Page 124 of Crown of Chaos

Horns blared, and then screaming erupted in the bailey as someone from outside forced the doors open. The denizens paused, staring in open horror at the men and women strolling into the hall with lethal-looking blades and weaponry. Horned demons flooded the room. People screamed, grabbing the children and the women, rushing toward the mouth of a hallway that appeared to go deeper into the stronghold. I moved to go after the people running, but Soraya grabbed my arms, shaking her head.

“It only works in this room,” she explained as more demons rushed through the door. A hooded figure entered with them, calmly pushing back her hood to reveal her face.

Ink flowed delicately over her cheeks in swirling patterns. Her vibrant golden gaze looked through me, and the smile on her lips was anything but friendly. Her platinum hair was plaited behind her pointed ears. Silently, she moved toward the creature being held in his chair by demons.

Her mouth moved, but it was as if someone had hit mute and her words didn’t reach us. Then she placed her hand on the creature’s forehead. A soft glow started from her palm, and the creature’s eyes turned from brown to amber. His expression changed, turning from pain to pleasure as his skin paled and wrinkled before our gazes.

“It appears that she drained him.” Esme crossed her arms, not taking her eyes off the scene playing out in front of us. “She consumed his life force, stealing his soul in the process. She’s Isadora, Queen of Demons. I’m guessing that happened to everyone here as well. It’s why there are no signs of a fight. She just walked in and murdered them all. King Karnavious probably assumed the witches did this and left it at that. He’d have to see the handprint to know the truth, and her men are removing it now.”

“So, what was she doing here?” Soraya asked, turning to look at me as if I’d know the answer. “They have been on the same side of this war for as long as I can remember.”

“I don’t know,” I offered with a shrug. “I’m new here. Remember?”

“She is part fae, part demon,” Esme explained. “Isadora has only been a queen for a few hundred years. She was notorious for fighting and breaking the laws without ever being caught. I guess you could say she’s a predator of convenience. If the time is right and the stage is set, she attacks and let’s others take the blame. She has the ability to change perception and what people see. Nowadays, though, she isn’t quite so bold since she can no longer count on King Lennox to save her ass.”

“Why would Knox’s father save her?” I asked.

“Rumor was that King Lennox slept with her and she bore him a prince. He forbid her from speaking of it and took the son home to his wife, Queen Eira. But that’s just rumors whispered by women and maids. It matters little. Queen Eira was smitten with the boy, and accepted him without resentment, loving the babe as if he was her own child. Of course, the entire kingdom was merely told he was and that they’d concealed the pregnancy to enjoy it privately. Queen Eira barely left the library, so it worked perfectly to explain how they’d managed to hide her condition. Of course, there wasn’t anything to hide, but it appeased the people, or the lie did for the most part. It’s not talked about openly, and I’m not sure if Knox knows, or merely hides the secret from his brother. He’s protective of him because he, himself was the one to actually raise his brother. The king and queen were murdered months after the birth of their little prince was announced to the realm. After their deaths, it wasn’t something anyone voiced out loud again.”

“I thought that once they mate, they cannot create life outside of their union?” I asked, watching as the room returned to the duller version, which was once again covered in moss.

“It’s more along the lines of won’t instead of can’t. Mates are very rare, so when you found yours, you didn’t chance losing them by sleeping around, and that was even if your creature allowed it. His grandparents weren’t mates, but they were a powerhouse couple that created life.”

Turning Esme’s words over inside my head, I frowned. Knox had told me he couldn’t have children because he’d created Sven with Liliana. He’d believed what he’d said. But there was also the curse Hecate had placed on them, and Sven wasn’t his child. He simply couldn’t be, because he’d carried the mark on his skull, which should have been impossible. Unless he was the son Freya carried and gave life to? I could see Hecate using him against Knox, but would she have allowed him to live? Or was that the real reason he’d suffered the fate of one thousand deaths? It would ensure he hadn’t survived, hurt Knox, and end the threat against herself in one swiftly calculated move.

“Draghana Karnavious was the last full-blooded creature to hold the dragon form. She was Knox’s grandmother, but his grandfather? He was another type of monster entirely. Some say he was part-dragon and part-druid. Knox’s line can wield magic as you learned. Using magic wasn’t something dragons or those within Draghana’s bloodline did until her line was united with Knox’s grandfathers,” Soraya elaborated.

“Knox is a fucking dragon?” I whispered, as if the dead would repeat it or spill the secrets we spoke. “You fucking knew what he was this entire time and never told me?”

“Uh, you never asked what he was, Aria,” Soraya stated, aiming a pointed stare at me. “I thought you had figured it out?” When I just blinked at her, she shrugged. “I guess it’s not only the men alphas with intelligence issues.”

Esme patted my back, and we started moving again. “Knox is born of the dragon bloodline.” Esme laughed, shaking her head. “Hecate cursed their line once she entered the realms. She removed any creature that could wield fire against her. She took away the dragons’ ability to shift into their true forms and then encased the king of phoenixes in gold and slaughtered all his people,” she whispered, gazing around at the bodies littering the hall.

“But they’re phoenixes. Doesn’t that mean they can be reborn?” I countered, stepping over a couple who had died while holding one another. If I died, I wanted that. The need to protect each other as they died, knowing they wouldn’t be able to survive what was coming.

“If they could, they chose not to,” Soraya replied while pushing her dark hair away from her face, scanning the hallway in which the ghosts had fled. “This place has amazing bones.”

“That’s pretty morbid.” I grunted, and she rolled her eyes. “Oh, you meant the stronghold?” Laughing wickedly, I stared into an open doorway. “Holy shit.”

Enormous statues sat along the wall, lining the entire room. Each one held a sword up to the vaulted glass ceiling. It made it look as if they were holding it up instead of decorative. Between them, images of dragons were etched and painted on the high walls. Just visible on the outside of the glass, there were a dozen or so large perches, and my heartbeat thundered with the idea of what they were for.

“Dragon perches, from when they flew freely,” Esme announced, smiling at the wonder dancing in my gaze. “I never got to see one, but I have read the books and ledgers from when they roamed the land. I’ve often wondered if maybe I am one of them, too.”

A smile played on our lips, and I laughed softly before shaking my head. Moving farther into the room, I stalled as power erupted and the swords lowered, humming with a gentle pulse of power.

As we watched, some began glowing an eerie hue of blue while others glowed a sunset orange. The walls changed, and images of dragon and large firebirds flew around mountain tops together.

“The swords are glowing with protection runes,” Soraya stated softly. “They also covered the floor within them. It’s a fucking protection room meant to protect those within it from evil or harm.”

I nodded. This place was something else entirely. I could feel the pulse of steady power, as if they had built the castle on a vein of magic.

“They were trying to reach this room when the demons attacked,” I stated, stepping back into the hallway and looking back in the direction we’d come from.

Bodies littered the floor in the long hallway, long forgotten in death. Moss had grown over some, making it a little easier to stare at what once had been a living breathing thing. Silently pulling magic from the realms, I summoned the dead to join my army. Instead of sinking into the floor, they simply disintegrated to dust.

“When a demon consumes the soul, it leaves only the flesh behind. Fortunately for these creatures, the process brings pleasure instead of pain. It’s a lot more than anyone in the realms would have offered us,” Soraya said from beside me.

“Let’s get the others here so we can leave and start the trials,” Esme said, unimpressed by the dust filtering through the air.

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