Page 68 of Heir of Broken Souls

“Harlow,” I hiss. “That’s not your story to share.”

“It is, actually, considering Axel’s life wasn’t the only one Hazel ruined.” Fire erupts within her gaze. “I want the bitch to burn.”

“She’s long gone by now. If anyone was able to find her it would have been Axel.”And he hasn’t found so much as her shadow.

Harlow’s gaze flicks to mine and holds it for a beat before she says as quiet as death, “That’s where you’re wrong.”

Before I can question her, she spins and struts down the hall, taking the answers I need with her to the top of the ship as it sways. Calls and shouts ring out from above as we pull away from Aloriah.

“She’s certainly a character,” Elysia murmurs, watching where she disappeared.

“That she is,” I say with a modicum of humor and turn to Elysia.

My eyes, strangely, fall to her outfit. She’s still wearing the same clothes as when she arrived, her fingernails are full of dirt, she’s barefoot, and the bags beneath her eyes are a deep purple.

My chest constricts.How self-centered are we?

“Gods, Elysia, come in here,” I say, wrapping my fingers around her wrist gently and pulling her into my cabin.

Our lives have completely changed. No one would have ever treated Elysia in such a manner eight weeks prior and yet here we are acting like she’s a barnacle that won’t budge.

Without a word I fill the large claw-foot tub in the washing room with steaming water, courtesy of my magic. I have to say, now that I’ve fully merged, it’s remarkably easier to control. At her gasp, I wonder if rumors of my magic have even reached her.

“Why don’t you go wash up while I rummage through my belongings and find you something to wear?”

Without waiting for a response, I turn on my heel and pick up one of the black leather cases and heft it onto the bed. Minutes tick by as I rummage through my clothing

However, Elysia doesn’t move from the center of the room, her eyes slightly wide and glazed. I straighten. “Are you all right? There should be soap in the cabinets,” I offer.

“Why are you doing this?” she says softly.

My head rears back. “I’m sorry, we’ve been all over the place and not as attentive, as you can imagine with everything that’s happened?—”

“No,” she cuts me off. “Why are you being kind?”

Her question stuns me for such a long time I begin to count the number of waves smashing against the side of the ship. I land on twenty-seven before I find my voice again. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Her mouth opens and snaps closed.

I drop the clothing in my hands and round the bed, coming to stand in front of her. “Are you okay?” I ask gently.

As if the question was the final straw, those three little words packed with far more weight than normal, tears flood her eyes, spilling over her cheeks.

I panic, clutching her shoulders and hoping she can see me through her misty haze. “I’ll be right back.”

Before she can protest or ask, I’m out the door, taking off with Fae speed down the corridor and up the stairs until the crisp air of the ocean brushes against my skin. With Aloriah far behind me and the sun belting down around me, I rush to Harlow’s side.

She grins, tipping her head back, probably expecting an apology from me, but whatever she sees in my eyes has her rising. “What is it?”

“She has no one, Harlow. No one.” My heart pinches. Elysia standing there reminded me so vividly of the girl staring back at me in the mirror of Hazel’s cottage that first day I woke up in Aloriah. “We are all she has now, and the girl doesn’t even have a pair ofshoes,” I spit.

A flicker of emotion passes through her brown eyes, akin to what’s beating through my heart right now. All of us have one thing in common—knowing the feeling of having no one to turn to.

Harlow was abandoned by her coven and shunned by Fae.

Lenox was trapped within a hole his father designed for seven years.

Knox lost his parents at a young age.