Heir of Broken Fate: Chapter 38

Tossing and turning in bed, my thoughts won’t shut off with all the unanswered questions running havoc in my mind. It’s been over a week since we searched the courts and we haven’t found any more books, let alone answers as to why parts of Aloriah are dying. Every day Knox’s court scours the lands for demonic creatures, and every day they return to the house with dejected faces. It’s as if all the demon creatures have completely disappeared, vanished overnight. We can’t break the entrapment spell without the dark magic book it originated from, and we can’t find it without the beasts. They’ve all gone into hiding. Every last one of them.

Only to be replaced by small patches of ash. Each day we find a new piece of land dying, the once colorful and lively forest dead, ash fluttering in its wake.

The possibility that I have to be taken by demonic hounds to help free everyone is becoming a real possibility as the days pass. Being one of the biggest reasons for my pitiful attempt to sleep.

Every lead we find turns into a dead end…We have nothing, absolutely nothing.

Groaning, I throw the covers off and drag myself out of bed. I know I won’t get much sleep tonight; it’s pointless to even try. Kneeling beside the futon at the end of my bed, I scan through the titles of books I stashed here that Hazel gave me. Selecting a romance book, I nestle myself into the pillows.

I’m halfway through reading the first page when I drop the book, fear pulsing through me so strong it feels as if I’m drowning in it. Yet it isn’t my own. It feels—

Shadows and darkness blast through my room until I’m standing in nothing but a dark abyss. I know whose power that belongs to. I can feel the anguished fear and pain.

Not bothering to change, I blindly search for my fighting leathers, grabbing the first blade I find, I snatch the silver before running out.

I rush for the end of the hallway, surprised to find I’m the only one awake. Not bothering to wait for anyone, I blast through the door only for my face to be singed with heat.

Knox’s entire room is shrouded in flames.

Instinct takes over. Before I can think water is flowing through my hands, putting out flames as I enter the room. Yet every time I extinguish one flame, another ignites. I can still feel Knox’s panic, his fear and sadness pulsing throughout the room, but I can’t see him anywhere.

Baring my teeth, I shield myself as I run through the flames, using my water to put them out as I go. Panic begins to consume me, making my throat tighten.

Where is he, where is he, where is he?

I fling my power out, searching, probing, sensing—

Feeling his essence thrash and struggle in the middle of the room I run for the area, finding him in the middle of the bed. Lunging across the large frame, I try to shield him from the fire only to find Knox panting in the flames as they engulf him.

This is Knox’s own doing.

He’s having a nightmare. That’s why the fire has only spread so far as his bedroom.

Shielding every inch of my skin, I sit on top of him, pinning him down with my weight. Holding his firm shoulders, I jolt him with all my strength. “Knox!”

Nothing.

I enter his mind only to bounce off shields on fire. Everything is consumed by fire. “Knox!” I scream, shaking his body harder, pleading for him to wake up. Using my own fire, I make my flames dance with his, yet where his are screaming with pain, mine are singing a calm melody. “Knox it’s a dream,” I repeat like a mantra, panting it over and over.

Wings explode behind his back so fiercely the sudden movement jolts me. Fear like no other consumes me as the flames engulf his beautiful iridescent black wings. Without a second thought my canines flare, and I sink my teeth into the apex of his shoulder and neck. I pray the pain from this side will wake him up from the pain within his mind.

The flames around the room pause, assessing. I send my flames toward his own, caressing, soothing.

Knox, it’s a dream.

His thrashing pauses as the flames slowly simmer. I retract my teeth, tasting him on my tongue, my heart roaring in response.

Knox’s eyes snap wide open, his lips pale and face sunken as he breathes erratically.

“Knox, it’s a dream,” I repeat, my chest rising and falling in rhythm with his own.

As forcefully as they arrived the flames disappear, smoke filling the air as his flames dissipate. His wings are still flared, yet the flames are gone, revealing his magnificent, unharmed wings.

“Angel,” he croaks.

“Yes,” I breathe.

He smirks. “Why are you straddling me?”

I gasp, realizing that I am indeed straddling him. Not only that but in my haste to rush here and help, I didn’t change. I’m only wearing my silk pajama shirt and panties. Gritting my teeth, I whack his shoulder. “You’re welcome.”

I begin to slide off his body, but Knox wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me down flush against his chest. “Thank you,” he whispers gutturally.

A deep sigh leaves me, the adrenaline wearing off as relief flows through my body.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Knox exhales before sitting up, dragging me with him as he goes. I shimmy off his lap—he lets me this time—and sit next to him on the bed.

“Let me guess, flames?” he mutters. Knox runs a hand down his face, groaning at my nod. “Sorry, it’s usually contained to my room.”

I frown. “It was, but I felt it.”

Sapphire eyes snap to mine. He searches my gaze, but for what, I’m not sure.

He clears his throat. “I always have them around this time of year.” Knox’s gaze lowers. “Did Hazel tell you what happened?”

My heart twists, aching for this more vulnerable side of Knox. “I’d rather hear it from you,” I say, repeating his own words from when we met.

Knox’s eyes look far away as his brows furrow, lips pinching. “My parents had me young for a Fae. We would have had hundreds—possibly a thousand years together. I always thought I would have that time with them.” His voice cracks. “I came home late from the Eclipse Ball. I was out celebrating with friends…I knew something was wrong the moment I approached the gates. We had guards stationed there twenty-four seven, and when I got closer, I found that they were dead. Not only the gate guards but every single guard in the estate. It was horrible, seeing the people I grew up with, that I cared for and loved, taken from this earth in such a brutal way.” His chest heaves as his eyes shutter closed. When he opens them again, they’re pooled with tears.

My heart breaks for the pain etched across this gorgeous man’s face and the sudden realization that he not only saw his grounds covered with his dead men once, but twice. His broken words from that day come back to me, punching a hole through my heart.

“By the time I reached their quarters, I knew what I would find. Yet seeing them…It was a shock. They were both so brutally tortured and murdered. The amount of blood in the room showed that whoever did it got off on it. They were healed repeatedly to drag out the murders. I vomited all over myself and the ground…To this day I have never seen anything like it,” he whispers brokenly.

I lay my hand on his arm. “I am so deeply sorry.”

Knox shrugs.

“No. Don’t do that. Don’t diminish your pain.”

He finally lifts those gorgeous sapphire eyes to mine, lowering once more as he frowns. “Why are you crying?”

I place a hand on my cheek, finding wetness. I didn’t realize I was crying. I feel embarrassed that I am but I can’t help it. Nobody deserves to lose their loved ones in such a brutal way. “Because the world can be a horrible place,” is my only response.

Knox stares at me intently for a few moments before he speaks.

“What happened to Easton?”

My body physically jolts at his words. “I’m sure you saw it in my mind.”

His eyes soften. “I’d rather hear it from you.”

I lower my gaze, allowing my heart to open this small fraction. A story for a story.

“Easton was my everything,” I say on an exhale. “We met as children and were inseparable.” My lips tug into a smile, remembering Easton as a little boy. “He was kind and caring. He had so much love to give others, it was like breathing fresh air for the first time.” I fall quiet for a moment, building the courage to speak.

Knox pats the pillow beside him. Taking his invitation, I lean back into the silk pillows, the warmth of his arm seeping into my own as I stare at the ceiling.

“I loved him,” I whisper. “Platonically, but I truly, deeply loved him for the person he was, and he loved me for me.” I turn my head to find Knox already watching me. “Not that it matters, but Easton was gay. Even if he wasn’t, the love we felt was different, two souls caring for the other.” My lip begins to wobble. “Easton begged me every day to leave. He despised my father and wanted to run away. Sometimes he thought about taking me away in the middle of the night, despite my protests,” I say on a broken laugh.

A tear falls down my cheek as I continue. “I had finally decided to leave, just for a few weeks, but Easton was ecstatic nevertheless. He never said it, but he hated the palace. He would have left a long time ago if it wasn’t for me.” My voice cracks as I say, “We were no more than ten minutes away from the rowboat when my father turned up.”

I take a deep breath, squeezing my eyes closed as Easton’s lifeless face flashes in my mind. “My father began to beat me, and Easton stepped in. It happened so fast…One moment Easton is standing behind me and the next my father slits his throat. He cut him so deeply he was dead before I turned around.”

Tears roll freely down my face. Knox lifts his hand, gently brushing away my tears as I speak, his fingers sending electricity through my skin. “I broke that night. Some intricate part of me died. Seeing Easton’s lifeless body hurt me so deeply…and seeing my father smiling…I snapped. Gold light surrounded us, and then he was on the ground unconscious.”

Knox freezes, his brows pulling low. “Delilah, you had magic before you crossed the border.”

My face matches his own confused expression. “No I didn’t. I woke up as Fae.”

Knox sits up. “That golden light was your own magic, the canines too,” he says, looking at the memory in my mind.

“Why didn’t you see that before?”

“Most of your memories with your father, including the one with Easton, are hidden, as if you’ve locked them away. If I opened them, you would have felt that pain and I didn’t want to do that,” he whispers gently.

“I dissociated when my father beat me,” I admit.

He nods. “That’s why they’re locked away.”

I bite my lip. “Why would I turn into a Fae in the human lands?” Knox looks at me, waiting patiently as my mind wraps around the unfathomable idea. “I was never truly human,” I breathe.

Knox’s eyes soften. “It appears not.”

I groan, sliding down the bed until I’m lying flat on my back. “Add that to the pile of unanswered questions,” I grumble.

Knox is silent for a moment before he asks, “Do you want to talk about your father?”

“Gods no. That conversation can be for another day.”

Knox lies beside me. “Tell me the good parts about Easton, the happy memories.”

My heart flutters at his request, a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips.

So I do. I tell him about every little moment I had with Easton, about all the good he brought into my life. We talk for hours, exchanging stories for stories, Knox telling me his own cherished memories of his family, until sleep and exhaustion drags both of us under.