirely. It’s as if they’ve fallen into something they can’t climb out of. With everything that’s on the horizon, though, I wish they would hurry up and sort out their differences.

“Ready for another round, Angel? Or are you ready to admit defeat?”

I roll my eyes at his challenge. “Cocky bastard,” I mutter.

“Perhaps you forgot a word in there. Here’s a couple to choose from: beautiful, exquisite, delightful, ravishing?—”

A bark of laughter explodes from my chest. “Oh, darling, you wish.”

“They aren’t words I plucked out at random, Angel.” His grin turns devilish. “They have fallen from your very lips.”

Unsheathing my dragon pommel sword I’m upon him in a flash, and by the way his eyes widen a fraction, it is a move he didn’t anticipate. I vanish in the blink of an eye, then reappear behind him with my blade to his throat and my wings unfurled, allowing me to hover at his tall height behind his back.

Knox sucks in a sharp breath.