Heir of Broken Fate (HOBF Book 1)

KNOX

The blade in my hand has never felt lighter as I drag it across Emmalyn’s neck, black blood oozing out of her wounds as Aurora tears her limb for limb, making sure that nothing is left of the woman that took away everything and everyone I loved.

The moment I heard Aurora’s roar, I took off, only to find her charging for me in the open field. That’s when my heart stopped dead, sensing Emmalyn with Delilah in the room I had left.

The sword in my hand clangs to the floor as it slips through my fingers, my heart stopping cold as I turn around to find Delilah crumbled on the ground. Her magic drains from her as she continues the spell even in darkness.

A desperate roar rips from my throat as I feel her fading, already past the point of burnout.

She doesn’t know I love her.

It’s the one thought that kills me, that cleaves my heart in two as I watch her chest barely rise and fall. A piece of my heart…my very soul dying alongside her.

I can’t lose her; I refuse to lose her.

I just found her.

Power erupts, exploding throughout the lands of Aloriah, so strong and unyielding it makes my body fly across the room. Hurtled against the rebuilt tree wall as power and freedom return to the Fae lands.

Delilah’s magic has completed the spell.

I scream in pain as my power floods my body, awakening from a slumber of over one hundred and forty-eight years, along with a tether so strong it knocks the very breath from my lungs.

I crawl to Delilah, my nails cracking and breaking as I heave myself across the floor, holding onto that tether inside of me, clinging to it with all my strength, as one word repeats in my mind.

Mate.

Mate.

Mate.

I was right all along. Delilah’s my mate.

I pour myself, my essence, my own life force, everything that I am into that bond as I pick up her limp body and hold her to my chest.

Please.

Please.

Please.

I can’t lose her. I’d rather die than lose her.

An array of boots storm the hallway, along with Aurora’s whimpers. I fling my power around the room, shielding us as I roar in defiance. I hear Axel’s cry of shock as he comes to a skidding halt, seeing Delilah’s lifeless body in my arms.

Tears run down my cheeks, falling onto her as I cling with everything I have inside of me to that bond, to that tether between us. “Please, Angel, please wake up,” I beg.

A scream pierces the room as Hazel falls to her knees, pounding on the shield.

I can’t drop the shield. I can’t.

Every instinct inside of me is screaming with a passion so violent, so strong, it commands me to kill anyone who dares come near her when she’s so vulnerable. I pray to every god that will listen to save her.

I will give anything—including my own life—to save hers.

No sooner do the words float through my mind does her chest stop moving in my arms. Every primal instinct in my body explodes as I scream so hoarse my voice cracks, power blasting out of me in every direction as the bond between us flickers and dies. My power howls, crying out in protest as her life slips away. It ripples down the bond, one last feeble attempt, begging her beautiful heart to beat once more, for her chest to rise again, for those captivating ice-blue eyes to open.

I lower my head to hers, my tears flowing without abandon as I beg, plead in her ear to breathe.

“Stay with me,” I croak. “You can’t leave me, Delilah.” I close my eyes, sobbing into the crook of her neck as silence greets my ears. “I can’t lose you. I love you.”

My breath hitches.

There’s a tug.

Not from outside of me, but from within me.

I pull my head back, my heart beating erratically in my chest as I feel another tug on the bond, as if she too is clinging to me, her essence fighting to stay in this world.

I hold my breath as I wait, as I pray, my entire body shaking beneath hers as I stare at her pale face.

Delilah’s lips part as a whoosh of air enters her mouth, her lungs breathing with life once more. My shield around the room snaps, crumbling as I clutch her body to mine, sobbing with relief.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Knox.”

Her small broken whisper makes my heart pound.

I shake my head, unable to speak, unable to form words as I hold her in my arms, feeling her heartbeat beside my own once more. No one comes near us, but I hear their cheers of joy and smell the salt of tears as everyone cries in relief.

A small delicate hand touches my cheek, her thumb stroking back and forth. “I didn’t kill you,” she says in awe. “I didn’t kill magic.”

“No, Angel, you saved me,” I whisper on her lips.

That tether between us pulls once more, uniting our very souls as I kiss my mate.