Page 2 of Fractured Souls
That scream pushed me into action. I’d been close to Lorcan already, but in a second flat I was nearly to my mate—until a woman I’d never seen before stepped in.
More specter than woman, the shadowy creature turned solid in a moment and eclipsed Lorcan’s power. Something I would have been thankful for if smoke hadn’t poured from her mouth along with those damn words.
“A forbidden child, whose origins are of cosmic beginnings, will destroy the dark cosmic ones and protect the pulse of magic.”
I’d never seen a prophecy given before, but if this was what it was like, I’d be happy to never experience it again. Lorcan stared at the seer with massive eyes, the entire audience paralyzed in the woman’s twisted power.
Dangerous. This situation was turning more volatile and dangerous by the moment. The seer’s words had reverberated throughout the room, and it was only a matter of seconds before someone figured out the meaning of the first part of the prophecy.A forbidden child, whose origins are of cosmic beginnings…There were individuals here old enough to put together exactly what that meant.
Wind whipped through the room, the walls shaking with the ferocity of the prophetess’s power. Then suddenly everything went still and Lorcan dropped. At that moment, it didn’t matter that the seer was powerful and holding the room captive; the need to catch my mate overran everything else. Her body went limp in my arms, and the seer wavered on her feet before passing out as well, her form disappearing into smoke.
“Pretty girl,” I urged softly, cradling my mate against my chest. “Pretty girl, open your eyes.”
“What the hell was that?” The leader from the Kingdom of Fire broke the silence of the spectators.
“Nothing,” Hellsen, King of Nothingness, interrupted him. “Our seer has been having fits lately because her magic is changing. We brought her here in order to get her out of the kingdom in the first place.”
Was he covering for Lorcan? He refused to meet any of our gazes, completely focused on Surchardson—or whatever the fuck his name was.
Murmurs and whispers began to fill the space as the others moved around Lorcan protectively, her eyes flickering but not opening. We needed to get the hell out of here.
“The seer’s words—they weren’t careless.” Surchardson narrowed his eyes on Lorcan. “And they were directed towards her. What type of elf is she?”
“Are you questioning my flame?” Desmond demanded, causing the bastard to pale.
“We have a right to know what powers you are involving yourself with,” he argued.
“Hellsen already explained.” The Queen of Death, Red, approached our group and positioned herself between us and the King of Fire. “You seem to be overthinking this—greatly.”
“Is he, though?” Doylerion, from the Kingdom of Bones, looked confused as his gaze moved to Draven. “King Draven, we didn’t realize that you were aligned with King Desmond.”
He said it like Draven had been with us for years rather than the rather short time frame of reality. I mean, they had to know he’d been imprisoned, right?
“Well, considering I was recently released from Broken House, that makes sense,” Draven said dryly. “And I am no longer king. That power now belongs to Tomas, and has for a very long time.”
“More changes.” Surchardson shook his head, the atmosphere of the room growing more and more aggravated as people tried to listen in on our conversation. Desmond’s guards were doing their best to provide some level of security and privacy, but we needed to get out of here before the situation escalated, especially with Lorcan unconscious.
Dean finally spoke up. “She needs rest. I am not going to stand here while you question us—she’s fucking unconscious.”
“I’m not going to let this go,” Surchardson warned. “I expect an explanation.”
“You won’t get one—we don’t owe you shit,” Rhett bit out.
“Get out of here,” Hellsen suggested quietly as Suchardson opened his mouth to argue.
Lorcan’s head lolled to the side at that moment and I heard her briefly mumble my name, making my chest squeeze in concern. Adriel beelined to the doors and I followed, relieved that no one tried to stop me. I knew that there was confusion and now suspicion, but Rhett was right—we didn’t owe anyone an answer. The only reason we’d stayed as long as we had was so Desmond could talk and facilitate a plan moving forward. We had that plan now—it was time to get the fuck out of here.
A wall of guards appeared in front of us, and a ferocious sound left my throat after the one second it took me to realize they were from the Kingdom of Fire.
“Move. Now.” Zander appeared by my side, his magic saturating the air in a flick of unrestrained power that seemed more natural to him than the control he normally exerted. The guards immediately parted at his compulsion, all of us moving quickly to file into the elevator. The minute the door closed, Adriel and Desmond turned to face the rest of us.
“We need to leave. We can’t afford for them to study her enough to suspect the truth,” Adriel said.
“I’ll send word to my parents what happened,” Desmond said. “They don’t know exactly what she is, but they understand that she’s in danger and has been from the start.”
“I want her to be awake before we leave so she understands what’s going on,” Rhett said, and I nodded in agreement. After our conversation in Desmond’s kingdom, I was trying to be more mindful about things that could affect Lorcan. I had always tried to be from the start, but now more so than ever.
I knew she felt a little weird with us wanting to be so conscious of how things could affect her or trigger her, claiming it wasn’t a big deal, but I also saw how she felt when she woke up confused and scared, and I was determined to never see that fear in her eyes. I may have been good at picking her up when she fell, but if she never fell in the first place I could just hold her, and that sounded far fucking better.
