Page 184 of Heir of Broken Souls

I swallow through the terror clutching my throat as it tries to stop me from speaking. My lower lip trembles, and I hoarsely whisper and tell the room, “Phoebe Maloone is the current queen of Air.”

All the oxygen in the room vacuums out, only to come back with a vengeance as Axelexplodeswith power.

The gust of air knocks us all to the ground. Elysia cries out in shock as Knox instinctively grabs me. Harlow throws a shield around us all to protect us, as Axel clutches his chest and roars.

“Axel, stop!” Knox commands, pushing aside his gutting feelings for the moment. Axel halts at the demand in Knox’s voice, his shoulders hiking up to his ears. But he still pants heavily, and his hands suddenly hold two swords, ready for an attack like the queen is in this very room.

“I have been around the woman who aided in the murder of my brother forMONTHS!” he bellows. “If you think you can stop me from killing her, you’re fucking stupid!”

Knox takes the insult with stride, clapping him on his shoulders to speak face-to-face, to get through to him.

“We get one chance to kill her, Axel. One shot of us knowing her dark secret before she comes at us with everything she’s got. It’s not just our lives we need to think of.”

Harlow gasps. “My gods…everyone was evacuated to the Air Court. To herresidence.”

Knox pauses, deadly silent. Shadows swirl along his shoulders. His fists clench by his side.

“That was no coincidence,” Elysia says softly. “No wonder Peter never tried to come at Air from the docks.”

“This is a game…one they have been playing for a long time.” My gaze roams the library and the mystery of it all. “Longer than any of us can imagine. They have been orchestrating this for centuries.”

“They killed my parents,” Knox whispers gutturally. “I sent my people into our enemy’s awaiting arms.”

“They wiped out all the royals who were there the day they were exiled,” Harlow states.

Knox’s eyes fill with pain. “You are not the only one affected by this, Axel. We will make them pay but in due time and when we’re thinking rationally.”

An animalistic sound flies from Axel. His body tenses as if to hold it in, but there’s nowhere for it to go. He simply crumbles into the arms of his king and weeps.

“What do we do?” I ask.

All eyes turn to Knox.

Knox is wearing his role as king in this moment, but along the bridge…

His despair along the bridge nearly suffocates me.

He kneels there, his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking. I fall beside him, wrapping my arms around him.

“My p-people,” he gasps between sobs. “My people…I sent them to their death.”

“We’re going to save them. There is still time, Knox.”

He shakes his head, his chest heaving. “I keep failing. Gods, Delilah, why do I keepfailing?”

Doing what he does for me, I rub soothing circles along his back and hold him as he weeps. I don’t have any words. Nothing I say can fix the irreputable damage in my mate’s psyche.

“This would never have happened if my parents were still ruling. They would have never let it get this bad.”

“You are up against the most manipulative, heinous creatures, Knox. You couldn’t have known.”

“I’m a mind reader, Delilah, and in the moments where it has counted most I have utterly failed.”

Before I can say anything I’m pulled back into my body as Knox clears his throat. Axel, for the moment, has fallen silent in his arms. His soul is still weeping on the bridge between our minds, but all he does physically is run a frustrated hand through his hair. He drops it suddenly with a shrug. “This is—this revelation changes everything. It also explains why she never revoked her title and reinstated power to the royal heirs. It just?—”

“Is too much to bear,” Axel whispers. He avoids everyone’s eyes like the plague.

Knox dips his head. “We have to inform Lenox, then we need to formulate a plan on how to get the people of Aloriah to safety.”