Crown of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 4) (Amelia Hutchins)

“Reign’s dead? And Rhaghana, too?” Kinvara asked, her lips quivering with shock. I nodded, noting the tears building in her eyes as she stepped back. She glanced to my other sisters, who were all watching me warily. Hating that they were looking at me like that, I let my attention drift to Knox. Celia had plastered herself tightly against his chest with her palm resting just over his heart, but there was something grim and worrisome dancing in his eyes. I swallowed, swinging my attention back to Aurora, but a small whimpering cry caught my attention. Rage rushed through me as I slid my senses through the room, seeking the source of that feeble noise. “Do you have anything to inform me of? Such as where you’ve been, or maybe why you left me to die?” I asked as a muffled tapping pricked my ears. While I waited for more of Aurora’s lies, I continued scouring for the source of the sound. Pictures covered the wall, but there was a fragment of light shining from a slim gap between the wall and the floor. Turning back, I frowned when I saw Aurora looking for the same source of the noises I was picking up. I forced my scrutiny to linger on the guilt boiling inside her sparkling stare. If she and I can hear it, then everyone in this room could hear it, too. It had me swallowing past the lump in my throat and plastering a calm mask over my features to hide my rage. “There seem to be children inside the walls.” Somehow, I delivered the words around the seething malice that had ignited inside me. They could all smell the stench of rot and waste coming from beyond that hidden doorway. I knew they could. “Leave it alone, Aria. It doesn’t involve you,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Just drop it now. I’m warning you to pause and consider about what you intend to do. I am your queen.” “You’re the queen? I thought you had to remove the one currently sitting her righteous ass on the throne before you could ascend. Silly me, I guess. But, considering you’ve rushed everyone into certain death twice and abandoned your people the same number of times, you should probably claim a new position. I wasn’t informed that you’d raised your status to the monarch, but, then again, you probably thought Hecate had killed me after you ran away, so I can see why you didn’t think to tell me. It was probably the same miscommunication that happened when you failed to tell me you were my mother.” I placed my finger against my lips, tapping them in

thought before continuing. “Yes, that must be it.” My fury-filled stare held hers. “Do not do this here. I’ll not respond kindly if you embarrass me and disregard an order from your queen,” she barked loudly enough for it to echo through the room. Smiling tightly, I tittered. “I have no queen, and if I did, it wouldn’t be you.” Drifting my gaze to the male standing beside her, his lips curved cruelly, revealing yellowing teeth. “Ladies, let’s peek at what’s scurrying between the walls of this gentlemen’s home. I’m going to assume he has a pest problem, and we know how to deal with those, don’t we?” Aurora was pulling magic before I’d even finished speaking, which I guess I should have expected. I could see Celia out of the corner of my eye, and she was smiling. Knox didn’t move, but he wasn’t holding the bitch, either. Several individuals who were wearing crowns lingered around Knox, and beyond them, guards were taking up positions. My heart pounded against my chest, and I followed Aurora’s lead. I untangled the magic and erected another barrier behind me. My group approached the wall, inspecting it for the opening. The sound of clicking echoed throughout the area minutes before the stench hit us. Nausea burned against my esophagus because I knew exactly what that smell was. It stank of death and feces. I warred against the compulsion to mask my mouth to avoid gagging in front of dozens of people. The ladies behind me weren’t as controlled, and at least one of them—Soraya, if I had to guess—vomited before they withdrew from the secret chamber. “Oh my, it seems you have tiny witches within the walls. Care to explain how they ended up there?” I requested, driving an eyebrow up with my query. “You better get in line, as your queen demanded. Be a dutiful dog and listen to your owner before I put you down like the rabid bitch you are.” His olive-green eyes sparkled with hatred. “I know who you are. I also realize that you can’t touch me. You are nothing but a third-generation Hecate witch who longs to become the ruler. You won’t ever rest on the throne because Aurora is ten times more influential than you are.” “That’s shocking, all things considered. She’s stronger than I am?” Aurora’s face turned mottled as she seethed at audacity to challenge her before the council. “Are you more powerful than I?” “Cease this, now,” she ordered, her chest heaving with indignation.

Crying started beside me, and I twisted to peer at the emaciated child dressed in soiled clothes. Her deep-blue gaze swam with suffering no child should ever know. The cloaked figure who’d exited the wall directed the girl to the others, keeping her within the barrier I’d placed to guard them from my family and their magic. Women slipped out from the wall in threadbare dresses, carrying infants cradled in their arms. The moment I wound back around, magic slammed into my torso. I choked, drawing my palms up as Aurora and my sisters continued directing painful blows of powerful magic at me. Throwing my hands forward, I shoved my magic at them, and they flew backward. I regained my footing, glaring pointedly at Aurora. Betrayal slashed through me deeper than the assault, cutting my insides open like knives shredding paper. “What the fuck?” I murmured through the anguish their treachery caused. “What’s wrong with you guys?” “You do not know what you’re doing. You’ll ruin all we’ve struggled to achieve,” Aurora roared, pulling even more power from my sisters as she geared up for another assault. “He has children in his fucking wall! Innocent babies are inside that chamber, withering from neglect, Aurora! You may be perfectly fine with abusing babes, but I will never be okay with torturing or killing children. I get it now, I do. I refused to believe you’d pretended to be my savior, but you weren’t. You were my mother, and you didn’t save me at all. You created me to use me, to wield me like a perfect weapon. But you can’t control me because you’re too fucking weak, isn’t that right?” I demanded, hearing Kinvara asking what I was talking about in the background. “No, Aria Primrose.” She sighed tenderly, love burning in her stare before she blinked, removing all emotion. “My mistake was in falling in love with an infant who merely had one purpose, which was to die and provide me with the power inside you. But every time you died, you just came back stronger,” she answered, truly angry that I’d failed to die when I was an infant. “I did not fail in murdering you, daughter. You just wouldn’t remain dead long enough for me to claim what was mine by right. Freya offered to help because she was tired of watching me endlessly struggle to end your life.” It felt as if my air was being sucked from my lungs. My heart splintered and felt as if someone had set fire to the shards. Opening my mouth, I

struggled to reply, or even produce a sound of derision, but she’d thrown the grenade at me, and I couldn’t put the pin back into the thing. “Wow, didn’t see that coming,” Esme uttered from behind me. “What does that mean?” I demanded, feeling infinitely more lost than I had ever felt before. “You murdered me?” I dipped my head to the side, wondering if she’d misplaced her fucking brains. “I murdered you repeatedly, and each morning when we went to the altar to gather your corpse, you were alive. I tolerated sleeping with that monster so that I could collect the power and strength you would provide me through your death. But you were like a parasite that I couldn’t eradicate from my system. That bastard knew that you’d survive, and that one day, you’d return to this place. Why else would he allow me to leave here with you nestled in my womb? It is the only thing that makes sense when I think about it, but I won’t let him have you, Aria. If he thinks he can take what I created, he’s wrong.” My whole body shook, and I was incapable of speaking past the heaviness of my tongue. Had my sisters known any of that? One look at their anxious, guilt-ridden faces told me they had known. Kinvara was the only one who looked horrified by what was unfolding. “You guys knew?” I whispered, watching as Sabine lowered her attention to the floor. “Answer me!” I roared, betrayal cracking like lightning inside my veins. “When you didn’t die, we figured out that you were . . . different, but it didn’t matter. You were one of us, Aria. We didn’t look upon you differently,” Sabine explained, as if that would exonerate them. “It wasn’t like we had a vote, and you? Well, you were nobody but this screaming creature that Aurora needed to consume to safeguard us from Hecate. All we recognized was that your life ending prevented ours from the same outcome.” I shivered with her confession and then heard Knox’s words echoing them. His cold, deadened tone replayed in my mind. “You think anyone actually wanted you, Aria? The only reason you’ve interested anyone is because your body lured us in like a poisonous trap. No one wanted you. We just wanted your pussy.” I’d meant nothing to any of them, and that was a hard pill to swallow. “So, what? You couldn’t kill me, so you decided you’d turn me into a weapon? You offered me love when I’d only known pain and manipulated

me into being willing to do anything for you? Anything. You counted on that, didn’t you?” “No,” she stated coldly, holding my glare. “I didn’t intend for you to live past your usefulness to me. Freya and I summoned our mother, but I panicked and hid. She warned Freya that she sensed the monstrosity growing in her womb and told her to abort it before it could draw air into its lungs. Then Hecate murdered one babe Freya carried because she hadn’t realized what she’d sensed was inside me and not my sister. I tried to undo what I’d done, but no amount of magic or poison ridded me of you, Aria. You consumed your twin intrauterine, which was my first sign that you were a monster, but it worked out. Hecate killed Amara’s twin, and you had murdered yours. It allowed us to pretend you were hers after we realized you couldn’t be killed. It was never personal, though. Everything I did, I did for the greater good of the Nine Realms,” Aurora explained reasonably, as if she hadn’t just admitted to being a heartless monster. “And this?” I requested, gesturing to the surrounding people and the celebration. “Is this for that greater good you speak of, too? You can see past the fact that he’s breeding witches and abusing them?” I queried, striding toward him. “Tell me, how many witches have you abducted and raped to breed your own supply of magic and personal use? Or do you just prefer putting that tiny shrivel cock in women who are too ill-kept to argue against you?” “I don’t answer to dogs,” he grunted. “Heel, bitch.” I struck before he’d even twitched a finger. His head ricocheted off Aurora’s shoulder, and she lunged forward, striking me promptly with the knife she’d kept hidden until this moment. I wavered, hearing Knox snarl as Kinvara screamed. My body slumped to the ground, and I brought my hands up to the knife, peering at Aurora as she stared down at me. Her head tipped as if she were listening to the weakening heartbeat inside my rib cage. “She’s weakening enough to be drained,” she murmured in a muffled note. “What did you do? It’s Aria, Aurora. She’s our fucking blood. What did you do?” Kinvara demanded, slipping to her knees to grab me, shaking my body as the life dimmed from my eyes. “Swiftly, help me,” Aurora ordered. “If the elements escape her, they’ll return to Hecate! Help me siphon her magic and the life-source from her. I

will need your help to secure them and hold them within me until I can figure out what to do to prevent them from returning to my mother.” The girls stepped into position, and I glared at them as best as I could. “Hold her arms and legs now. Cut her ankles and wrists open.” “It’s Aria, for fuck’s sake! We can’t do this,” Kinvara sobbed as they shoved away her from me so the others could do as Aurora had ordered. “Stop it. Stop!” she howled, ripping at her hair as they began slicing through my limbs to drain me dry. “What about them?” Tamryn inquired, her expression disturbed and crowded with emotions. “They die too,” Aurora declared coldly. “Kill them all quickly and then help me.” Tamryn rose, jerking magic to herself, but before she could deliver it, I raised my palms. My magic blasted her backward and slammed her into a wall so hard that she hit it with a sickening crunch. When she hit the ground, she didn’t move. Then I stepped from the shadows and clucked my tongue against my teeth. Pushing the hood away from my face, I stared down at the clay version of myself that Aurora was attempting to drain. Aurora, I could see trying to murder me, now. But honestly, the bitches I’d grown up with and spent my life assuming were my sisters? I hadn’t seen that coming and it fucking hurt to watch play out before me. “Pathetic, really,” I whispered as a gentle clap of laughter escaped. Aurora’s eyes widened in terror as she slowly backed away from me. “I honestly wish you had swallowed—or hell, taken me up your ass, mother. It would have been preferable to being your daughter. Now, let’s have a proper discussion, ladies.” I folded my arms over my chest, scowling at them all pointedly.

Chapter Twenty-Six Everyone scooted as far away from me as they could get, and Aurora started pulling massive amounts of magic from the traitorous assholes I used to consider sisters. When she lifted her hands and sent it directly toward me, I simply parted my fingers, leaving the three center ones together. The magic paused in front of me and then slowly entered through my fingertips. Aurora’s horrified stare rounded, and her jaw dropped as she realized that not only had I paused her spell, but I’d also siphoned all her magic without touching her. The simple fact was that I could suck them all dry without them realizing it had been me. Knox might be a conduit, but I was the battery that contained the power he needed. During my stay in the library, I’d discovered a lot about witches and what happened when they cross-breed, and that was my favorite new party trick. The first time Esme let me test it, she’d resorted to calling me a freaky name for an hour, but I’d been too exhilarated to care. Esme hadn’t been able to take mine, and the magic I held had sent warnings for her to cease. We’d pushed it, and that had gotten hairy, so we called it a day before my power ended up harming her to protect me. “You produced me merely to drain my magic.” I stepped toward her as she backed away. My sister’s magic exploded toward me, but I just siphoned that up too before I shoved them backward through the barrier. “I’d have my father’s name.” “You think he wants you?” she hissed before she started laughing. “I assure you he intends to use you the same as we do, stupid girl. You’re nothing to anyone other than a bomb to be detonated or the scent you create to lure another monster between your thighs. Everyone you know has used you for something, haven’t they?” She shook her head. Malice trickled from her mauve-colored lips, which had pulled back, sneering as her facade shattered and her true feelings became exposed. “That’s not true,” I replied coldly, but wasn’t it? “Knox wants you for the power you house. Your scent that Knox can’t seem to get enough of, Aria? Well, I chose your father for more than his inner monsters. He held the perfect combination inside him, and my blood

enhanced them ten folds. The magic running through you amplifies that scent and allure to claim you. I wanted what you so I could end Hecate for good. Freya’s daughters? You brought in alphas, and they immensely enjoyed fucking them. You also protected them since your presence warded off predators. Your friends, if you can even really call them such, use you as a shield they can hide behind. You are useful to them, but without your magic, scent, and strength? You’re nothing.” “And?” I asked, feeling each truth against my heart as if she was ripping it apart. Her voice lowered and cruel smiled curved over her mouth. “You’re not wanted here. Not anymore. I’ve bargained with the leaders of the Nine Realms, and they’ve agreed to our terms. We have peace and an agreement between leaders. I have excluded you from joining because you are unstable, but worse than that, your power is unpredictable. But also, nobody spoke up for you or in your defense—not even your husband. It must sting knowing he’s abandoned you and sought comfort in the arms of another, doesn’t it?” My eyes locked with Knox’s through the barrier, but he broke first and spun to his brothers, all of whom had been watching my world shatter and crumble to ruins. Apparently, I had been too quick to deny that I was the queen of nothing. There was finally a crown on my head, which was crafted in chaos, and my kingdom was nothing more than a pile of ruin. I’d sacrificed everything for those who wouldn’t even help me off the ground I kneeled upon. “Am I? Why? Simply because I don’t want children harmed or slaughtered? There’s no one here seeking to do the right thing instead of what benefits them the most. Not a single person other than me and those following me, and I’ll continue to do so. I made a promise to protect them, with or without a throne. I don’t need a title to lead or help people. You allow them to perish because you consider them to be beneath you. You let that evil bitch who birthed life into you murder Reign and Rhaghana!” I roared, fighting through the emotion. “No, I didn’t. You did. I left them with you, Aria. It was you who failed to protect them from Hecate.” “You were supposed to lead us. You couldn’t, though, and because of that, people died. They died! A leader never leaves their troops behind to die in order to save their own ass. They died because you failed us and

weren’t strong enough to fight off a simple fucking compulsion spell! You fucked us, and when you finally shook it off, you ran like a bitch to protect your own ass. I had a reason to run, but I stayed and fought until the last person alive was off that field. Plus, I warned you I was depleted, but you didn’t care, did you? I was pregnant, Aurora,” I whispered through the swell of emotion. “I left the battlefield to give birth to my daughters!” Shocked gasps sounded from the people watching from beyond the barrier. “I bet you failed them, like you’ll do with everything else you seek to do. Were you too weak to even protect your own babes?” She sneered coldly, growing bolder with each tear that escaped the hold I lost on them. “No, I did not even get a choice in their fate. Your mother tried to slip a sliver of her souls into them and murdered them before they’d lived. You’ve become just like her, Aurora. You are the same monster that she is. But unlike her, you will be nothing more than a weak, pathetic bitch who hides in the shadows of others. You couldn’t even murder me as an infant. What the hell makes you think you can accomplish it now?” “Easily, because I have a home-field advantage. You are in my world, daughter. I have people everywhere, and when you look over your shoulder or you meet someone in the forest you hide within, you’ll wonder if they work for me.” Her hands rose to attack with whatever magic she’d been able to regain, but I was ready, slamming my attack against hers, forcing her back to the barrier. Her body slammed against it, and I smiled coldly. Walking slowly, I made my way over to stand directly in front of her. Even though I refused to look away from Aurora’s rabid, hate-fill face, I could feel Knox’s focus on me, burning into my spine. He’d witnessed everything in my life shattering into unrecognizable pieces, and I wanted to demand he tell me if he knew. Only, he was no better than they were, so it didn’t matter. He didn’t matter. So, I had to learn to accept that no one cared. I was not something people could love or ever truly want. I caught sight of him in my peripheral vision and wanted to vomit. His palm was on the base of Celia’s spine, and her lips pressed against his ear. Celia whispered softly to him, pointing out things as Killian and Brander added to them. I didn’t need to listen to know they were seeking to bring the barrier down before I murdered Aurora. They should already know that it was pointless for them to try.

The moment I reached her, I slammed more magic into her, watching as her hands lifted above her head. My body floated just high enough for me to look directly into her eyes. “Lucky for you, I’m not totally a murderous, cold-hearted bitch. Before I depart, know this, Mommy Dearest. If, or when, you decide to come for me or those under my protection, I will end you in the most horrendous way possible. The screams of your pain and agony will become the background music I hear when I recount what you and everyone else did to me. Knowing that, you should really consider who the fuck you are messing with.” I yanked more power until the entire mansion trembled and the walls cracked with a loud groan. “Whose home turf was this again? I believe it bows to me and offers me the magic it houses. Does it provide you the same, or are you just a pathetic, washed-up witch whose Mommy fucked with the wrong realm?” I snorted, slamming the magic through the air, hearing everyone groaning as it slithered and drifted through them. “Stop!” she snarled through the agony she felt. “Can you hear that sound, Mother? I hear the Nine Realms welcoming me as its rightful heir and offering me everything it is. I guess that gives me the advantage of the home team, correct? Listen to it sing for me, offering to crush anyone who stands in my way. It’s so pretty, isn’t it?” I tilted my head, hearing the whimpers of the people and the world seeking to destroy them at my behest. “Yeah, now who’s fucking laughing? I may be your child, but I’m no longer the girl who first arrived in this hellish place. She’s not here anymore because you all added matches and watched her burn until a monster rose from the ashes of those fires. Keep fucking with me, and I will gladly shove those ashes down your throat and make you fucking choke on them.” Moving my hand to her chin, I pinched it so hard her jaw creaked. “The problem with pissing off those people you pretend to love is they know all your dirty little secrets. They know how petty and vain you are inside and out. They know what you cherish and desire the most.” I released her chin and stepped back. The second she was out of arm’s reach, I felt her trying to burrow into my magic, trying to coax it away from me and into herself. I softly tsked and shook my head at her sat attempt. “Careful, I hear that siphoning magic is addictive, and I know you do it regularly, so no one knows just how weak you really are, Aurora. If you think to harm witchlings as your new companions do, I’ll drain you dry and then trickle

enough power into your shriveled, decaying carcass to ensure you don’t die. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” I inquired, slamming her through the barrier before I slid my gaze to where Knox stood with Celia literally wrapped around his arm, holding on. Exhaling, I turned to my sisters . . . or cousins. I scanned their faces, moving closer. If I left them with Aurora, they’d end up dead. Sure, they’d just tried to help Aurora steal my powers, but sisters normally were assholes and often pissed you off. Right? It didn’t mean I’d trust them any time soon, but I’d at least see if they were acting because they had to or if they wanted me gone. “She left Reign and Rhaghana to save her own ass. Come with me, and I promise never to leave you behind. We’re family, and while you were complicit in what happened, I don’t blame you,” I stated, swallowing as I searched their faces. “Kinvara, come with me. I will keep you safe, I promise.” No one moved or spoke to me. My heart shattered, and I couldn’t prevent the quiver that started in my lip. My entire existence had been as one of them, and I’d stood by them regardless of their flaws. Now, they were prepared to toss me aside and blindly follow a murderous, vindictive bitch? They were willing to walk away after I had gone through hell at the hand of Knox to protect them and ensure they had a future? “Are you honestly okay with our daughters and those of others being murdered? Do you even see them?” I demanded, pointing to where Esme and the others held toddlers with still more gathered around their legs. “They’re only babies, and yet they’ve suffered because they have Hecate blood pumping in their veins! God damn it, I want you to admit that you’re fine with whatever dreadful things they’ve done to them, that you would be okay if it happened to your own daughter. I’ll wait.” I studied their downcast faces and exhaled the sob that had built in my throat. “You are all cowards. You’ll all die if you follow her. I can’t protect you or keep you safe if you go with her. Have the balls to look into my eyes and tell me why you’ll continue to stay at her side as she ignores the shit happening here!” I demanded, watching as Kinvara silently lifted her gaze, holding mine. “Blood stays with blood, Aria. You belong with us, too,” she whispered timidly. “If blood stuck with blood, then we all belong on our fucking knees, serving at Hecate’s feet, Kinny. Look around and tell me that this is what

you want. Explain to me how you are okay watching them slaughter witches. Look at their victims and tell them you are okay with the abuse they’ve endured,” I whispered softly. “I stand with my sisters, Aria,” she muttered. “They’re my sisters.” “And I’m not.” I laughed softly. “You are still my sister,” she argued. “You can’t save them all, Aria. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” Sabine queried, her tone pleading for me to understand. “They’re lost, but we can survive if we do what they ask of us. We’ve agreed to marry lords and kings who will secure our places and protect our futures in the Nine Realms. Come with us, and we’ll survive together. United, we’re stronger than Hecate.” “And abandon all the other witches to their fates at the hands of monsters? They do not just murder those they consider as less, Sabine. They ruin them, rape them, and torture them before they kill them and string them up outside their gates. I won’t ever stand on the same side as those who allow that to happen. We’re witches, and witches never abandon our own to their fates. Witches fight, and we flourish together. You intend to abandon them to a fate worse than death.” “So be it,” she said, turning to the others. “Blessed be, Aria.” “The blessed are the dead, for they cannot hear the deplorable drivel escaping from your lips.” I snorted while they watched me, spinning on my heel. I started toward Siobhan, who’d opened a portal. My heart thundered as I reached down, sliding my hands around a slender child’s waist, and handed her through the portal the moment Soraya was in the shelter. I continued helping the ones who couldn’t walk through the portal until there was no one left. It was only then that I strode to the small room that reeked of death and paused in horror. They had piled corpses of older children against the back wall. “And even though you are but little, you shall be fierce,” I murmured, uttering the incantation spell which added them to the undead army. “Blessed be, for you are now truly free of this flesh and bone that held your soul to this cursed place.” Turning around, I gazed into Knox’s oceaniccolored eyes. When he stepped forward, I turned away. “Poor, pathetic creature, isn’t she, Knox? How embarrassing to be tossed away like nothing more than trash.” Celia chuckled beside him,

forcing me to glance at her while she continued clutching onto Knox. “Oh, I think she’s going to cry now.” “Enough, Celia,” Knox warned, but I didn’t turn back. I wouldn’t. I paused at the entrance to the portal, glancing at the girls who had yet to move. Kinvara had tears rolling down her cheeks, but the others merely watched with hopeful stares. I silently memorized their faces and then lifted two fingers to my forehead before saluting them. It would likely be the last time I saw them, and even though it ached and broke me to walk away, I was done allowing myself to be considered a weapon, or anything else, for them to use. I’d allowed myself to be abused and hurt repeatedly so that I could keep them safe. The moment I was down, they’d jumped to kick me simply because Aurora had ordered them to do so. My family had no intention of straining themselves to defend witches or anyone else being abused. They had proven that when they’d stood in this room, enjoying the party while on the other side of the wall, children suffered. It was almost as if they were used to ignoring children screaming in pain. But then they’d listened to their mother endlessly torturing me, and done then nothing either. If they cared, they had a shitty way of showing it to a person. They’d known I had been using myself as bait for Knox, so he wouldn’t turn his attention to them. For months, I’d allowed him to chase me just so they would be safe, and the entire time, they’d been busy trading their loyalty for safety and comfort. The moment I showed any sign of not being the perfect little monster for them, they threw me away because I was the face they’d hidden behind. Then there was Knox. He’d done shit that was unforgiveable, but the first time I messed up, he walked away. According to him, marriage in the Nine Realms was forever, but I was sure Aurora was already working to have my titles removed. She wouldn’t best me in combat, which meant she needed to do so in another way. It didn’t matter anymore, not really. If he wanted a divorce, I’d sign on the dotted line. He and his men made their positions clear by remaining silent tonight. Knox had proven that I meant nothing to him and that I never would. He was here with his whore hanging on him, and he’d said nothing and done nothing as my entire world shattered. If he’d meant what he’d said when he held me, why hadn’t he sought to prevent the events of tonight from transpiring? I didn’t have time to believe

in fairy tales or love anymore. Before, when he’d mentioned how naïve I was, I’d laughed and mostly ignored him. Now, it wasn’t so easy to laugh away. This place had changed me, and I wasn’t certain it was for the better. He’d changed me, and while he’d strengthened me and forced me to harden, Knox had also added to the agony I’d endured tonight. I needed to redirect and alter my perception. I’d been moving through the realms to protect and keep my family safe. Tonight, I’d lost that responsibility. I no longer had to factor them into my plans. It was freeing, even though it would leave a huge scar on my soul. I’d been betrayed, beaten, broken, but I’d not been defeated. It was time to decide my fate and which path I would walk down. I had friends, and they were becoming closer to me than my family ever had felt. The castoffs and discarded witches who had endured this world were beside me, and they knew how to survive. Esme, Siobhan, Avyanna, and Soraya had lived through hell and hadn’t knelt or caved to the demands of the sadistic creatures of the Nine Realms, and neither would I. If this world wanted to break us, they’d learn that broken things are more vicious than anything they’d known before. If they wanted a monster, I’d show them one who had been born to rain hell on anyone who trespassed against me or the Nine Realms. Aria Hecate had been reborn tonight, and I had risen from the ashes and shackles that had held me down. In this world, there were two promises. You could rise against those who threatened you or you could bow at their feet. I was rising because fuck sitting at anyone’s feet, or serving them. It was time to show this world just who the fuck they’d thought to keep leashed because I was done playing by their rules. Eventually, they’d come for us, but we’d be ready. We were witches, and when witches got angry, we got evil.

Part II When witches bleed and the realms heed the call, the monsters that once inhabited the world shall rise, and unleash their mighty battle cries. And so she rises, with fire in her eyes and a crown made of chaos. Her kingdom built of their corpses, and her rivers run crimson with their blood. Little do they know that their true heir has finally returned, and the Nine Realms are welcoming her home. The land will rumble and answer her call. For the princess who fell, shall rise as a queen, and when she opens her soul, the sun shall once more rise to be seen. There’s a new monster in the realms, and she’s about to unleash chaos as she reaches for her rightful place. The world is about to rattle, and realize what they’ve made. For monsters are created, and born from pain. Her claws are now sharpened, and she’s all out of fucks and a little insane.

Chapter Twenty-Seven Knox Three months later . . . Leaning against the ledge of the battlement, I looked over the straggling town stretched out before me. My stare dropped to the shadows, fearing she was here, preparing to bring the entire palace down around us. Not that I’d fault her for doing so. I’d been there when her world disintegrated and hadn’t been able to avoid the suffering she’d endured to grasp the truth. It had been months since I’d seen her. The minute she’d moved through the portal, it was as if Aria ceased to exist. Somehow, she’d cut me out, severing the connections—magical and mate—I’d had with her. It had left a hole in my chest, and no volume of liquor filled the void. When the council had voted on whether we should consider Aria a threat, I hadn’t cast a vote, which was just as bad as casting one against her. She knew I couldn’t waver from my course because doing so would place Norvalla in conflict with the rest of the realms. They would cut the realm off from supplies that my people depended on to survive. It forced me to choose between my people and her. Plus, if I spoke out against them, they’d leave me in the dark, and I needed to be aware of what the scheming bitch mother of hers was planning. There was also the issue of the council buying up the shit Aurora was selling. She’d convinced them that Aria was dangerous, and then Celia had walked me into a corner, making it impossible for me to argue that Aria wasn’t a threat. Not after everyone found out about my castle on the borderlands being demolished. It was by design, and I wasn’t stupid enough not to read between the lines. Celia was seeking to help Aurora rid Aria from my life. It explained why she hadn’t feared expressing her biased opinion. She had known Aurora would back her up. Until recently, though, Aurora had needed Aria’s compliance, but something had to have occurred to alter that. If I didn’t figure out what had changed or if I faltered and lost the favor of the council, she’d rule over all of us if Aria removed Hecate from the throne that Aurora planned to claim.

If that happened, the first thing she would do would be to send them after her pretty daughter. That was something I would not allow to happen. The scent of magic and alcohol forced my attention to the woman moving closer to me. Celia had calmed down and had been helpful in being the go-to between Norvalla and the witches. She’d risen to the occasion and prevented our people from demanding Aria’s head spiked on our wall. That hadn’t been selfless, though, because she was trying to cement her position beside me. “You seem lost tonight, My King,” she murmured, leaning beside me while staring out over the village’s sparkling torchlights. Her shoulder brushed against mine, and I barely contained the urge to move farther away. “Are they ready?” I countered, absently stroking my chest where the tightness refused to loosen. The emptiness was growing, a constant reminder that she was out there somewhere without me. “They are, but we have time if you need it, Knox. I know this cannot be easy on you, but it has to be decided,” she expressed, turning her sapphirecolored eyes on me. “You merely need to tell them the truth of what happened. We both know that this is for the best, even for her. Months have passed, and she hasn’t come back to you.” She turned, pushing the hair away from my brow. “You’ll find a perfect queen who the people will love again, My King.” “Indeed,” I agreed, pushing off the ledge to head toward where they’d gathered for the meeting. “Knox,” she called to my back, compelling me to pause and peer over my shoulder. “They will try to arrange another marriage for you soon. You need to prepare for that and have a reply readily available. I can offer you an out to their demands. You only need to ask me.” My hands tightened into fists at my sides, and I jerked my chin up in reply. I wasn’t stupid, and I didn’t believe she made that offer out of the kindness of her heart. She wanted power, and to get that, she needed me. I strode inside, moving through the people dressed in finery. The rulers of the Nine Realm were celebrating the newly found peace they’d settled on. I didn’t buy it, nor did I trust any of them to hold their word. Aurora had done the impossible and forged alliances with the heads of every realm except mine. Though, she had a plan for my realm. The first

step being to throw her own daughter—my wife and mate—under the wheels of the war machines and continually place all blame on her. Tonight would likely be the start of her second step, which would likely be to push the dissolution of my and Aria’s marriage. I felt it coming, and while I’d told Aria divorce wasn’t an option, I’d never calculated having to stand before the council and admit how I’d convinced her to marry me. Not that it mattered. Lennox had claimed Aria and Ember, and that wasn’t something that could be undone. Celia and the others filed into line behind me. The room parted, making a path for us to head to where the meeting was taking place tonight. Upon entering the room, I felt the power of the other kings and queens and those who had been helping me lead the rebellion against the witches. The council members who’d flocked to her, dropping to their knees at the mere mention of her drawing power from Aria, had ignored my warnings and were now offering her strength to her claim as queen. “Glad you didn’t keep us waiting too long, King Karnavious,” Aurora stated, her keen stare boring a hole into my chest as if she couldn’t wait to rip my heart out and feast on it. Smiling coldly, I ignored her and made my way deeper into the room. My gaze flicked to the other kings and queens, slowly nodding as I passed them. The entire room was holding its breath, expecting a battle that I fully intended to give them. “I hope you weren’t put out by having to wait for me,” I said as soon as I reached my seat at the head of the table. The way her scarred cheek tightened exposed her anger. “Gentlemen and Ladies, please sit so we can start the meeting and return to the festivities that’ve been made available tonight,” Fade stated, gesturing to my seat with a tilt of his head. Once everyone was settled, I placed my hands on the table and waited for the subject that was surely on the agenda to be discussed. “As you know, Aria is growing more unhinged,” Aurora proclaimed, starting right in on her daughter. She was going straight for blood with the first drivel to escape her poisonous lips. Heads nodded, but I didn’t agree. Aria hadn’t slaughtered blindly and had even begun leaving people tied to trees with notes on them. My attention moved to her family, who all agreed with their aunt. Not a single girl in that group had any loyalty to Aria, save for the girl who had seemed

oblivious to the torture Aria had endured at the hands of her mother and aunt. “Just last week, she attacked three of my keeps and murdered the lords I’d placed there to hold them in my name. I had banners flying, showing they belong to me,” Neven, the Queen of Nymphs, whined. “There was no provocation or reason for it, either. She merely walked through the entire keep, murdering countless people simply because Aria felt like doing so.” “Aria doesn’t kill blindly,” Kinvara specified, forcing the nymph to glare at her. “If she did what you’re claiming, there was reason to do so.” My focus shifted to the girl whose eyes brimmed with challenge, daring Neven to call her a liar. The girls around Kinvara began muttering beneath their breath, whispering for her to stop. I smiled in amusement, watching them trying to rein in her temper. “I just said she did, didn’t I?” Neven returned, her tone ordering obedience. “And I just corrected your insinuation that you apparently pulled from your ass. Didn’t I? You are mistaken,” Kinvara hissed, her jaw clenched. “Aria isn’t the same girl we knew before coming to the Nine Realms,” Aurora snapped. “She’s turned into a monster that needs to be dealt with, and we’ve agreed to take care of her together.” “Which we can’t deal with while Aria’s protected,” Callista snorted, pegging me with a piercing glare that made me want to rip her eyes out of their sockets. “You’ve protected her from harm because of her marriage to you, Knox.” “You may address me by my title, but not by name,” I replied sharply, returning the hate-filled glower she held on me. “Yes, she’s protected. Aria is my wife, and that offers her a level of protection. I fail to see what business that is of yours.” “Aria was forced into that marriage, wasn’t she?” Callista queried, smirking when she glanced at Celia, who nodded hesitantly. “You threatened our lives if she didn’t agree.” “What is it you’re seeking to achieve here?” I hissed vehemently, facing Aurora as she cleared her throat, smiling tightly at me. “Under the laws of witches, would your marriage be valid? Can you honestly stand here and tell this council that you didn’t force her by unfair means to wed you? Say, by threatening our lives and those of the people she cared about?” Aurora asked softly.

I couldn’t honestly say there’d been no coercion to force Aria to become my wife. The witches were aware of that fact and we’re using it to nullify the sacred vows we’d spoken to one another. Of course, to creatures like Aria and me, the only vows that actually mattered were the ones we’d stated in bed, with our creatures taking over our lips. “Did you call me here for the details of my wedding or something else?” My tone escaped sharp and lethal as a blade that cut to the quick. “We’re here because she’s protected by the vows you forced her to say, King Karnavious. Aria is spiraling and attacking without due process. She’s dangerous, but then you’re aware of that fact. After all, you made it clear when you told us she had decimated the keep on your land, slaughtering innocent people. Or is that incorrect? Did she, or did she not render an entire keep to rubble on your land? I can understand the hesitancy, since admitting you’ve ignored her crimes would bring in your failure to protect your people from the girl you are protecting right now, in this sacred room where truth must be spoken before the gracious, justly leaders of the Nine Realms.” “How I handle my kingdom or those who harm my people isn’t your fucking concern, Aurora,” I grunted. “I will deal with her, but not in a manner that allows you to claim what she holds. You can’t handle what she houses, and we both know the truth of that, don’t we?” “It’s Queen of Witches, King Karnavious. Or, if you prefer, you may call me Queen Hecate,” she returned smoothly, smiling with a twinkle dancing in her gaze. “Are you purposely ignoring the question? I’d hate to think you’re lying, or misleading the council by withholding the truth of what occurred in your kingdom.” “I have withheld nothing from the council, Aurora. I made the council aware of the developing situation, and they agreed I should handle it in a manner of my choosing.” “Did or didn’t Aria slaughter innocent lives within your kingdom? Lives you solemnly swore to protect from any threat imposed against them? It’s a rather straightforward question, King Karnavious. I expect you to answer me truthfully,” Aurora demanded loudly. Swallowing past the animosity and rage at her audacity to demand anything from me, I shifted in my seat, leaning over the table before folding my hands on it.

“She did because she lost control of her emotions. Grief can do that to anyone of us.” “And she’ll only continue to spiral. Aria believes we should save all witches, and we know that it’s just not realistic or plausible.” I wanted to argue with her, but she wasn’t wrong. “Not all witches,” Killian interjected, forcing my head to swing toward him. “I don’t believe I asked you,” Aurora snapped, but Killian merely aimed his chilling glare on her before continuing. “Merely the witches who are not yet evil, which we also agree with,” he stated, tapping the table with his fingertips. “Aria may be young, but she isn’t unhinged. She attacks with control, which is more than most of us can say we do lately. She could have continued a path of destruction with her grief, but she stopped. I would wager that more than half the people in this room have caused more death and destruction when they lost someone they loved. Aria attacked and may have done so in anger. The keep she attacked had violated the laws of Norvalla, and the punishment for that would have been death anyway. Upon finding children she had vowed to protect slain, she aimed that anger at the lord who’d intended to feed witches to his hound for fun. Tell me none of you would’ve responded the same if he’d been feeding your people to his fucking dog. No? None of you can state otherwise?” Killian defended her, even though he’d been the last person I’d ever expected to do so. In fact, we’d left Lore and Greer in Norvalla to prevent anyone from speaking up or giving away our stance on them hunting her. Their sharp, staunch defense of Aria had drawn the attention of those here, which had added fuel to fire Aurora was lighting. The bitch was aiming her sights on my throne, and not even bothering to hide it anymore. If she thought I’d willingly vacate it for her, she was about to find out why no one fucked with me. “That isn’t what I asked, was it? Was everyone within the keep she decimated guilty, or merely a few? From what I’ve gathered, she slaughtered children and pregnant women without prejudice. She claims to fight for the weak, and then she murders them. So, tell me I’m wrong here, Killian. Tell me that Aria Hecate didn’t unjustly destroy that keep, and those dwelling within it.” Aurora huffed, watching him with the recognition that he couldn’t say otherwise.

“How many innocent lives have you taken, Aurora? We already know you were perfectly willing to slaughter you daughter for power. Or you, Queen of Nymphs? How about you, King of Alpha’s?” I examined carefully. “I know I am not any better than Aria in this aspect. I have a throne of witches’ skulls to prove it. So, let’s stop this tiresome campaign you’re waging against your daughter just so you can siphon her power— power, I might add, that you weren’t even able to claim when as an infant.” I looked directly into Aurora’s eyes, knowing she remembered when her skull had almost been added to the pile. Did she forget who’d saved her worthless ass? “This isn’t a fucking lynch mob. It’s a hearing to discuss how we move forward.” “You’re wrong.” Aurora chuckled, her hands folded neatly on the table in front of her. “Your wife, if she even is your wife under the law of witches, is a menace and deadly to anyone, or anything that opposes her. Celia and I had a lovely conversation a few days ago, and it brings in the legitimacy of your nuptials. You forced Aria’s hand, and as a result, your vows are nothing more than words you spoke together. Celia assured me it was done to prevent Aria from hurting you and your people, which hasn’t seemed to stop her.” Anger rushed through me, and Celia sensed it, shifting away from me just a fraction of an inch. I smiled tightly, turning to glance at her as her stare pleaded with me. Aria was being attacked on every side, from every angle, and she wasn’t here to argue the case or defend herself. “I can assure that, under the laws of Norvalla, she is my wife. My wedding gift to her was your life and the lives of her sisters. Is that what you wanted? What do you actually plan to do, Aurora? Is this what we do here now, beat down a girl who isn’t here to defend herself and lobby to dissolve marriage vows?” I spat, forcing myself not to remove the heads of the entire council and add them to the others who’d failed the Nine Realms. “It’s a question of whether she has the protection of the high king of the Nine Realms,” Aurora argued while the others muttered their agreement. “No one present is eager to cross you or trespass against what you claim. Without the protection that your marriage provides, Aria could be captured and held with your permission, and it would prevent her from ending more innocent lives.” “Define innocent.” Brander chuckled. “You made her, Queen of Witches. You want her captured and drained to the brink of death so you can

take what is rightfully hers by force. In the words of Aria herself, hard pass. No one here will add to your powers or provide you with permission to drain her to that point.” “You have no vote here, Brander.” Neven sneered at him, buffing her nails on her dress before staring at them. “Did I forget to inform you? It must have slipped my mind, but I have allowed Brander to stand in as my proxy for Norvalla for this meeting. As the second-born son, he may hold the title if I agree.” I smiled tightly at Neven, who wisely kept her poisonous mouth closed. “Are you in love with her?” Celia asked, causing to my attention to her, where she flinched from what she read in my expression. “Is that why you refuse to admit that you coerced her into marriage?” “No.” I snorted, hating that it bothered me to say it aloud. “I’m no longer capable of that emotion. But love or not, she is my mate, which offers far more protection than marriage does in Norvalla.” “Aria is incapable of mating,” Aurora said, shaking her head in denial. “Would you like to tell my beast that she isn’t his mate? I can bring him to the forefront and allow you to explain it to him, Aurora. Your kind has always trembled in the presence of mine because of the fire we house, a fire Aria also houses. How is it you were able to lay down and spread your thighs for a beast you despise long enough the breed that perfect little monster you created?” I asked while drumming my fingers, watching the color draining from her face. “I say you vote,” Celia announced, forcing my stare to hers once more. “You and I both know how this will end,” I hissed, letting her see every spark of fury she’d just ignited. “You can’t see beyond what she is, Knox. Since you cannot, it falls to us to protect you and do what is needed. Aria’s a monstrosity, one that shouldn’t exist. No witch has ever held both bloodlines. I can’t overlook the facts or truth of the danger she poses for you, My King.” Anger and warning sparkled in mine, but also betrayal at the fact she’d backed up the witches instead of me, her fucking king. I hated the fucking game being played here. I’d placed these assholes on the council. I was who removed the heads of the council before them and cleared the way for true leaders to rise and unite against the threat being brought against the realms. I’d sworn to heed their advice and they’d sworn to always vote for what was best for all realms rather than their own self-interests. If I disagreed or

challenged them openly, I’d be facing a war against all of them. Until I prepared for that course, I’d either play along, or be left in the dark. I couldn’t allow that to happen. The army would follow me, but I’d be blindly leading them without knowing the moves the council would make. So, for now, I’d play their political game and let Aria teach them why the queen was always the most powerful piece on the chessboard. “I will not vote for her death, imprisonment, or forfeit of power. I will also not allow you and others to hunt Aria down. She’s done nothing to warrant it yet,” I growled, frowning as agreement moved around the table. Standing, I glared at Aurora, who smirked. She knew she’d won my council. “It would appear the council’s with me on this,” Aurora stated, pushing her chair back to stand, laughing softly. “Going after her is only going to make her the enemy, and right now, she isn’t. She lost against Hecate because her leadership was weak and pathetic. Aria was also pregnant and had just recovered from stepping in front of a spell you attacked me with. All while you did what? Oh, that’s right. You ran away because you aren’t strong enough to face your mother without her. She’s not pregnant anymore, and she isn’t afraid of losing the people she has fought to protect. You have removed both those obstacles for her. So, thank you for that.” Aria’s cousins had to good sense to look ashamed. Not that it mattered at this point. “She no longer stands in the way of monsters like me hunting you, either. If you pursue this agenda, Aria will actually become the monster you claim she already is. That’ll be on you and the rest of the faithless bitches who turned against her.” “And you assume she won’t turn against you as well?” Aurora asked. “Oh, I know she will.” I snorted. “And when she’s ready, she knows exactly where to find me, which sure as fuck won’t be standing with the lynch mob you’re creating. My beast won’t allow you to harm her, and neither will her father. I’m sure you remember him. She’s looking for him now that you’ve shoved her into isolation. Wounded things fight so much harder to keep breathing than creatures that merely are trying to save their own asses.” “I made a mistake, but that mistake cannot be undone. Now it has to be contained before it comes back to bite us all in the ass, and she has very sharp teeth,” Aurora hissed, showing the first flash of panic since Aria held her by the throat.

“She does, and she bites savagely hard. The moment you and the people within this room start to hunt her, she’ll hunt you back, and she’s a fucking predator to the very marrow of her bones. Good luck and may your goddess protect you, Throneless Queen of the Witches.” I chuckled, exiting the room as Celia trailed after me. “Knox!” she cried out, chasing me as I continued moving without acknowledging her. “Knox, stop!” Spinning around angrily, I pegged my anger on her as the scent of fear settled between us. “Go home, Celia. To the one in which your parents left you. You’re no longer welcome in mine.” “You’re not the one sitting on the throne right now, Knox. Brander just cast his vote for Norvalla, so unless you wish to revoke his ability to, you’re not the king,” she stated firmly. “Remember? You can’t demand I leave my home. If Brander wants me gone, he can tell me himself, but I did what was best for you. My job as Liliana’s sister is to protect you when you cannot see beyond your own needs. Good intentions or not, your feelings for her don’t change that she’s unhinged or spiraling into something that needs to be contained or eliminated. It may not be the case with the more powerful she becomes.” “I don’t answer to you.” I chuckled, allowing her to see the embers burning within me. “And her name isn’t Hecate. Even if you remove my protection, my name, and her titles, it doesn’t change that she’s Lennox’s mate. That makes her mine, and you’re playing a very dangerous game right now. So run back to your plotting with Aurora to dissolve my marriage, but know this: Aria has my protection, regardless.” “Knox,” she whined pitifully. “You’ll never sit beside me on my throne, nor will you replace her as my mate. You’re not, nor will you ever be the woman she is, Celia. The next time you seek council from or plot with the witches behind my back, I will consider it treason and remove your head myself. I’d tread very carefully from here on out,” I seethed, smiling coldly while her coloring fled. Crimson lines burned up my arms, mixing with obsidian from Lennox, who was agreeing with the threats being issued. Celia blanched and recoiled from me with fear oozing from her pathetic pores. I left her standing there and headed into the chamber above that entered the library. If they thought I would stand by and allow them to hunt her

down, they were mistaken. I wouldn’t allow them to touch her or even allow her to hear a word of the poison dribble they spoke. My men jogged to catch up, and I shook my head. I required a moment, so that I didn’t end up thrashing everyone. Killian and Brander had tried to help, but the other leaders had to have noted how fervently they’d defended her. I needed a plan, and I needed to find her before they did.

Chapter Twenty-Eight Knox Entering the library, I slammed my armor onto the dresser and grabbed the edge until the wood splintered. The sound of it snapping made Greer chuckle, and I spun, finding him leaning against the farthest wall, peering into the barrier. “I take it Aurora and Celia got their wish?” he asked in a resentful tone. He turned, wincing as he took in the wild look on my face. “You knew Celia intended to speak against Aria tonight and side with Aurora against me?” I accused through a hiss of air. “I had my suspicions that they’d attack the vows you made to Aria. Celia has made her desire to wed you known far and wide, Knox. I warned you of that before your Sven had been cursed. You were young, though, and so assured that she wouldn’t dare trespass against you or your wife. She isn’t on your side in this. She’s on whichever side is against Aria.” I slid my gaze across the library. Over the last few months, I’d felt the power of the barrier diminishing, but I couldn’t smell her sweet, exotic scent in the space beyond. “She’ll be hunted now, and they will try their hardest to destroy her. Luckily, I don’t think that’s actually fucking possible. It doesn’t mean they won’t try or attempt to drain her as Aurora seems hell-bent on doing. I didn’t make it any fucking better by warning them from doing so. I made it worse and the council now sees her as a trophy to hang on their wall.” Greer snorted before he held up his hand, accepting a cup of tea from the library before he sat in an oversized chair, sipping it slowly. “So, protect her from them. You did it after they hit her with the arrow, correct? You dropped her off at the swamp and paid Aria’s weight in gold for the hag to save her.” “I can’t smell her, Greer. I can’t even feel her, which has everything in me wanting to hunt her down and claim her again.” “So, free him to do what he does best. You keep trying to force him into the background, but he isn’t stupid. He knows she isn’t here. Lennox will find her, and he will protect her. You made life together, and no matter what anyone else says, I know you and Aria are meant for one another.”

The idea of unleashing Lennox was enticing, but could be deadly. He wouldn’t stop or think before slaughtering any threat to his mate. He’d be able to locate her, but he wouldn’t care if she fought him, either. Lennox only had a few needs, devour, breed, and kill anyone who stepped in his path when he intended to satisfy whichever need was running rampant at that moment. While Ember wouldn’t mind, Aria would disagree and fight him, and she was too tender for what the sadistic fuck would do to her if he caught her while hunting her down. He would throw her down and make what we did during her heat cycle in the tent seem pleasant and soft. “She isn’t within the library. Aria didn’t magically appear simply because you left. She merely brought the witchlings here, healed them, and then fled because she knows it is weakening.” “I don’t blame her, Greer. I wasn’t kind after I found out about what she’d done. I lost my shit because her being out of control terrified me. As their king, I am sworn to protect them against any threat,” I stated, scrubbing my hands over my face. “As hard as it was to hear, she needed to learn that lesson. You merely did so without tiptoeing around the hard truth of what she’d done, Knox. Aria is resilient, but what happened with her family probably went deeper than she was prepared to feel. They destroyed her entire life in front of an audience. You knew that when she figured it out, it could change her in ways that would be terrifying. I also warned you not to burn out that beautiful flame because, once you had, it would be gone forever. Even with the sound advice I offered, you continued to force her away when she needed something to hold on to. Face it, you lost her. She’s gone. She’s out there with others who will accept her for what she is and for who she is. Aria is better off without you. Eventually, she’ll end up riding a dick and forget about you entirely.” Dropping my hands from my face, I glared at him. He continued sipping his tea. “What the fuck, Greer? You’re supposed to be on my team. At least fucking sugarcoat the shit before you toss it in my face. I know I fucked up, asshole.” “Do you prefer I lie to you?” He snorted before setting his delicate teacup on the table and smiling at me. “That girl is alone, and she’s angry. Everyone is against her, and she’s the only one fighting for the ones who can’t fight for themselves. Aria isn’t wrong in doing what she’s done.” He shook his head and turned toward the flames dancing in the fireplace.

“She’s gearing up to fight her grandmother while everyone else is lobbying to declare her the enemy. She’s collecting orphans on her trip around the Nine Realms, and she’ll defend them with her dying breath. I suggest you figure out where a woman would hide a bunch of orphaned children before Aurora does because that woman won’t care if the light in her daughter’s pretty eyes vanishes forever.” “How the fuck did you ever get to be so wise, asshole?” I asked before settling down beside him. “Do you mean besides the obvious way of actually listening when people speak? Here, in this vast library beside you mother, and your mother’s father and those who came before them. I remember teaching you inside this very room when you first began your studies. You were so full of fire and life. The same flame that brought that girl to life created you. Yes, she has some bad blood within her, but she could no sooner change that than you could stop wanting her. “I warned you when you found her to tread carefully. She doesn’t need you to stand beside her and save her. That girl has been saving herself since the moment she was born. It isn’t something, she decided; it’s embedded inside her very genetic makeup. You need to decide if you want her or if you can handle watching her walk away with another man.” “She’s mine, Greer. Aria is mine, and you and I both know it,” I argued, hating the churning in my stomach at the truth of his words. “Of course we do, but that doesn’t mean she is yours. You weren’t kind to her because you felt they made her for you, and you weren’t wrong. Aurora Hecate made the perfect monster, and in doing so, she created the one girl who could love your jagged, broken pieces without fear of being cut by them. But you cut her without a single care of how much she bled. You continue to do so because the more she evolves, the more possessive you become, and you don’t know how to deal with that. Only, you and Lennox recognize that she’s your perfect match, so who the fuck cares if she was created?” “I think she’s a phoenix, and that means they cannot kill her easily. Aria has died before, and according to Aurora, she came back stronger. We created life together, which means she’s the cure and I’m needed to add the magical seed to grow within her and produce the perfect beast to unleash on Hecate, which means we’ll know more pain before this war ends.”

“If she is a phoenix, then she can breed with another and won’t need you or your cock. That’s what you never really understood. There’s a difference between need and want. Aria wanted you. Hell, that girl was falling in love with you, and the closer she got, the harder you fought her. If she’s smart, and we know she is very smart, she will not make the same mistake twice. “That girl lost everything, and instead of hiding and allowing the pain to fester, she is wearing it as armor.” Greer smiled with a little too much mirth for my liking, but I concurred with his sentiments. At the sound of hushed voices in the hallway, we turned to watch the men gradually enter the room. Greer sat back, lifting one leg over the other before retrieving his teacup, holding it up for the library to refill. “Celia fucked us, and we let that shit happen by giving her too much authority while we were occupied elsewhere. As we speak, Celia’s poisoning the council with the idea that she would be the ideal person to rule at your side. She’s assured them you’ll be easy for her to control.” Killian snorted, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually miss Aria. She didn’t play games, and she didn’t fuck around with petty bullshit. Celia needs to be removed from this place and sent home before she ends up committing treason. I will not allow her to work against you, not when I consider you to be family to me more than she is. She’s not the girl I thought she was, and I can’t sway her from her course.” “I told her to go home, but I also don’t think she should. I think it is wiser to keep her close so we have eyes on her. A wise woman once told me someone could only hurt you as deeply as you allow them to. Celia isn’t hurting me, and I don’t intend to marry anyone else. Aria recited the mating bond, and I did not coach her to do so. She willingly spoke to them, and even if she didn’t understand what it meant, they were still binding. She’s my mate, and that’s deeper than her simply being my wife. It also means that, if they try to harm her, Lennox will take control and deal with them in his preferred method. Murder.” I snorted, exhausted by the political shit occurring. “So, what are we planning to do about my sister?” Killian asked with hesitation filling his question. “I’m going to give her enough rope to hang herself, and then once she swings, she’ll be banished from my kingdom. Celia has gotten too close to

the witches in her campaign to smear Aria. She also sought to undermine me and my authority. I tread carefully because she’s the only family you have left, but she continues to push her luck,” I admitted, trying to judge just how close he was to reaching his breaking point with her. “You’re my family and the brothers that I chose. Sometimes blood isn’t thicker than friends. I have fought beside you and bled with you. I’ve endured your losses as my own, and I never have to question if you’ll have my back. I’m with you always and forever because my vow to you means a lot more than the blood I share with Celia. I am the head of your army, and you are my king, but you’re also my best friend, Knox.” “That’s all I needed hear, brother. Good to know you’re on my side because I wouldn’t want to lose you either. If what I suspect is true, then Celia has been hexing the kingdom to remain suspended in grief.” I stood and moved to the box that sat next to the fireplace, neutralizing the bags Greer had brought to my attention. I dumped the contents onto the table and sat back down, steepling my fingers against my lips. “What are these?” Killian asked, lifting one in his palm and then dropping it when the first bite of magic shot through him. “They were around the statues of Liliana and Sven, as well as scattered around the palace and outside in the gardens. As far as the witch I still have in my employ could tell, they’ve been spelled to enhance grief and to hold people lost within the deepest part of that loss. They’re freshly planted, which means she is continuing to keep us held in that desolate state.” I leaned back, watching the pain of his sister’s betrayal enter his stare. “We can’t move on because magic refuses to allow it. The only person who benefits from that is Celia. She’s had free rein of this place while we waged war. Aria warned me I had snakes in my nest. She knew Celia was trying to become the queen.” Aria was quietly observant. That was something taught to king and queens, but to her, it came naturally. “I was aware of my sister’s desire, but I figured your constant refusal of her attempts would eventually end her obsession,” Killian admitted. “With all due respect, Knox, you were the only one oblivious to the wasp trying to sting you,” Greer snorted, sipping his tea with his pinkie finger extended. “Some of us have eyeballs that actually work, and brains that think properly.” “Thanks, asshole.” I grunted, turning to see through the barrier.

Aria was alone, and I had a feeling she was searching for her father. It scared me that she had had a target on her back and thought I was standing against her. She would eventually find the men who had sought her out before, and then she’d be able to have options of whom to mate with. That terrified me. Aden merely wanted to breed Aria, which he’d bluntly announced. Aria wasn’t that type of woman. She would fight against him, but that idea worried me. If she fought or denied them, they’d hunt her down. His breed hunted in packs, and they did so with precision and thousands of years of experience. They wouldn’t care if she fought or protested because they bred to conquer, claim, and subdue in order to violently breed their women. Sure, my breed wasn’t any fucking better, but I didn’t intend to merely breed with her. I wanted her by side, and it was killing me to allow her the space she craved to heal. I sure in the fuck would not stand idly by while those her father deemed worthy hunted my mate down and claimed her in such a manner. If anyone was going to hunt the little vixen down, it would be me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine Aria Months had passed by with silence enveloping the Nine Realms. I’d spent the first few days blindly moving through the world, searching for a place to rest. The problem was, nowhere was safe except the library. It was the perfect place, but with the barrier growing weaker, I hadn’t wanted to return and risk Knox getting his hands on me. “This place isn’t so bad,” Esme stated, dusting off a mirror that reflected the skeleton on the floor behind us. Her forehead creased, and a line appeared between her brows. “If you mean to say it’s a house of horrors, then sure, it’s great!” I muttered in a high-pitched tone, flashing a cheeky grin as she made a strangled sound. “There are dead bodies everywhere.” Compared to the other places we’d stayed, it wasn’t bad. Sure, pretty much all of them had at least one set of remains, but it wasn’t like they could continue to defend the keep once they’d bitten the dust. It was great for us so long as we could ignore the company. “Real estate here isn’t as easy to find as the house hunting you described. Beggars don’t get to be picky in choosing hideouts.” Soraya rolled her eyes and placed a blanket over the skeleton. “Not to mention, this place only needs a little love and a woman’s touch to be amazing.” “I’m sure it would go over well if the children slept in here.” I groaned, turning to take in the dark, dank smelling room. “It reeks.” It smelled musty, and there was something pungent I couldn’t quite place. “I hope Siobhan’s source comes through sooner rather than later. This is getting ridiculous. If she doesn’t reach her soon, we’ll need to consider creating a place, and I don’t think using that amount of magic will go unnoticed. Let alone the fact that it would take a lot to keep a barrier around it that is strong enough to keep all our enemies out.” Esme grunted before she grabbed the bedding from the mattress and gagged when the smell became even worse. “Someone pissed in this bed. I suggest we do not use this room.” She used her arm to cover her nose and tossed the blankets aside, revealing the corpse on the mattress.

“Can we go now, or do we want to stand around sniffing piss a little while longer?” Soraya asked, her gaze sparkling with amusement when no one spoke quickly enough, as if we were considering it. “Agreed. Let’s get out of this room.” There was no way I was letting any of the kids in here, anyway. “I just want to find somewhere they can feel safe. I hate that we’re dragging them behind us while we run from assholes. They’ve been through a lot already.” House hunting, on the other hand, was turning into a shit show Nine Realms edition. The moment we sat to rest our weary bodies, something or someone tried to murder us. Ember had to ensure the babes, children, and women we’d gradually been gathering were safe on more than one occasion. My magic reserves were refilled, but I didn’t want to tap them out in case something especially deadly turned up. Sleep had become a thing of the past. Food was getting scarce and going into a town or village to buy it wasn’t possible. We’d taken to hiding in the woods and hunting smaller prey to feed the group. It wasn’t easy, and Ember had been right. I was a sucky hunter. “We all have, Aria. You basically got told you were supposed to be a good girl and fucking die. That leaves a mark no matter how much you try to pretend otherwise. I can’t believe you allowed her to live after what she said.” Esme didn’t have a filter, which was part of the reason I liked her so much. I threw her a tight smile, and she lifted and dropped her shoulders without a shred of regret. I walked back out into the hallway and leaned over the railing so I could see the girls huddled in the main room below. Siobhan and Avyanna had taken to them with ease, offering them comfort and soothing their fears while we’d traipsed around the Nine Realms, inching our way closer to where the keeper of the wind was hidden. I exhaled the ache that refused to leave my chest and headed into the next room. The moment I opened the door, I froze on the threshold. Inside sat a heap of bodies in varying stages of decay. My attention slid over the one on top, noting the blood still dripping from her mouth. The hair on my nape rose with awareness, and I roamed my gaze over the others in the pile, finding some missing one half of their body. Pulling the door closed, I spun and found everyone right behind me. They’d seen what I had, and I didn’t need to tell them we were leaving. No

one uttered a word as we proceeded toward the witchlings at a hurried pace, not stopping until we were right in front of them. “Everybody up,” I stated softly, clapping my hands. “We’re moving now.” The back of my neck felt like ice was sliding over the skin, and it had taken effort to keep the fear from reaching my tone. “They’re exhausted,” Siobhan argued, pushing her slender fingers through a child’s hair. “We all are, Aria.” “There’s a stack of corpses upstairs. One still has blood oozing from her lips. We’re not alone here, Siobhan. We’re leaving—” A scratching noise sounded behind us, and dread skated down my spine as I slowly turned. The ghastly form of the creature currently blocking the exit wasn’t right, and looked mangled and malformed. The children’s cries of shock mixed with the sinister sounds the creature made. The entire room filled with the stench of death and rot as the creature guarded the door, barring our badly needed escape. The thing was taller than anything I’d seen before. Gaunt features pulled tightly over its bones, making its flesh appear translucent. The thing wasn’t wearing clothing, so it was hard to miss that it didn’t have male or female parts. There was an icy chill that wrapped around the room as it assessed us as though picking its next victim. “Wendigo,” Esme uttered so softly that it was barely a breath. My exhale fogged, and it was enough to snap me out of my fear enough to realize how sharply the temperature had dropped. Huge antlers scraped against the hallway walls as the thing moved closer, and I could hear Siobhan gathering the children behind her and Esme. Long, skeletal fingers lifted toward us, curling it as if inviting us to come closer. Instead, the entire room stepped back. It made me wonder if that actually worked. He took another step toward us, then another, and the closer the creature got, the more defined its features became, and I could make out the fur growing in random spots. He was also growing. I had to mentally shake myself out of whatever trance he was creating inside the room. Turning toward the secondary exit, I gasped when I found more of the gnarly creatures blocking off all chances of escape. They were cornering us, trying to lull the group into a sense of easiness with their hypnotic movements. They were oozing fumes into the air, expelling them while keeping us trapped in the claustrophobic space they encircled.

Fear was paralyzing everyone with a sense of hopelessness. The entire group had turned an ashen color, and the soft cries seemed to feed the creature’s strength. I kicked Esme’s leg, watching her lips part to release a choked sound from her lungs. Blinking slowly, I rounded my attention back to the creatures. “Oh fuck around and find out, assholes,” I snapped, shooting magic through the doorways. Screaming erupted behind me as the girls slowly returned to their senses. “I told you this place wasn’t sanitary!” I growled, forcing the largest of them to his knees. “It also has a pest problem!” “How were we supposed to know it was really a house of horrors?” Esme asked loudly, rolling her eyes heavenward before stepping closer to me. We created a wall between our charges and the creatures. The issue was, we were currently the wall, and we’d been running and fighting so much lately that the others were depleted. Fighting our way through them wasn’t an option. We had too many children, and some couldn’t walk, let alone run. I could already hear more scraping their bony claws and horns over the walls to help their cohorts subdue us. I laughed, but it came out strangled and irritated. “I literally said it was a house of horrors a few minutes ago!” I pushed more magic against the creatures, forcing them back toward the open doorways behind them. “Yeah, after we were already inside! They’re spirits. Stop fucking energizing them!” she snarled, grabbing my wrist to stop the spell from zapping the creature to hold them back. “The more you use, the stronger they get. You just made wilder beast freaking wendigoes! We need a way out of here now!” “Open the portal to the library!” I demanded, grabbing Siobhan by the hand so she held the key to do so. I guess it was a sort of key, in a way. In order for them to open one to the library, I had to be physically touching them. If they weren’t touching me, it didn’t work for them at all. One creature moved, and I slammed my hand toward it, sending it sailing back down the hallway. It wailed and hurtled back at us before I’d even lowered my hand to my side. I did it again and again until the girls were through the portal, and once I was sure they were safe, I turned and stepped toward my exit. Something slammed into me from behind, and I cried out as flew forward and I went down hard. Flipping onto my back, I came face-to-face with Luna.

Chapter Thirty Luna stood just inside the portal, slowly peering into the room. Her scent, persona, and the way she carried herself were off. The shirt she wore was slit open, revealing the curve of her breasts, and the wispy swirls of ink she’d had done months before we’d come to the Nine Realms were actually twirling on the exposed skin of her sternum. Her eyes and the thin line of dark, oily substance just beneath her nose caused my stomach to tighten, and a pang of regret pierced my heart as I realized Luna wasn’t in control of her body anymore. The dull, milky blue stare slid to me before turning a soft green hue and moving to those who were backing up, seeking to escape the menace Luna created. I sucked magic from the room into my fingertips as her attention drifted around the library. It was so silent it was as if the entire chamber held its collective breath, waiting to see what I would do. Once she’d given it a once-over, she slid her attention to the barrier, which I’d not blocked since we’d come in fast and hard. “You’re pathetic, Aria.” She sneered, revealing blackened, rotten teeth. My stomach dropped with what that meant. “You’re an atrocity that should have died long ago. I’m here to remedy that.” Making a strangled sound in my throat, I shook my head in silent denial. The air was thickening with dark magic, and the library seemed to recoil as if it sensed the intruder and didn’t approve of her being within the space. Her gaze continually darted to the other side of the barrier, and I almost glanced to see what she was looking at, but I knew if I did, she’d unleash the magic she’d been drawing. “Luna, pleasure seeing you again,” I said in a friendly tone. I’d heard worse lately and was numb to the slurs that had been thrown at me. “Something I can do for you?” The green of Luna’s eyes slipped to obsidian before shifting to emerald, telling me that Hecate was regarding me through Luna. “Hello, Grandmother. I was really hoping you’d died for real this time and we were all free of the pathetic, weak woman who thought to own us. Though, I expected you being a disappointment is something I should be used to.” Toxic black poison began to roll down Luna’s cheeks. Her features sharpened, and a hate-filled smile flitted over her mouth, exposing the rot

once more. Her hand lifted from her side, moving to her hip, which was visible through the slit of the skirt she wore. “Do you honestly think you can win against me, child? I’m the Goddess of Magic and the true ruler of the Nine Realms. You’re soon to be a corpse for me to add to my grid. Julia is there, Soraya.” Her statement echoed through the room, and I felt more than saw Soraya step out from wherever it was that she the others had hidden. “She screamed for you, but you abandoned her. The moment you turned against me for this pretender, I tortured her. I made certain that she felt everything, including when I removed her flesh to feed the critters that serve me. You chose poorly, and she paid for your slight against me.” “Talk to me, bitch. I talk back,” I demanded sharply, making certain it came out as an order. “She can’t hear you over the sound of the poison dripping from your eye sockets. It must terrify you to know that there are hundreds of us now. Each one can bring forth the son who can end you.” I snickered as her eyes narrowed to angry slits. “When the son of the first people finds life through a Hecate witch’s womb, the world will turn to chaos and the goddess will be in ruins. When the son rises and reaches for his rightful birthright, the battle will settle upon us and the world will rattle with might. For when the beast is unleashed, and the son discovers his truth, he’ll aim his fire at the goddess and send her back into her tomb,” I whispered in a haunting tone, smiling at the way her face contorted with rage. “Sound familiar, Hecate?” “You think you’re created by the first people of the Nine Realms? You think I didn’t eradicate every single last one of them? I promise you they’re no longer in this world. If you’re naïve enough to think that the dragons and the phoenixes were the original people, then you are going to be entirely too easy to kill, Aria. You house a monster—that much is clear, but she isn’t strong enough to get rid of me. It’s adorable that you actually think you’re some prophesied creature, though.” “I never mentioned creatures, did I? No, didn’t think so. Plus, the list of those I care for is a rather short list these days.” I snorted. The oily taint of her dark magic was trying to slip through my flesh, inching closer to my face. She was seeking to gain access to my soul, but my soul was one of fire and her magic continually jerked back, afraid of the flames.

Hecate had a good poker face, but I’d read her body language and could smell the perfume of her rising fear drifting through the room. Neither of us moved, silently scrutinizing the other, and then she exhaled. “Your own mother doesn’t even love you, does she? Of course, something like you wouldn’t be easy to love. I suspect my sweet Aurora tried, but she’s not really mother material, is she? She has always been such a selfish little bitch. And Freya and her loose cunt?” She made a strangled noise in her throat. “That girl wanted to create an army to rise against me. In the end, Freya merely made an army for me to use. And then there is you, Aria.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I admit, you’re a mystery to me. I can sense the power you hold, but it isn’t mine, is it? No. It’s something else that’s old and deadly. You smell of both fire and flames. It’s rather worrisome, considering I made those races sterile long ago. Yet, here you are with the scent of fire and smoke clinging to your soul. So, what the hell are you? Which breed did my darling Aurora lay with, I wonder. Not that it matters since neither can transform or burn with their true flames anymore,” she stated, slowly trying to figure out why she couldn’t siphon from me. “Does it matter? You feared both, knowing one day, they’d rise against you. It matters little to me, either. I am a fire that you cannot control, and that pisses you off immensely. I can read you like a fucking book, Hecate. Right now, you’re wondering how you can get me onto your side, and that’s a rather straightforward answer. You can’t, and you won’t ever make me see shit through your sadistic, murderous point of view. I can’t—and won’t—be part of your plan to torture the entire race you created.” I stepped closer, watching her back up closer to the wall, recoiling. My fingertips exploded with flames, forcing her to gasp as her chest heaved, encouraging me to hold them out toward her, smirking wickedly. Pausing, I tilted my head to the side, smiling with the hatred churning and flowing through me. Ember was silent, but she had awakened, and her laser focus was cataloging every hint of weakness we could use to end this sadistic bitch. “It must really piss you off to realize you fucked yourself.” I pushed, slowly rocking on my heels. “You’re a parasite, Hecate. One that isn’t indigenous to this world. You merely want control because the other gods threw you away. And the creatures here? They neither respected nor worshipped you as you thought they should. So, you made your own breed,

but not to worship you, no. You didn’t need witches for that, did you? You needed them to house the power you intended to siphon from the Nine Realms itself. But you’re a greedy bitch, and you didn’t know when to stop. You just took and took from the already dwindling population and never once cared about how they suffered. You, Hecate, are a pathetic, worthless, powerless, vain bitch.” “You know nothing about what I am, child,” she snarled, causing spittle to spray from her lips. Her eyes blazed with anger and hatred, and I shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I know you’re pathetically obsessed with someone simply because he refused to heed or bend to your will. You needed the walls between the realms to drop, and the others bowed and cowered before the petty bitch goddess, except for Norvalla. Isn’t that right? One little prince told you no and refused to cower or bend to your will. What’s a goddess to do when a little prince refuses her decree?” I tapped my finger against my chin, and acted as if the light bulb above my head had gone off. “Oh, that’s right. She then attempts to fuck him, and when he refuses her again, she throws a goddess-size tantrum. So, in order to seek your retribution for being denied, you allowed your daughters to assume they’d put you into your tomb and interred you for your immortal slumber. You never left the palace you had claimed, though, did you? Nope, because you’re a petty bitch who wanted to watch him suffering from the wounds you inflicted. And every time he got back up from you hitting him, he rose stronger and more calculated, didn’t he? You liked what he was becoming, how cruel and twisted you were making him. Because if he refused to fear you, then turning him into something just as hateful as you was just as good. Now I’m here, and I won’t bow to you and I don’t fear you, and that pisses you off, doesn’t it?” “Correct, and you may not fear me, Aria, but you will.” She blew on her nails, buffing them on the slinky outfit she wore. “You won’t have him, and neither will anyone else. He’s been mine, and he will always be mine to punish and torment until the last breath of air leaves his lungs. That man knows who he belongs to and knows what happens to any female who dares trespass where they do not belong.” “Oh, but I have had him many, many times. That man? He’s a fucking god when he unleashes all that pent-up anger. He’s savagely wicked and brutal with his need to fuck so hard that you ache for days after he’s

murdered your pussy and rearranged your guts. I’ve felt him inside my soul, fucking it until it was altered. Knox is a monster, but he fucks like he fights, and god damn, was he made for war, be it against your pussy or his enemies. So, next taunt?” I offered with amusement burning on my face, sparkling in my eyes while her anger thickened between us. I’d known she’d watched us, since she’d admitted to doing so already. But speaking about it to her made her enraged. Right now, I needed her to be sloppy and make mistakes, so we survived this encounter. “You little slut. I guess you come by it naturally, considering who your mother is.” Her fingers moved slowly, threading through the room to seek any power available. I could see the soft tracers writing against her fingertips. “Let’s just say I’m his little slut, and he can call me whatever dirty names he wants as long as he’s pounding that large, gloriously thick monster he wields into my tender parts.” I didn’t move, sensing the attack she was working to build and unleash on me. “The only downfall of that thing he wields? You know he was there days after you’d waddled away, still quacking about how hard he fucked you. You know what I mean? Oh, that’s right. You don’t.” Hecate snapped magic to her, which caused my spine to tingle and pulse as if it intended to break free. “You fucking whore,” she snarled, sending a blast of magic toward the children. “He’s not yours! He won’t ever know anything but the pain I cursed him to carry for rejecting me!” “You need some serious help! It’s been five hundred years of him rejecting your petty, vain ass. Take the hint. He’s not that into you! But he’s definitely been into me,” I snapped, noting the way her eyes rounded, and she screeched with her unhinged wrath. “I am going to slaughter you!” I slammed my magic against hers, barely blocking the volley of power she sent at me. I’d driven her to anger, wanting her to lash out at me because it made magic weaker and more predictable. Ripping more magic to me, I pushed harder and harder until she was sliding backward with so much force that, when she hit the wall, her bones cracked. I didn’t stop, and when her shrill screams filled the room, I laughed coldly. Blood exploded from her nose, and I intensified the assault. Books fell from shelves, and the chandelier above me shuddered, loudly clinking the crystals against one another. The air thickened with the essence of the

magic I was cycling, and I shivered at the taste of it. Her eyes widened and terror oozed from them. “Is that all you got? You’re pathetic and weak and as useless as the beauty you value. I’m ashamed that I carry your name, Hecate.” I cut her sobs off and hit her with the sensation of glass cutting over her face and chest. My fingers turned the color of freshly polished black tourmaline, and flames continued burning from my sharpened nails. My hair floated around me, and I rattled deep in my chest as I watched her struggle to draw a breath. “Oh, come on, Hecate. I’m not pregnant this time, and I have nothing holding me back. Come on, you fucking weak, pathetic bitch. Is that all you fucking got?” I roared, watching her continue to fight against the invisible hands of magic holding her in place. The magic tethered through her hair, ripping at it while it continually bashed her head against the wall. “Your days are numbered, and the clock is ticking. I am no longer held down by the rules or the laws of anyone. I will not bow to you or anyone else so long as I live.” I tightened the magic, hearing her bones snapping beneath the strength I used to hold the magic around her. I ripped more magic to me until I was so full my well overflowed and the power pooled around me. It helped that I wasn’t pregnant and afraid of hurting my unborn babes anymore. I didn’t carry the dread of losing others or putting my family at risk. Fury filled my mind and lashed out against her. She still couldn’t scream, but her eyes went even wider. “Aria!” Luna’s voice escaped through her lips, forcing me to hesitate until I saw the black of her soulless stare. “It’s me! Stop, you’re killing me!” “You’re lost now, Luna. There’s no you without her to sustain your life,” I whispered, slamming into her as my claws descended, severing flesh and tendon until her head left her body. “We will meet again, sweet girl,” I whispered through the tears burning my eyes. Crying started from behind me, but it was a long moment before I could force myself to turn away from the lifeless body of my sister. When I managed it, I headed toward the child, who was sobbing in fear. I reached down to comfort her, to tell her she was safe and I would protect her, but she screamed in terror and recoiled. Slowly, I stood, confused by the fear

burning in her soft hazel eyes. Then I saw my hands, which were still the black, lethal claws, and I stepped back in understanding. “It’s just Aria, Haley,” Soraya whispered through trembling lips, wide eyes looking at me with worry at what I’d just done. “It’s fine.” I swallowed the sob that threatened to escape and turned from them. I walked back to where Luna lay lifeless and unmoving. In death, her eyes had reverted to the strikingly beautiful color they’d been before we’d come here. Her curly hair pooled on the floor, smeared with blood. My chest heaved, and I slowly let out a jagged breath. Tears welled in my eyes, and I blinked them away before whispering, “There are rooms above. You should take them up, and we will move again once we’re rested.” Once they were gone, I dropped to my knees to stare at Luna. My throat tightened, and regret rushed through me as I dropped my head forward, whispering a prayer that she’d find peace in the nothingness of death. My eyes watered, but I refused to allow any tears to escape. “Be free, and be brave within the next life, Luna. I’m sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to save you. If I had known, I would have made the moments we shared count and held you a little tighter. Find your happiness and hold tightly to it, wherever you go.” Hecate had used Luna to reach me. She’d been afraid of facing me herself, which should’ve sent a thrill rushing through me. It didn’t, not when Luna lay dead and Aine was still in the goddess’s clutches. “Peasant, are you okay?” Greer’s softly spoken words forced my attention to where he and others stood on the other side of the barrier. “Meat suit,” I replied in a hushed tone. I dropped my stare back to my sister because couldn’t bear the pity burning in Greer’s eyes. “Look at me, Peasant. Don’t look at her,” he urged coaxingly. “Why?” I shook with quiet, unwanted laughter. “Should I not see what I’ve done? Do you wish to know the truth, Greer?” I inquired while edging my attention back to him. “Do you want to know what I felt when I murdered her? Relief. I felt nothing but relief when I murdered Luna. The only thing I did was free her, and no one can use her again like some suit they donned. Other than that, there is nothing but emptiness inside me, and it feels endless. With every tragedy, it slowly stretches a little further.” “Aria,” Knox murmured, stepping from the shadows to watch me. “You’re exhausted. You require rest.” His heavy stare slid down my body,

closing against what he found. I was thinner, and my clothes were little more than tattered rags. I knew I was a mess, but that was by far the least of my problems at the moment. “I don’t want advice from you, Knox. I need nothing from any of you ever again,” I mumbled, settling my focus on Luna’s lifeless body and the blood pooling around her. “That isn’t true,” he returned hesitantly. “Isn’t it?” I countered, rolling my gaze back to lock with his. I stood and folded my arms over my ripped dress, uncaring that my fingers hadn’t returned to the soft alabaster color they normally were. When he didn’t answer, I moved closer to where they’d gathered. Knox’s gaze slid over my thin, frail features, and he flinched from what I forced him to see. Every town we’d entered had banners with the news of what he’d chosen to do being flown. “You need to eat and rest,” Greer repeated with worry filling his tone. “Stay a while and allow the children to rest. The library will tend to their needs while you sleep and regain your strength.” “They’re resilient, Meat Suit. I’ve no reason to remain here. This place and everyone within it, save for the library, offer nothing I need nor want. Spare me your worried glances and empty words of kindness. If you’ll excuse me, I need to bless Luna’s body to send her on her way. Once I’ve finished, I’ll leave and not bother you again.”

Chapter Thirty-One The altar that the library provided was ivory and crafted with intricate blessing symbols. I’d placed Luna back together, albeit crudely, since she’d already begun rotting from the dark magic present in her system. After I washed her hair and brushed it, I braided it the same way she’d worn it when we were young. Breaking Benjamin’s “Ashes of Eden” played softly in the library, strumming through me, soothing me. Softly singing the song, I wrapped her body in cloth steeped in lavender, chervil, frankincense, and thyme. Orchids and daisies sat on her lifeless body, representing the loss of a family member taken too soon. Since I refused to send her soul back to Hecate, I had placed coins over her eyes so she could pay the ferryman if she met him on her trip to the underworld. Aquamarines, amethysts, and apache tears sat around her body, adding power to the transition for her afterlife. Candles had been lit throughout the library, casting everything in a soft glow. The mixed scents within the room caused my eyes to sting, and the smoking sage only added to that burning sensation. “Had I known that I would lose you so soon, Luna, I’d have made more memories,” I whispered, tracing a gentle line over her forehead and down her temple. “I’d have been a better friend to you and fought harder to understand the pain you endured. Oh, but that pain is so fucking hard to handle, isn’t it? It’s a deep, agonizing ache that never eases. It still feels like I will never fully inhale again.” I wiped away the tears, blowing air out of my lungs. A child approached the altar, regarding with weary eyes, clearly curious about what I was doing. The witchlings we’d collected hadn’t been raised by our people, and more often than not, they did not know of our traditions. We’d slowly begun showing them and teaching them about the herbs, stones, and things to aid them should they ever need help. We had also made certain that they knew what hemlock was and which herbs could ease the poison from it. This was the first time any of them had seen the ritual of sending someone off into the otherworld, though. “Why are you doing that?” she asked when I pulled the sheer gauze from the large basin of herbs.

“I am blessing her in the cloth to assist her into the afterlife, whichever one she takes. I soaked the gauze in herbs to give her strength for the journey. The cloth hides her sins and protects her identity for when she enters the afterlife. I do it so that she may enter free of what corrupted her in this lifetime and so she can find a better one in her next.” “She tried to murder you, yet you are helping her pass into the afterlife?” she asked sharply, clenching her hands tightly at her sides. “I don’t understand why you would want her to be blessed.” I peered down at Luna’s uncovered face and gently brushed my fingertips over her cheek. Tears fell from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks until they fell and were absorbed into the gauze. “She was my sister once, and I loved her very much. She suffered a loss, and it allowed darkness to enter her soul. Witches cannot birth boys easily, but for Hecate’s direct descendants, it’s forbidden for them to sustain life outside of the womb. Luna gave birth to twin sons. Both were faceless and dead when she delivered them. It broke her. She never got back up from her loss,” I specified, watching her frown deepen. “You had sisters?” she asked, which caused me to grimace. “In a way, yes,” I confirmed softly, uncertain she should hear the truth. “At one time, we were a family. I honor the memories more than I honor what she became at the end,” I admitted, glancing to where Knox sat watching from the other side of the barrier. He had silently refused to leave, and the library hadn’t allowed me to close my side off to him. I’d spent hours sitting against the wall, unwilling to say goodbye yet. In that time, I’d admitted defeat. I needed to stay long enough for the children to recover, and they could do that here. “I don’t have any family,” she said as she reached into the herb basin and withdrew a wrapping. “I am alone now. I’ve no one.” “That is not true.” Her attention flickered with curiosity. “You’re never alone, Maddie. You may feel it sometimes, but look around you.” Her eyes slid to the girls who watched us from the shelves. As if her glance broke some silent agreement, the other children silently filled the room. I smiled softly at the way she gave them a silent once-over before her frown lessened into somewhat of a smile. She nodded before lifting her chin, allowing the others to get close enough to help us. “You may have lost your mother, but she sacrificed so much to protect you. You were loved, and she made sure that you were protected. Her last

deed in the world was to ensure that you, her most cherished possession, was safe. You’re with us now, and we’re here with you. You’re not alone anymore,” I murmured, watching her cheeks turn pink as Haley slipped her tiny hand into Maddie’s slightly larger one. “Sometimes you don’t get the family you want. You get the one you need,” Esme stated, coming to stand beside me. “And even in times of loss, you feel the pieces sliding into place to make you whole again,” Soraya said, bumping my shoulder. “And that’s what keeps you moving forward against those that wish to see you defeated. I lost my sister to the darkness, but I got new ones who keep me going.” “And that’s what being a witch means, in the truest form. We’re stronger together, and when we rise, we rise together,” Siobhan whispered, lifting another piece of gauze from the basin to help with Luna. “A family is made of the people who are there when you need them and stay with you when you don’t. In your darkest hour, and your weakest moment, they’re the ones you can depend on to remain beside you.” “I am not alone,” Maddie said firmly. “I choose to be here, and I chose the family that picked me up when I was lost. But can we eat soon? I’m hungry.” I laughed, nodding as I continued to wrap Luna. Once she was fully covered and blessed, we stepped back. Joining hands until the room was a spiral of girls standing around the ivory altar. Selm’s rendition of “We Will Go Home (Song of Exile)” slowly filtered through the library as a gentle breeze rustled our hair. I softly sang along with it, and soon, the entire room sang with me, easily learning the lyrics. I smiled, wondering if they assumed it was some chant, since most were singing it as such. I also wondered if one day, when they went their own way, they’d carry the song with them. “I’ll see you again, sister.” I bowed my head, watching beneath my lashes as the body became ashes that slowly drifted into the air, vanishing and leaving behind only the cloth we’d used to bless her. “Blessed be, Luna. May you find your sons and feel their weight and warmth in your arms in the next life you live, free of this cursed line.” We remained in place until Avyanna announced there was food appearing in the upstairs room she’d been sitting in. The children rushed away, but the women stayed with me until the temptation was too great to be ignored.

“Aria.” Knox’s raspy tone disrupted the silence, forcing my attention to where he now stood. I didn’t speak or reply to him. Instead, I crept closer to where he examined me with concern sparkling in his gaze. Of course, I didn’t buy for one minute that he was worried about my well-being. After all, he’d basically abandoned me after I’d killed innocent people who had been his to protect. “Are you okay?” He pressed his palms against the translucent shield, leaning against it while he slid his oceanic gaze down my exhausted, thin form. “You’ve been through hell and aren’t well.” “Don’t pretend you care about me. It’s pathetic and weak, King Karnavious. I’ve seen the banners and the declarations plastered in every village I’ve been through. Tell me, was it because I ended life needlessly, or something I did? Educate me, Knox. What did they offer you to throw me away? Or did you decide I wasn’t worth the trouble?” His cheek jumped, and a slow tic started before he snorted. “That wasn’t my choice. I forced you to the altar, and under witch laws, it voided our nuptials.” “Mmm, strange.” I laughed coldly, placing my hand on the barrier, testing it. “You assured me that your name would protect me, and the moment I needed it most, you revoked it. You must think me naïve and gullible to believe that wasn’t by design.” “If you think it changes anything, Aria. You’re wrong. We’re mated, and that means more than some vow made before my people. In this realm, a true mating means more than anything else and is the one thing that cannot be undone—not by anyone,” he hissed vehemently. “And, yet, rumors circle that soon you’ll take Celia as your bride. I’m sure the people of your kingdom will rejoice, for she is loved here while I am not. The most ironic part about that is that I don’t even have enough energy to care anymore,” I replied, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth. It released with a popping sound, and his brow knitted together with worry. “Don’t say that, Aria,” he muttered, pushing his fingers through his tousled hair. “You are my mate, and I still want you. I’ve no intention of marrying Celia, ever. I have made myself very clear on that subject.” “If not Celia, then maybe Sabine?” I continued, pretending I hadn’t heard him. “I have it on good authority that she loves thick cock and could

probably handle yours. At least you’d get to fuck someone who wouldn’t run away from Lennox.” I laughed, carefully studying the perfection of his features. “If not her or Celia, it will be someone else. You’re a dutiful soldier, and I’m sure they’ll pick someone out for you soon enough.” He rattled with warning as he peered at me. “I didn’t wish that, Aria. I want you even now. I may not deserve you, which I’ll be the first to admit, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need you. I want to lay you down and feel the heat of your body clenching around me while I fuck you until you want nothing else. Tell me you don’t want me, Aria.” “I don’t want you,” I replied harshly, and he winced. “I don’t believe you,” he whispered, searching my face as if he could find a sliver of emotion that would back up his words. “Why would I crave someone who doesn’t think twice about cutting me down? I gave you all of myself, and you threw me away. I saw past the hurt you inflicted because I knew you were wounded and needed gentle hands to hold you together. You looked me in the eye and told me I wasn’t enough, and I didn’t believe you. Now I do,” I murmured, and when he pressed his hand to where mine rested against the barrier, I pulled away. “You are enough, Aria Primrose. You’re more than enough. I was wrong. I fucked up, and I know I don’t deserve you, but I intend to prove to you that it’s you I want. If I have to spend the rest of our lives proving that to you, I will. I’ll fight to ensure you’re protected, even if it means going against the entire Nine Realms to make sure you’re safe. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you see that you’re worth fighting for. You’re my queen. You are the only woman I want, and no one else will ever replace you. You’re not someone who can be replaced, ever.” “Don’t fight for me. It’s too late for that.” I snorted indifferently. “I think you should marry Celia, King Karnavious. And if it helps, you have my blessing. After all, you are a perfect match for one another. You both are empty, pathetic creatures who live in the past and cannot be bothered to see the future. At least you won’t need your ghosts to rule you anymore because now the council and their vote will dictate your life. Maybe it already is, though. They voted me out of our marriage, and you allowed it to happen. They voted to put me down like the rabid bitch my mother says I am, and you let them do that, too.” “Norvalla and those on the council representing this realm didn’t vote against you, Aria. I also told them I wouldn’t hunt you down, Aria. If I have