Page 94 of Heir of Broken Souls

“Can we go after her?” Knox asks, reading the tension in the room.

“She appears to be working from afar. She’s already set the storm in motion.”

Amelia cuts a glance in my direction. “We can’t outrun it or escape it to go after her.”

Knox’s hand lands gently on my back. “Surviving will be our revenge.”

“No,” I spit. “Death will be.”

Axel steps farther into the room. “I’m with Delilah on this. We need to go after her.”

“All in due time, but we need to prioritize the prophecy. She’s had ample opportunity to come after us—weeks in fact. So that begs the question, why now?”

“Oh, it seems the princeling has grown a brain,” Amelia taunts.

“King,” Knox snaps. Ignoring the retort of his intelligence, he keeps his gaze pinned on me. “We’re getting close to answers they don’t want us to know. It’s the only reason she’d try to come after us now.”

“Fine. Answers first.” I turn on my heels, shoving out the door. “Then I want them all to burn.”

* * *

My teeth are clamped so tightly I’m surprised I haven’t broken a tooth. The fury that’s engulfing me must be entirely evident because as I round the top deck to the griffins, they rise.

Aurora is the first to move, those cunning golden eyes locking on me as I feel her probing my emotions along the bond. She cocks her head as if to ask what’s wrong.

That’s when I pause, and turn to Zephlyn.

The moment I do, he’s striding forward, the hackles on the back of his neck standing on end. A wall shutters over his eyes—steeling himself for pain.

“It’s her,” I declare, keeping my gaze on the griffin that will feel the most pain from this news. “The storm isn’t a natural phenomenon. It’s created, orchestrated by her to kill us before we arrive at our location.”

Zephlyn stares down at me and I wait for the anger, the fury that is pulsing through my veins to fill his own, but what happens instead shocks me. It utterly freezes me to the spot.

Silver lines his eyes, making the blue shine as bright as the ocean as they roll down his furry face. The sight of those tears steals the breath from me.

“Oh, Zephlyn.”

Tears spring into my eyes too, shocking me further as I thought I wasn’t capable of crying anymore after sobbing in Knox’s arms earlier this evening. But the pain engulfs my heart as Zephlyn’s shoulders shudder and small whines tumble from him.

Aurora mirrors his whines, brushing her head along his, trying to comfort her mate but he doesn’t look away from me, as if he’s stuck in a trance. The news I shared sends the griffin tumbling into despair.

We’ve been so worried about losing Zephlyn that I never stopped to think about the immense pain the griffin would be in if he stayed. And now I see just how broken his soul is from Ace’s loss.

As the cries rise, the sound reaching a new height, Aurora turns pleading eyes to me, as if begging for my help.

But all I can do is stumble forward on wobbly legs, wrap my arms around Zephlyn’s thick neck, and cry into his coat, allowing our grief to shine together.

Chapter34

Delilah

It isn’t until I’m fumbling atop the deck from the storm crashing against the ship do I pull away from the griffins. There’s no need to explain our plan because, quite frankly, I don’t believe we have one.

There is just one goal—stay alive.

I have no doubt that what’s coming is what the prophecy warned us about.

With guided fins comes the battle at dawn, that which you must survive.