Page 61 of Heir of Broken Souls

“What’s to say the mermaids won’t lie or withhold from us once more?” Axel’s biting question is directed at Knox because he still won’t look at me, but Knox slides his gaze to mine, refusing to allow his former second to ice me out.

“Again, I don’t believe my vision is leading us astray. It hasn’t before.”

Once it becomes apparent Knox isn’t going to answer him, Axel finally deigns to looks at me, yet even the mermaids couldn’t have predicted the coldness in his eyes or the hatred in his words as he declares, “Your visions are the reason my brother is dead.”

My body stumbles backward as if he struck me. He might as well have, his words a physical strike upon my heart.

Knox rises from his chair so swiftly I almost topple off it as he seethes with disgust and anger. He points a finger in Axel’s direction, shadows clinging to his back. “Don’t youeversay such a thing to her again,” he growls. His body shakes, pure undiluted rage rippling off him in waves. “Hazel and Peter are to blame for his death, not Delilah. Get that through your thick fucking skull right now or I will no longer turn a blind eye to your pathetic antics.”

Axel swallows, his eyes full of horror at the words Knox practically spits at his feet. I don’t think Knox has ever looked at him in such a way, and it must shock him enough to force a nod out of him. Yet Axel still doesn’t turn my way.

“What the fuck is going on?” Harlow throws her hands in the air. “Can someone start explaining these various undercurrents of tension? Just spit your bullshit out and be done with it.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Axel snaps.

She snaps her wrath on him in a second, ice in her voice as she says, “What’s that supposed to mean, Axel?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. For gods’ sake you and Lenox can’t even be in the same room together without almost ripping each other's heads off.” He throws an arm out in Lenox’s direction. “And don’t be fooled by his silence. It isn’t Knox’s silencing shield around him. You’re obviously too daft to notice, Harlow, but he doesn’t want to look at you let alone speak to you.”

My gaze pings back and forth as I watch Lenox, stoic as ever, not move an inch, all the while Harlow is overcome with an emotion I fear that’s close to heartbreak.

Nolan openly pleads with his eyes for Axel to stop.

It’s such an odd sight, to watch the roles be reversed.

Our family feels broken beyond repair.

Knox’s weary voice floats through my mind, and as I find him leaning on the railing of the bridge, brimming with tears, I wrap him in my embrace in my mind and turn to the Fae still bickering.

“Axel found out this afternoon that Naia saw Hazel’s plan the night she showed her true loyalty,” I explain.

“The night she betrayed us?” Harlow spits. “They knew?”

“The night my brother died,” Axel corrects softly, his words thick. He reaches for the bar cart beside the fireplace, until a shadowed hand smacks him away. He glares in Knox’s direction. “I’m not a child.”

Ignoring Axel’s comment, Knox turns to the rest of his court. “It seems our dear old friendPeter,” he practically spits with disgust, “placed a spell upon Hazel. Anyone who uncovered her true intentions could never physically say a word.”

Despite the revelation, Axel continues to glare daggers at Knox, while Elysia looks like she’s watching a play from halfway through. Her frown is so deep I’m afraid it will permanently mark her.

Gods, we’re horrible. She ran from one monstrosity into another one.

“Nolan, you’ll have to remain in Aloriah to oversee the armies,” Knox declares, moving the topic along as the clock ticks down.

Nolan’s once sharp and menacing features are now soft and full of worry as he assesses the dysfunction that is now our lives. He appears to want to argue such orders but thinks better of it and, with a weary sigh, dips his chin. “Whatever you need.”

I still can’t get used to this version of Nolan.

“How’s the front lines?” Knox asks, the question silencing whatever lingering bickering there was.

“It’s not good.” He shakes his head, worry filling his gaze. “If there is a chance, even a sliver of a possibility that whatever you find out there will give us an advantage, take it.” That stark honesty and raw emotion in his voice makes us all pause, especially as he goes on. “And if you can figure out what’s unique about Delilah’s magic, if it’s something that can be taught, it could change everything. It’s too much to ask her to defeat them all, she’d kill herself in the process, but if it has answers to everything we seek like the prophecy says…go sooner than tomorrow.”

Harlow rubs her furrowed brow. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but Nolan’s right. Our answers don’t lie within these courts. But why are we sending away the only person that can kill the demons?”

For the first time since this meeting began, Elysia steps forward, her frame looking small in comparison to Axel’s large and intimidating form. Yet she stands poised with confidence as she takes a sledgehammer to our hearts. “We don’t have more than three weeks before this country falls and Delilah is part of the solution. If you send her out onto the front lines and she dies…we are all doomed.”

“What vision aren’t you sharing?” Knox asks, his heart racing, the beats a loud drum through our bond.

Sadness fills her eyes. “Darkness will spread in three weeks and once it does, we won’t be able to reverse it.”