Page 167 of Heir of Broken Souls

Delilah’s voice grows small, timid. “What exactly were they protecting?”

Straightening my shoulders, I step forward. “That, it seems, we are about to find out.”

My steps are sure and steady, the opposite of my frantic heartbeat. And she knows that. Delilah, the beautiful, fearless woman, steps beside me, always ready to have my back.

It’s an inappropriate time but gods, all I want to do is kiss her and hold her.

I want to spend a lifetime with her. I want to spend the rest of my days touching her, exploring the world with her by my side—ruling my court with her as my queen.

I want it all.

And to have that, I need to have strength.

The pep talk works. My heart rate lowers, and my mind slips into that warrior calmness, prepared for anything on the other side of this cave.

“Everyone be ready. If he can open a portal in here, then he can send demons at any time, including Hazel.”

Axel’s sneer is full of rage. “I’ll be ready.”

Dipping my chin at him, déjà vu hits me as I turn back to the cave, and Delilah and I step forward.

That is, until my hand brushes the cave and magic takes hold of my body.

Delilah calls my name, my court rush forward, but I can do nothing—absolutely nothing—but stand victim as thousands of memories assault my mind.

I see…my mother, a radiant smile lighting her face. It is one of mischief as she links her hands with strong ones. The memory’s owner lowers their gaze to their joined hands, and then the memory switches and I’m suddenly watching from my mother’s eyes. She’s looking adoringly at my father, who’s smiling just as wide.

I try to summon air into my lungs but it is utterly useless as memory after memory assaults me. I’m drowning, barely treading water as everything I ever knew comes to a crashing halt. Tears sting the back of my eyes, and I am powerless to do anything but let them fall down my cheeks.

A soft hand lands on my cheek but I can’t even flinch, can’t wrap my own hand around her soft one. I can feel her banging—trying to break down the door in my mind. I can feel her panic on the bridge, but still, I remain shell-shocked.

My heart shatters in two at the truth the cave shows me. I watch what feels like hundreds of memories of my parents walking the halls of what we thought was just a sunken island, through the cave we thought was a trick of the mind—but is actually a ploy to keep the true city, with all its secrets, safe.

This…this is the forgotten governing city of Aloriah.

Chapter62

Delilah

Powerless.

It’s a heady feeling, and a panicky one at that.

It consumes your heart, your mind, your lungs.

You’re useless against the tirade of it.

Because that’s the point. It’s panic’s way of alerting your body that you are useless against something you deeply crave to fix.

And standing in front of Knox, his eyes wide and glassy, tears spilling down his cheeks as his body remains stiff as a board, that’s all I can feel.

The cave has enthralled him. There’s no other explanation.

His court are panicking, their worry loud and wild, but mine is different. It always has been. It’s a silent assault, one that takes over my heart first, making the beat flutter at a rapid pace. It turns the slow and steady rhythm of my working lungs into a catastrophe of short and fast pants. It turns my hands clammy, my mind into a tornado.

Easton and Annie were the only ones who could ever tell. They could take one look at me and know my body was fighting against me. Now, Knox can too, the only one that truly knows my heart and mind inside and out.

Except he can’t help me come down from this panic.