Page 129 of Heir of Broken Souls

I suck in a gasp of shock as I choke, “No.”

Light flares behind her as tails of all colors swim at her back, the mermaids blasting shock waves at the two water dragons that swim for Harlow’s trail of blood. The mermaid’s powers have remained a mystery for the entirety of their existence and still do, because all we can see is that their individually colored magic is burning any creature in their wake.

Until that, too, seems to falter.

The largest water dragon glides past their bursts of power as if it were nothing, the sight making my heart drop. Whatever magic they used to snare the creatures has been either drained or they somehow learned how to fight against it, and they aren’t going to allow themselves to be trapped within the mermaids’ confines again.

A low rumbling growl reverberates from Delilah’s chest, and I have half a second to take her in before she’s muttering an apology under her breath and free-falling.

Aurora’s cry of outrage joins my string of curses.

“Why can’t she just stay away from danger?” I grit out. I move to leap after her but Elysia’s small voice stops me.

“Because she is the chosen one.”

I can’t help but pause remembering before this started that Delilah had asked me when the time came totrusther. Fretting like an overprotective Fae has gotten me nothing but closer to death.

Our bond sizzles between us, guiding me toward an odd sensation of calmness as I watch Delilah teleport closer to the ocean before opening her arms and diving into the crimson-stained water. The small splash that marks her arrival doesn’t deter the water dragons.

SurelyI’ve gone mad. Delilah just jumped into the ocean with water dragons hellbent on killing us all, her especially, and yet I feel as if this is what is meant to happen.

That doesn’t mean she has to do it alone, though.

Steam puffs from Aurora’s snout as she tries to track Delilah’s small figure, who continues to swim deeper by the passing seconds.

“Axel, are you?—”

“Yes, give me orders.”

Wracking my brain as my eyes rove the scene, I command, “Leave Zephlyn with Elysia to patrol the skies. Fly on your own to Harlow and try and heal her if you can get in the water?—”

“On it!” he calls out, only to pause. Axel looks torn for a moment, his gaze locked on Elysia’s still quivering form.

“Go!” she urges him. “I’ll be fine. Zephlyn won’t let anything happen to me.”

But apparently, the indecision wasn’t over whether or not to leave her, though.

Axel quickly plants a kiss against her cheek, stunning the blonde Fae, and he pats Zephlyn before flinging himself away, flying directly for a slow moving Harlow.

Elysia’s shock doesn’t last long as she scrambles forward on Zephlyn and gasps. “Oh my gods.”

Tracking her gaze, Aurora stiffens below me right as I do the same.

A golden hue begins to shine within the depths of the ocean. And only one person can create such a radiant color.

It starts as a round ball before growing second by second, stretching far and wide until its larger than the demonic water dragons.

The dragons seem to pause as they feel the disturbance in the water. Even Harlow, trying to glide her way to safety, seems to falter. The mermaids’ power slows as all eyes turn to the water now glowing gold.

Chapter47

Delilah

The freezing temperature of the water shocks my system enough that I momentarily pause as I grasp my bearings. Kicking out my legs, I form a pocket of air around my mouth and take a deep pull of breath into my lungs, and I prepare to do something I never thought I’d be able to.

Not until I saw the vision.

Power moves from the bottom of my toes to the top of my hair, like how I envision using my invisibility magic. But instead, this time, I fill that with golden power and imagine myself stretching, my feet molding, my legs blending, my body moving, my fingers webbing. I picture every single detail the vision showed me and conform the very molecules of my body to the image of the golden water one.