Page 57 of Heir of Broken Souls

“Another travesty you did nothing to stop, I see.”

Red, glowing eyes sear me to the spot.

Easy, Angel, deep breaths.Knox’s words aren’t enough to calm me. Nothing has been able to quelch this anger. Not since I’ve lost so much.

“We are not responsible for what the king may or may not do.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I spit, earning gasps from not only the Fae at my back but the pod. I’m too fired up to correct her on the term she used, either. “Are you working with Peter?”

The expression that morphs her features finally has fear breaking through my temper, cracking the resolve of courage from the sheer will of my rage. She looks like she wants tokill. “I’ll chalk your ludicrous outburst up to your immense newfound power. However, such disrespect will not be tolerated.”

Great to know respect is one-sided.

As if she heard my thoughts her eyes narrow further. “Why have you come for our aid if you do not trust us?”

Her question stuns me, not because she can see right through my feelings but because, to be frank, I thought she wouldn’t care. After all, mermaids are rumored to be heartless, and I believe that unequivocally, considering she knew about Hazel…and what was to come of that night.

“Because I will not put my pride before saving innocent lives,” I say, trying to keep the ice from my voice and failing.

“Any snide remark you want to tack onto the end of that?” Amelia purrs.

Water flares below the surface of the water. The way Amelia snaps toward the violet-eyed mermaid, I’d say Alentia just whacked the second with her tail.

Naia ignores the interaction, and completely shocks me by saying, “What will it take for you to work with us without spite in your heart?”

My jaw threatens to unhinge. Ignoring the fact that she already knows why we’re here, I focus on the other problem instead. “Why do you care? You’re as heartless as they come.”

At that, something within her shifts. Not physically, but I can feel it. It surrounds me, suffocating me with the anticipation of what’s to come. It still does when she speaks again. “Because, believe it or not, Delilah, there are many situations in one’s life where you lose the freedom to make your own choices.”

I cock a hip. “Not speaking in sordid riddles would be a great place to start.”

Axel mutters something intelligible behind me.

Amelia hisses and spits, “Watch it,Fae.”

We still need them, Knox reminds me more gently.

All I want to do is cry and scream and rage at them. The mermaids saw something in Hazel that night. If that had been me in their position, I wouldn’t have allowed one of them to perish, even today. I wouldn’t want their pod, their family, to suffer like ours has.

“You could have stopped it,” I say thickly.

Knox looks over his shoulder, a mix of anxiety and worry overcoming his features as his gaze no doubt locks on Axel.

Knox and I are the only ones who know that the mermaids saw through Hazel that night, and no one else but myself saw the look in her eyes.

“Delilah, what are you talking about?”

The tension I feel radiating at my back has me stiffening. But for once, I don’t care if he flies off the rails.

Naia deserves it.

A low snarl tumbles from the pod of mermaids before us.

“Control your second, Knox!” Amelia demands.

“What are you talking about?” Axel asks again, his heavy footfalls approaching behind me.

I don’t take my eyes off Naia. “Why don’t you do the honors?”