Page 164 of Heir of Broken Souls

“Hold your breath!”

I suck in a deep gasp a moment before it feels like we hit a brick wall. Nothing broke the water’s barrier before we careened into it.

The icy water seizes my body and lungs, and pain shoots down the right side of my body. Even Knox convulses in pain. Over his shoulder, Elysia is the first to dive in after us, her own body locking up at the freezing temperature, and everyone soon follows.

Knox wraps his hand around my arm, pulling me to the surface. The moment my head breaches the water I scream in pain, my entire body wracked with it.

I can hear Knox apologizing profusely.

“Gods, I’m a fool, Delilah. I’m so sorry.”

The pain in his voice, not from his own wounds but from the belief that he caused mine, makes my heart trip over itself.

I bite my tongue, forcing myself to lock the pain away, to wait for the ebb and flow of the healing properties within my Fae body to overcome the agony. Floating on my back, I try to suck in deep gulps of air as I breathe through gritted teeth. I can’t even speak to tell Knox how he’s being foolish, since he didn’t realize how hard we would hit the water or how it would be ice cold.

“I couldn’t turn in time to take the fall,” Knox says, his voice full of emotion.

More voices ring out, questions being asked, but I cannot find a part of me to care, not while my body feels like it’s on fire.

Knox’s hands gently hold me up from behind and something fills my body, surrounding it like a cocoon until surprisingly the pain ebbs away and I can finally suck in a greedy gasp of air.

My head lifts to Knox’s agonized eyes, his hands glowing beneath my back as he heals me.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers again.

The words are guttural, so much so that the moment the pain is gone, I’m scrambling to wrap my hands around his neck, holding his head in the palm of my hand.

“Shh,” I soothe. “Don’t, you have taken on enough guilt. You didn’t know.” I plant a firm kiss against his lips, my eyes widening as an electric current zaps between us, making me gasp and pull away.

Knox traces his finger over his lip.

“And I’m all fine now.” I push away, wondering what sparked between us like that as I swim. “You healed me. I would be more cross if you left me to?—”

Sharp claws wrap around my feet a second before a firm tug pulls me into the icy water below. Then everything goes dark.

Chapter60

Knox

There’s afuckingdemonic hound with its disgusting leathery black claws wrapped around Delilah’s ankle, pulling her down below the surface of the water.

Nothing can stop me right now.

I send a pocket of air around her mouth and quickly teleport myself not behind but in front of the hound. I want it to see me, and it does, its eyes widening, just as I ram my blade through its chest.

Black blood oozes from the gash as I yank it out. I reach forward, snapping its neck for good measure.

Its claw drops away from Delilah’s ankle as she comes to, her eyes fluttering open before instinct takes hold and she eviscerates the hound in a golden ball of fire, ensuring it can’t be summoned back to these lands again.

Wrapping my hand around hers, I tug us to the surface. We breach the water with deep gasps, only to be met with the sound of manic cackling, high-pitched screams, and the unmistakable cries of battle.

Before I can truly get my bearings, Delilah is plucked from the water by claws so quickly I can’t even hear the scream she lets out as another hound dives for me, taking me below the water.

My shadows are useless below the water, but my water magic isn’t. I lift my dagger and stab it down into its leathery shoulder, and when it opens its mouth to scream, I pour water down its throat, invading its lungs. It chokes, blubbering and jerking as it drowns.

I don’t have Delilah’s golden magic, but I twist its neck before it sinks to the bottom of the water. We’ll just have to deal with it later when it’s summoned once more.

But I just need to see her, need to know where she was taken.