Page 83 of Heir of Broken Souls

It’s one thing to ask for space, it’s another to ask him not to watch out for me. He would rather tear his own heart from his chest than let me wander off alone when I’m like this.

Granted, I can’t go very far in the middle of the ocean—especially considering the result of my flying lessons so far—but I suppose old habits die hard.

Softly padding across the wooden deck, I stop at the railing, taking in the moon’s glow against the endless ocean’s depth. The nightmare flashes through my mind again, unbidden. Peter killing Ace, Hazel and her bloody sword.

Anger rises fast and swift, screaming within me to be released. I want to let it out, I want to make him pay, I want to stop suffering every day. All I want to do is scream, not out of fear but in anger. And with no one to turn that anger on, I lift my burning golden eyes, and my palms, to the sea.

Golden fireball after golden fireball explodes from my palms.

The magic strikes the water, far and wide as to not alert the mermaids, although I doubt I’m being secretive, the water whispering to them. But it helps. With every fireball, my magic takes a little bit of my anger with it.

I just know deep down that no number of fireballs will ever quelch this anger. Only shoving my sword through Peter’s true heart will.

Suddenly I feel a gaze upon me, eyes burrowing into me, and it’s not the one I expected to feel.

Squinting, I try to see beyond the daunting darkness, the endless black pit of the ocean. It’s disarming how dark it is at sea, that without the small flickers of flames lit by magic around the top deck I wouldn’t be able to see my own hand in front of my face.

The niggling feeling isn’t malevolent. If anything, it’s energy full of concern. Between the waves crashing along the side of the ship, there is a breach in the water every twenty or thirty seconds. Mermaid tails.

Do they ever sleep?

No wonder I felt eyes on me. Perhaps I was wrong assuming it was concern I was feeling. I don’t see why they would start to care now.

Scoffing, I turn away, and scream at the sight of someone behind me.

In my panic, I topple backward over the railing, the ocean trying to catch me once more, but a pocket of strong air stops me just in time, pushing me back toward the safety of the deck.

Knox would have a fit if he saw me almost fall overboard.

I lay my hand over my pounding heart. “Don’t you know not to sneak up on someone near the edge of a ship?!”

When the figure doesn’t say anything, my heart slowly sinks. Swallowing past the fear engulfing my body, I snap my fingers, igniting a golden flame at the tip of my index finger.

It lights up Axel glaring down at me.

I almost scoff. Of course he’s on watch duty tonight.

“What are you doing?”

“Fishing,” I say dryly, mimicking his hard-edged tone before throwing my hands up in the air. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Being a pain in my ass.”

My jaw drops open. “Excuse me?”

His eyes narrow further. “You nearly fell off the side of the ship. Could you imagine what Knox would do to me if something happened to you on my watch?”

The incredulous tone of his voice raises indignation in me like a tidal wave, and I explode. “I only nearly fell because you snuck up behind me! It’s not my fault you’re silent and broody.”

“Silent and broody?”

“Yes, silent and broody! It’s practically all you do now.”

Now that you’re not drunk all the timeis what I want to add but don’t. From the way his eyes flare, I bet he knows what I’m thinking.

“Trust me, you would be brooding if the other half of your soul died.”

What I was going to retort evades me entirely.