Heir of Broken Kingdom (HOBF Book 2) by Rafferty Mads

Author:Rafferty, Mads
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mads Rafferty
Published: 2024-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

The pain radiating throughout my body is something I’ve felt before. A feeling my heart knows all too well. The moment when your world is tilted on its axis, and life as you know it changes irreversibly.

The king has made his official first move, the first strike, the first public chess move, and it is in the way he knows how to punish best—taking innocent lives.

Three thousand soldiers, who had marched ahead for the rebellion cause, were wiped from this planet like they were nothing but dust.

Phillip is running, pain etched across his face. His gait is fast, surprisingly so as he skids to a stop before Ordelia, joining her in the mud-turned-crimson puddle. The shock that covers his face is nothing compared to the agony that physically crumbles his body.

I know what it feels like to lose hope, but I’ve never watched it so clearly in someone else before.

Phillip pulls Ordelia into his body as his shoulders heave, their uncontrollable sobs wrenching the air.

This is what the king has done.

He has brought the rebellion leaders to their knees, clinging for dear life against the grief trying to sweep them away.

Ordelia’s broken voice travels on the wind, despite how frail and small it is. Her chin wobbles, bloodshot eyes lifting to mine.

“H-how?” she stutters between hiccupped sobs. “How did he know?”

I shake my head, wishing the movement could erase what he’s done. “I don’t know.”

It’s meek. An undeniably meek and awful answer, but it’s the only one I have for her. He’s always been like this. Ten moves ahead on the chess board while his opponent is still scrambling to fight against the first one.

The king will stop at nothing until he wins. Mercy doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. His heart and soul have rotted like the Tree of Life’s core.

I was foolish to think I could fight against him. The truth in that statement lies scattered along the rolling hills.

My hand reaches out to comfort Ordelia, hovering an inch above her quaking shoulders before I think better of it. The last thing she wants or needs is the daughter of the man who slaughtered her people so ruthlessly to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry,” I croak.

Knox takes a step forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the moment he means to reach out to me, and when he has to stop himself at the last second.

Now he sees why we must remain a secret. Now more than ever, the king can never know about us.

“You don’t have to apologize, Delilah. This isn’t your doing,” Knox says strongly.

Ordelia and Phillip’s heads stay bent, nothing penetrating through their grief.

“You shouldn’t carry the guilt of this,” Ace’s soft voice adds behind me.

Sniffling, my head dips, my thoughts hollow. I don’t agree. But if I don’t acknowledge what they’re saying, they’ll continue to pour it down my throat and into my mind and I don’t deserve that kindness. At this point, I’m just saving them oxygen.

Fighting breaks out behind

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