Page 145 of Heir of Broken Souls

Knox presses a quick kiss to my temple before dashing off. “I’ll get the men to ready the boats.” Before we can respond he’s out the door, calling for Axel and Lenox.

Turning to Naia again, I find her gaze upon me, assessing. “What occurred is not your fault.”

I bristle. “Who told you?”

“Who else?” She trails her fingers over the calm water. “The sea.”

I don’t dare touch on that. Even if I begged, she wouldn’t tell me.

“Well, it’s wrong. It’s very much my fault,” I say stiffly.

Every time I think about what I did my entire body locks up, repulsing the very notion of how I allowed Hazel to slip through my fingers.

“Don’t chase after them. Play them by their own game.”

And with those words she parts, submerging below the water and leaving me to stew on her words. If I didn’t know any better, I would think it was a riddle to a vision she received, but surely we’ve passed the stage of her not telling me things…right?

After all, I saved her life.

“Play them by their own game,” I murmur to myself.

The words continue to loop in my mind as I climb the stairs to the top deck. Knox is already there, calling out orders over the railing. Stepping beside him, my back tingles as his calloused palm slides down my skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps. Below, Axel and Lenox work to lower the rowboats. At least Axel is sober again, though his eyes are heavy with purple bags.

“Are we sure this is wise?” I whisper.

“If anything, I believe Peter has placed dark magic around the area to ward us off.”

My brow arches. “Yes, he certainly does like his games…”

“Anything you want to tell me?”

I turn to him, whispering, “Naia relayed something interesting to me, and for some reason, I can’t get it out of my mind.”

The moment the rowboats hit the water and Axel and Lenox jump into their respective boats, he turns to me, wrapping his hands around my waist.

“Care to share?” he asks, grinning.

Rolling my eyes at the mischief in his gaze despite the situation, I open my gilded mind to him.

Once his eyes unglaze, he looks down at me. “Play their own game. Hmm.” He straightens, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “We’ve certainly been trying, and failing, but perhaps she knows something we don’t.” A muscle in his jaw ticks. “And I’m certainly tired of defending.”

Before I can respond a low roar sounds in the sky. Tipping my head back, I track Aurora and Zephlyn’s movements as they come to land atop the deck. Aurora looks at me, then dips her lion head toward Knox.

“All is clear,” he announces. “Are you ready?”

My magic hums in answer, rising to the occasion of something I’m entirely unaware of.

“As I’ll ever be.”

* * *

Lenox sits behind Knox and me in the small rowboat, his posture as stiff and surly as ever before as his eyes seem to search every inch he can see.

Glancing behind me to the boat that Harlow, Elysia, and Axel sit in, I find Axel finally sober. Although he too is as stiff as Lenox, his gaze roving, his eyes are heavy with dark purple circles beneath them.

The griffins fly above us, circling the area. They’re on the lookout for Hazel’s return, along with any demonic beasts Peter tries to send our way again.

The mermaids were right, we can feel the wrongness of the ocean and we’re not even touching it. I can’t imagine how they feel swimming through it. We haven’t encountered a single fish or ripple of water that wasn’t caused by us or the pod swimming below.