Page 21 of Crown of Chaos

“Where is this—alone?” she asked, causing my annoyance to rise. I’d been wrong. She wasn’t smart.

“It’s a place inside me, of course.” I snorted, buffing my nails against the bodice of my dress.

“Youateher?” she gasped, backing farther away.

“Of course not.” I waved away the line of questioning because she was, clearly, too stupid to understand. “Tell me what you’re doing to make the child stay quiet,” I demanded, as her eyes narrowed on me. “It’s important so that I can prove to Aria that when we have our babes, I will be good with them.”

“I’m swaying. They enjoy the back-and-forth motion because it reminds them of when we carried them in our wombs. That’s the idea, at least. You wish to be a mother?”

“Yes, but this is our first pregnancy, and normally, the babies are lost because the merge is new or hasn’t taken fully to connect our genetics. Aria fights it still, but she’s getting better at accepting that we’re not meant to be two creatures, at least not entirely. It cannot be easy for her, as she just recently discovered me. Aria is a powerful witch, and we haven’t found out what I am yet. But I know that I’m always hungry, which means we’re growing.”

“Indeed.” She swallowed loudly as several women scrambled out of the dark house with more dirty, stinky creatures. “We will leave you to feed,” she stated, turning to retreat. “I’m going to run now.”

“Run fast, and I’ll see you soon.” I tilted my head and smiled at her when the color drained from her face. “Have a nice day and shit!” Then I turned to peer around the bloodied, lifeless town. I required more food, and my body ached for Lennox to find us and slake the other hunger growing within me. I also needed a nap.

Yawning, I reached down, took hold of a man who had yet to cease breathing, and dragged him with me. Then, walking away from the courtyard, I grabbed a few limbs and other pieces to snack on before settling against a tree to feed.

Aria was waking, but then I’d called to her when the filthy urchin wouldn’t obey me. It was probably best she not know that I’d tossed it into the air or painted it in blood. Snickering at the idea of her response to it all, I dug into my meal. She’d been asleep for over an entire week, and I wanted back inside my comfortable, warm cocoon.

I’d searched for the minatour, seeking to end the threat he posed to Aria. There’d been no hint of his scent within the village, and after I’d ensured he wasn’t near, I’d searched the surrounding forest. Discovering trails, I took the higher one, which moved through the mountain range, using the days and nights that Aria had slumbered to heal, searching for the monster who had tormented her. Garrett wasn’t within the mountain ranges, nor had he been near enough for me to track. That meant it hadn’t been him who had offered the bounty, or if he had, he didn’t intend to be the one to collect her or deliver the coin he’d promised Rhett. That one, he had sniffed me coming and gone to ground, but he couldn’t dig deep enough that I wouldn’t find him sooner or later.

Chapter Twelve

Aria

I woke covered in gorewith pieces of bodies and gnawed bones littering the space surrounding me. Groaning, I pushed from the ground, staring at my hands, which were caked in dried, crusty blood. I glared at the shriveled man parts she’d left me. Ember was so subtle in her cryptic messages—not.

“Gods damn it, Ember. Not again!” I accused, staring at a lifeless pair of eyes that looked back at me accusingly. Not that I blamed him, considering I’d probably eaten him and all of his friends

“I’m a growing girl. We need food and dick. My mate needs to find me and fuck me because we require his scent again. You’re a sucky host and a fruit-eating, whiny human who keeps allowing us to be placed in dangerous situations because you think we should save people. Plot twist, they need to save themselves. Anyway, Knox is ours, and he is close enough to fuck. But no, you won’t let him give us what we all need. Instead, you taunt him and read his books. Books do not replace cock, nor do they provide us with his essence.”

“Knox wants to strangle us, probably while fucking. You get that, right? I’m okay with some mild choking during sex, but I let him into my soul, and within an hour, he accused me of shit he knew I didn’t do. He deserves a long time-out, which includes staying the fuck away from us, Ember. You agreed, and I am holding you to it this time.”

“Men are stupid. We agreed on that. Tape his mouth closed and ride him. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. It’s time, Aria. We both need him. I grow and sleep because we’re about to be reborn into something sexy.”

“Yeah, but we can’t go around just eating folks, Ember. I can’t keep waking up covered in bodies and blood. It’s not sanitary. It’s also wrong, really wrong, to feed on people! This is the third time I’ve woken up with no memory of what happened. So, who did you eat?”

“Ignorant slavers who tried to murder us and got what they deserved. Now they can’t do stupid shit anymore. See? Logical reason to eat them,” Ember chuckled.

“I’m serious. You’re out of control. Did you say reborn?” I questioned, picking her words apart.

“I think so, yes. I’ve decided we’re pretty big. We just ate a village of predators, and I’m still not satisfied. I require more meat. Maybe some deer instead of people? Knox is an excellent hunter. You’re not. You need to touch yourself and make him see. He wants it; he feeds it. It’s basic math, really. If you flick it, he will come.”Her laughter bubbled up from inside me, escaping my lips.“Perhaps if you moan loud enough, we can drive him crazy and then chain him to the library and fuck him whenever we want.”

“That’s kidnapping, and it’s also illegal. Plus, I’m worried because I find that concept appealing at the moment. You’re turning me into a crazy female who is fantasizing about chaining up my mate and placing tape over his mouth so he can’t say anything stupid.” The mental picture of Knox in chains had my body heating. A wicked smile crossed my lips before turning into a frown. “Great, my inner psycho roommate is feeding me criminal ideas. You have to stop this. I have a world to bring to its knees, and we can’t do that riding Knox.” My head tilted, considering it for a minute before shaking off the image.

“For you, yes. You’re a prude and mostly boring. I’d ride that male into battle. Hell, I’d ride him like I was in a war if you’d get the hell out of my way. But you’re playing hard to get, not allowing him near you. The bean wants to be touched! We want him to rub it. Wait! Are those more villagers coming to attack us? Yummy. Dinner time!”

“No, absolutely not! Ember, you ate a village. How can you still be hungry?”

“Growing girl, duh!”

“Growing into what? A freaking whale? No one needs to eat this much, ever. I’m worrying about what we are becoming. So far, we’re pretty much eating our way through the Nine Realms. They’re putting up warning posters about us, but instead of the picture being a woman, they’re literally drawing us as having five heads and a stick-figure frame! Get ahold of yourself, Ember. I have a plan, though, and it’s a good one. You just have to follow it.”

“Does it include dick?”

“No, there’s no dick in the plan!”

“But why?”

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