Page 102 of Crown of Chaos

“They’re trying to raise Hecate again,” he explained through the chattering in his teeth

“Damn, I must be terrifying.” I folded my arms over my chest, glaring at Elias, who shrugged. No, I didn’t suppose a demon would fear the evil version of me.

“Didn’t they just try that last week?” I stood, nodding toward the dragon. He was a huge red dragon, and now that he was out of the shadows, I had no idea how he’d managed to hide within them. “Come, beast. You can eat them this time. We must teach these fools that one does not simply raise the goddess to handle the monster they created.”

“Great, I became the villain again,” I exhaled, echoing the future version of me. “Who would’ve guessed it?”

“You don’t seem surprised that you’re the one they wish to end instead of Hecate,” he stated carefully.

“I’m enemy number one in the realms at the moment. Here’s the thing, though, I’mtryingto be the good guy, but it’s just not working out for me. My mother, who wants to drain me, has declared me an enemy because I won’t let her. So no, I’m not shocked that you’d show me a version where I’m evil as hell. I’d have been more shocked if you hadn’t. But, the dragon is pretty cool. Who doesn’t want a dragon they can sic on their enemies?”

“Next vision.” He snorted, grabbing my hand.

We appeared in a sweeping valley with rolling green hills, and children’s laughter drew my attention. I spun toward the sound, searching the area. A silver-haired boy was rushing through the clearing with a small girl close behind him. My lips spread, and a soft gasp escaped my lips. I laughed, not hiding the happiness at seeing their chubby, smiling faces and silver hair.

“You want children.” He observed, slowly scanning my face, which had tightened to conceal the emotion his question stirred.

“I had children,” I admitted, calmly stepping closer to where they played together, plucking flowers from the field. “I lost them because of Hecate, and that wound is still fresh.” My eyes slid to the path as Knox and I walked toward the meadow where the children were.

My heart thundered against my rib cage, causing unexpected pain to rip through me. I pressed my hand against the moss, watching as he peered back over his shoulder. Aden and Sabine exited behind us, and I paused, frowning. Sabine was pregnant, and Knox turned, offering her a hand while Aden stepped up to her other. Once Knox had finished helping Sabine, he walked me to a boulder, sitting me down before he secured me in chains.

My stomach tightened, and I fought the need to rant, rail, and throw an adult size tantrum.

Kinvara came through next, rushing toward the children. She laughed with them, kissing their brows before moving back to the group. I watched from where I sat perched on a boulder, touching my flat stomach, gazing at them. My eyes slid to the children, frowning as Aden picked up the boy and tossed him into the air.

Knox turned to say something to me, but I couldn’t hear what he said. When I tried to move closer, silver chains clanked, holding me in place. Then he moved toward the others, smiling while everyone sat away from me. I was on the outside, looking in.

“Fuck this shit.” I groaned, folding my arms over my chest. “There’s no way out of this for me. I get it. Either I’m evil as fuck or locked into being nothing. Everyone else ends up happy, and I am nothing. Point taken!” I yelled, but I watched as the boy ran over to where I sat and handed me a flower.

“It’s for you, Mommy,” he whispered as the other version of me smiled, unable to touch him, even though it was clear she wanted to. “Is it pretty?”

“It’s beautiful, Dragar,” I whispered, leaning over to smell it since they’d chained my hands to my waist, preventing them from rising. “Thank you, baby boy.”

My eyes slid to Knox, who was watching the exchange. His angry stare landed on Aden, who plucked another flower for the girl to bring over. He smirked wickedly at Knox, who moved closer, preventing the girl from reaching where I sat.

“Go back to your father, Luna Reign. Dragar, come. You know the rules. Your mother isn’t to be touched or spoken to,” Knox ordered before settling back down next to Kinvara, who placed a soft kiss on his lips.

“Yeah, fuck this one!” I screamed, turning to look at Elias. “Hard pass.”

“Do you want to know what you did to get here?”

“Nope. Let’s get on with it. Only I can decide my destiny and fuck the fates who think otherwise. I won’t settle for this, nor will I become the monster you assholes continue to show me.”

“You know we can tell you how to avoid this from happening.” I raised an eyebrow and waited. “In the first one, you kill your father. In the second, you kill your mother. You choose a path, and once it’s chosen, only one ending is available.”

“So, I don’t kill them? Sounds easy enough, but it’s not. I want my mother to feel what she wanted me to suffer through. I want her to know the pain of what she allowed to happen to me. But in order to prevent this, I’d have to forgo that.”

“Is your revenge that paramount? I took revenge, and I’ve spent an eternity without a woman. Hecate took out her revenge for my refusal by forcing me to endure my endlessly growing hunger. She denied me the freedom of madness from descending. She wanted me to feel that ceaseless craving and know that it would never end, never be sated. But I got revenge and regret doing so. I slept with my father’s wife to make him understand how it felt when he slept with mine. He sired children with my wife and then paraded them around, knowing I’d know they weren’t mine. The queen, his wife I’d fucked, was executed for treason soon after. Of course, he chose another to take her place. My wife, who he married and declared his queen so long as she denounced me, and didn’t argue against sending me away. I was handed over to Hecate, and entombed here, where I couldn’t cause issues for the newest queen. It wasn’t worth it, if you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t wondering,” I muttered, turning to glare at Knox, who was kissing Kinny’s shoulder. “You slept with your mother?”

“Stepmother and she was a wild one. I wasn’t suspecting her to be so . . . knowledgeable.” I grimaced and gave him serious side-eye. Still gross.

We appeared back in front of the altar, and I closed my eyes to stop the world from orbiting violently around me. Elias caught me before I could stumble sideways, holding me steady until I gave him a small smile of thanks.

“You’re weakened already. If you fail, we both die.”

“Only if I fail,” I muttered crossly. Elias didn’t trust me, and I didn’t blame him. There was blood crusted to my chest, face, and hair from fighting Hecate. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and if I were him, I’d worry about failure too.

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