Page 119 of Heir of Broken Souls

“It’s not and you know it.” My throat is tight, burning with all the words I want to say and yet can’t.

“Just make him suffer, Delilah,” she says softly. “When the day comes, unleash yourself.”

“I won’t rest until I stop him.”

Tears well in her red eyes. “I know. It’s why you were chosen.”

Chapter42

Knox

She doesn’t know that I’m awake and watching.

If she does, she shows no sign of acknowledging it. All she continues to do is stare into the fire blazing in the hearth.

She’s hiding something.

The real question is, though, what is it and why is she so fearful to tell me? I saw how she reacted when I asked her about it last night, the way her neck and shoulders coiled with tension. She tried to mask it, tried to brush it off, but I know her as well as I do myself.

If it weren’t for the update from Nolan and Harlow helping her unleash her anger last night, I would have pressed more about it but once my head hit the pillow, I was out like the dead.

But now, it consumes me all over again thinking about it.

Gods.

The news from Nolan truly threw me for a loop.

Never in all my time in the lands of Aloriah and the courts of the Fae did I ever think there would come a day when we had to sanction our people to pack a bag and prepare to abandon our home. The unending ache in my chest flares at the reminder of it all.

I have never felt more like a failure to my people than I do now.

My father wouldn’t have failed his people. He wouldn’t have had to evacuate his city because of the ruins from a battle.

The day my parents died was the day Azalea lost the greatest rulers to ever exist. They ran the court with kindness and a fierce heart, and all I have given my people is doom.

“You’re up.”

Delilah’s voice pulls me from my desolate thoughts.

I give her a reassuring smile. “I can’t believe I slept that long. What time is it?”

“It’s still early, no need to fret.”

As she stands her entire body coils as tight as our bond. It’s tugging relentlessly, screaming at me for something that I can’t put my finger on.

My gaze drops. “Then why are you in your fighting leathers?”

She freezes, a momentary pause that makes her eyes flood with panic. She seems to brush it off, force herself to relax, but the tension doesn’t leave her shoulders completely. “I was hoping everyone could help me with a flying lesson this morning.”

I quirk a brow.

Yet something deep—ancient—within me tells me not to push her. It practically screams at my body to keep my mouth shut.

The last time I felt ordered by my own body like this was when I saw Delilah for the first time. I had that same ancient feeling pass through me, a wisdom of the ages as my mind shouted from the rooftops,My angel.

Perhaps it’s the bond between us.

Before now, it had been nearly one hundred and fifty years since the mating bond was able to snap into place with our magic lessening, and because of that, the knowledge of it faded. Of course, people are talking about it now that magic has been restored, but I don’t know nearly enough about the bond as I should.