Page 37 of Heir of Broken Souls

I don’t know what to say but I don’t have to. Lenox isn’t the only one who wants this moment to be done with.

“Do you want me to search for an explanation for Delilah’s transformation?” Harlow asks. Her gaze remains firmly on Knox, acting as a lifeline she’s clinging to.

“Harlow, we don’t?—”

“Do you want me to search?” she asks again, cutting off whatever he was about to protest.

For the first time since I’ve known him, I watch as he falters slightly, unsure of what to do—how to handle the new dynamic that is tearing us apart. I take a step forward, if only to prevent Harlow from breaking right before us. “I’m not sure what happened but when I saw Axel go down, a flood of memories hit me and I gave in to my power. I thought Knox would have to bring me back, that the magic would consume me, and it did, but not in the way Knox and I feared.”

She nods, urging me to continue. My eyes flick down to her shaking fingers.I’ve never seen Harlow come undone.So I quickly add, “I don’t know how I knew their language. Technically,Idon’t, but my magic does, and what I did was entirely its will, usingmeas a vessel instead of the other way around.”

“That’s dangerous,” Knox says, his soul taking tentative steps down the bridge between our minds for the first time since my transformation.

“I don’t think so,” I answer honestly. “All this time we were afraid of it sweeping me up and swallowing me whole but instead I’ve…joined with it.” I shake my head, bewilderment humming through me. “It’s such an odd sensation but I don’t think it’s anything to fear.”

“Having too much power is a problem in itself,” Knox says roughly.

Everything is something to fear. Every step we take we have to peer over our shoulders and make sure Peter isn’t coming for our throats.

“I think what we need to figure out is why only Delilah’s magic now suddenly affects the demonic creatures and”—she winces, for once appearing apologetic—“what you are now.”

Iwasabout to explain how the ethereal voice returned telling me it was “time”…until I hear the end of Harlow’s statement. My brows furrow, lowering in tandem with Knox’s. “What do you meanwhatI am?”

Knox moves to my side. “She’s a Fae, Harlow.” At this point, though, I’m not even sure he believes it entirely.

“We don’t know who her parents are. What if her blood isn’t only carrying Fae genes?”

Knox slowly turns to me. He’s barely been able to take his eyes off me since I transformed but now…he’s looking at me differently. Not with fear or awe but with wonder as my skin still shimmers with a golden hue. “I’ve never encountered a creature with magic like hers,” he admits, pride somehow swelling in his voice.

I taunt him down the bond, staying firmly behind my door,Why don’t you come over here and I’ll show you something truly worth that stare?

Teasing me now, are you, Angel?

Just giving you a firm kick. Seems as if you need a little push.

His eyes spark with humor. The world around Knox and me falls away, along with our many questions and problems. I simply ignore it all as Knox strides across the bridge, his hand lifting, stretching toward the doorknob to my mind—only for him to retreat as quickly as he arrived at the sound of steps on the gravel driveway.

Knox’s court stop talking altogether as we turn to watch a figure, in a white dressing gown, amble up the hill, panting slightly from the steep incline. Knox steps in front of me, unsheathing his sword, and Axel for the first time in eight weeks takes up his stance as second, leaving an awkward moment as Lenox falls into his original ranking of third. They flank us both, as they would have months ago, while Harlow slowly struts forward, swinging the dagger in her palm high into the air before snatching it again.

The closer the figure comes the more I feel as if I’ve met them before.

My Fae sight doesn’t stop me from noting the blonde hair hanging limply at her shoulders, matted and crusted with blood. Her eyes are a soft blue, yet her cheeks hold not an ounce of color, as if the very life was drained from her and every step is a fight. Which might explain the sword swinging half-heartedly from her side, leaving a trail of black and crimson blood.

“Knox…do you know her?” I ask.

He doesn’t take his gaze off the sword by her side as he answers, “No, do you?”

“I could have sworn…”

Axel straightens, his entire body turning rigid. The blade in his hand drops to the ground, bouncing off the gravel with aclinkas he sucks in a sharp breath.

My brows furrow as the girl reaches the top of the hill, stepping through the gates of Knox’s estate, and then freezes mid-step. Her head snaps upwards, those blue eyes now widened and sending her blood-crusted hair flying in all directions.

Yet she doesn’t lock her gaze on Knox or me, Harlow or Lenox.

It lands firmly on Axel.

She sucks in a breath, similar to Axel’s, and suddenly her cheeks bloom with a crimson blush, replacing the pale gauntness of them.