Page 73 of Heir of Broken Souls

Knox stiffens below me while Lenox rubs the back of his neck.

“No, of course you didn’t. If you had, you would have seen that it’s stocked with pre-prepped meals.” She rolls her eyes with a huff. “Whoever’s ship this is was probably about to set off for a long time. We won’t have any issues with keeping our bellies full.”

My heartpractically leaps at the news. I hate fish, the smell, thetexture. I shudder. I likely would have spent the entirety of the trip puking up my guts.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Knox asks Harlow.

“Whenever they stop trying to kill each other, I’ll grab a plate of food.”

Lenox jumps to his feet while Knox sucks in a breath. “He tried to kill her again?” Lenox demands, his eyes wide in horror.

A mischievous glint enters her brown eyes. “No…but let’s just say Elysia wields a carving knife gracefully.”

I can’t help but burst into a fit of laughter at the proud look shining in Harlow’s eyes.

“Gods, they’re going to kill each other,” I mutter once my laughter subsides and the context of everything settles. Taking a mouthful of food, I can’t stop the moan that escapes my lips as the creamy potatoes melt in my mouth. “Oh, Knox, it’s divine.”

Knox leans over the side railing, and whatever he finds makes him straighten before craning his neck to Harlow. “You can be the one to tell the pod they just hunted for over an hour for no reason.”

Her eyes widen a fraction before a coy smile spreads across her lips. “Anything else you want me to relay?”

“You’re insufferable!” Elysia bellows. We hear her before we see her as she marches up the stairs, suddenly sober. “I don’t know how any of you put up with such a?—”

“Go ahead! Say it one more time,” Axel spits, glaring down at Elysia’s small form.

She shoves a finger into his chest, jabbing it with each accusation. “You’re a broody, mean, bull-headed control freak of a bastard!”

Axel’s upper lip curls back with a growl, his back tensing.

Lenox jumps up quickly, standing between the two. He pushes Axel back toward the stairs. “Go get the rest of the food and keep your mouth shut.”

“She’s the one?—”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, or perhaps you’ve lost too many brain cells from drinking so much, but I don’t give ashitanymore.Go.”

My heartpounds frantically, beating a thousand miles an hour as Axel stares at Lenox with such anger. Knox is as stiff as a statue below me, but he doesn’t intervene, and he doesn’t have to. Axel tears away first, throwing a string of curses over his shoulder as he stomps back downstairs.

Elysia huffs. “I say we lift the wine ban. There’s no way I can be stuck with that prick for so long and survive without a drop.”

“I’ll smuggle some in,” Harlow whispers.

“In from where?” Lenox admonishes.

Knox drops his forehead to my shoulder with a groan. “I’m already regretting this trip.”

The floor beneath my feet shakes from a loud boom. Jumping from Knox’s lap, I find the griffins on the other side of the deck, where part of the ship blocks the wind. Aurora’s golden gaze pierces not mine but Knox’s as she relays information to him.

Care to share?I whisper down the bond, ignoring the chaos around us.

Just that all is well. No ships or demonic armies in the sky as faras they could see.

Shoveling the rest of my food into my mouth, I leave the plate beside Knox, ignoring the bickering that ensues as Axel surfaces once again, this time with arms full of plates.

With the food now filling my belly my feet aren’t as wobbly beneath me as I make my way to the end of the ship. Aurora tracks my every movement as she stands in front of Zephlyn, as if protecting him. The power balance between the two mated griffins has shifted.

Zephlyn lifts his white furry head, those blue eyes clashing with my own, and an endless tidal wave of sadness greets me in his depths. The sight of it makes me stumble slightly, my breath hitching and my chest constricting.

I can’t imagine what the griffin is feeling. Maybe that a piece of his soul has died along with Ace, perhaps? Possibly a similar feeling to the one Axel has been dealing with. The reason he drinks himself stupid. A literal hole was ripped from his heart, the other half of his soul gone in the blink of an eye.