Page 20 of Heir of Broken Souls

Seven. Eight.

How about now, Angel?he teases on the bridge of our minds.

Not the time, Knox, I say along the bridge, the counting doing nothing.

Nine. Ten.

When my eyes open again, it’s to the sight of Knox grinning down at me with a certain mischievous twinkle. The sight warms something within my heart, making it beat for another reason other than frustration.

“Why can I not look over the plans with you?” I ask as calmly as I can.

Guilt flashes across his features, there and gone in an instant, but not quickly enough.

“Why?” I demand again.

“Because they were contingency plans?—”

“No!” I snap, stepping out of his arms.

The flash of hurt that flies across his face, as if I caused him physical harm, strikes my heart. I would do anything to take that look off his face…but that’s how we got here. I was lenient in the days after our tragedy. I allowed him to protect me so fiercely he may as well have wrapped me in padding. Now he’s having a hard time stepping out of his fearful mentality.

“No contingency plans, Knox. You will not send me away the moment fighting breaks out. I am one of the fiercest?—”

“He is no longer playing by any rules, Delilah. He is stopping at nothing to kill you.You, Delilah!” he suddenly blurts, his chest heaving from his outburst.

“You will not sacrifice yourself for me.” I take a menacing step forward, my eyes alighting with golden flames, my power rising before I can stop it. I shove my finger into his chest. “I forbid it.”

His eyes narrow into slits. “You do not control me.”

“And you do not controlme.” I jam my finger into his chest again. “We are a partnership. If you go down, so do I. Do not make me exist in a world where you do not.”

Knox engulfs my hand in his palm, his warmth flooding my veins in an instant. His stubbornness flickers, wavering, as his lips that were just a moment before flattened in a grimace twitch.

I scowl. “What is so damn funny?”

“We both want to sacrifice ourselves for the other and yet here you are, yelling at becauseI’moverbearing.”

I scoff. “You are overbearing!”

“Have you heard yourself lately? If I didn’t know any better, I would have thoughtyouwere the ruler of the Essence Court.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous?” His brows shoot into his hairline. “I thought we werepartners,” he teases, drawing the word out. “Queen Delilah suits you well, Angel.”

“Now that is another conversation entirely and you’re derailing the discussion, again.”

Knox pulls me to his chest, wrapping both arms around my waist and trapping me against him. “What conversation?”

“That’s not cute.”

“Wasn’t trying to be. You came up with that idea all on your own.”

Rolling my eyes, I wrap my arms around his neck. “Promise me, no more contingency plans.”

“I’ll do no such thing.”

Sighing deeply, I drop my head to his chest. “What am I going to do with you?”