Page 28 of Crown of Chaos

What I really wanted to do was call her out and end her leadership over me, but if I did that, the witches would be fractured. So, for the time being, I would allow her to continue with her power trip while I built my contingency plan just in case.

Aurora grinned with a sharp glimmer burning in her eyes. “I knew I could depend on you, and yes, we will. I’ll consider this slight a momentary lapse of judgment, and we’ll never speak of it again after today.” She stood and stepped closer, but I kept an eye on her hands, making sure she wouldn’t attempt to cast magic on me again. “I’ve started rumors that are now circling throughout the realms. After your reports of being coerced to the altar, I intend to remove the claim he has on you. I won’t allow him to think he has any claim to a throne through you. Not that it would matter, since you’ll not be the one to ascend the throne, but we can’t have him seeking to harm me so you can replace me on it, either.”

“Good,” I stated, allowing her to think she’d won me over.

An ache started in my chest, wrapping around my heart to squeeze tightly. She’d changed so much in the short time we’d been back in the Nine Realms. While I’d been fighting to keep them safe, she’d been seeking to make alliances behind my back. I’d attempted to discover who she’d spoken with, but she’d snuffed me off, and had swiftly changed the subject. She had become willing to forgive crimes against our sister witches to gain power.

I hadn’t wanted to believe it was possible, but I’d seen her doing it with my own eyes. This hadn’t been the plan when we came back. She wasn’t helping to clean out or repair the damage our absence had caused. She was just hiding the filth in the crevices and beneath the cushions. I’d promised these witches more, and I fully intended to see it through, even if it meant I’d be standing alone to do it.

That Aurora was no longer the woman I grew up with boggled my mind. I hadn’t been naïve enough to think it couldn’t happen, but I’d also not wanted to believe she’d changed. I’d told Knox he was wrong about Aurora, but was he? Aurora was proving him right, and that left a bad taste in my mouth. She was a horrid leader, and without me, she wouldn’t hold the throne long enough to sit her ass on the throne. He’d said I was the bad guy, and if I followed Aurora down this path, then it would just prove him right. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Aurora was setting me, and the other witches on a collision course. The problem was, there wasn’t an easy way of escaping that course yet. I needed to formulate a plan to make her realize she was hurting us all with her leadership, and her inability to listen to anyone else. She was already acting like she’d been crowned the queen, but even queens listened to their people’s worries. Knox had foreseen this, and I hated realizing he’d been correct in his assumptions of what she’d be like, if she took the lead.

Silently, I changed and then joined my sisters, who were waiting by an open portal. My gaze slid over them, memorizing the concern etched on their expressions. I wasn’t the only one worrying about what was happening here. No one spoke up or voiced their fears as we followed Aurora, though, because loyalty demanded we stay silent even when common sense argued otherwise.

Esme, Siobhan, and Soraya threw me curious looks, as if they sensed the unease washing through me. I shrugged the worry away, squaring my shoulders and straightening my spine. I marched through the portal the witches had opened to set siege to an unknown enemy. Sending a prayer heavenward, I prayed Aurora wasn’t leading us headlong into something we’d regret.

Chapter Fifteen

The little keep wasn’t smallat all. In fact, it was a rather significant stone dwelling with a fortified wall that surrounded it. I memorized every arrow slit and every man lingering in the shadows of the battlements. They weren’t moving or readying to defend against us. The portcullis was shut tightly, but other than that, it didn’t appear as if they feared our arrival. The knowledge that they did nothing sent unease rushing through me.

Unlike the last place we’d attacked, this keep didn’t seem ready for an assault. Yet, I couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that was rooted inside me. The witches around me seemed excited by the prospect of the violence about to unleash here. Not a single one of them seemed to sense the same disquiet I did. Lifting my nose into the air, I smelled for any signs of hemlock, but it was as if there was a barrier around the battlement preventing scent or sound from reaching us.

I tilted my head, listening for the sound of hearts beating with anticipation or fear, but there was only a foreboding silence. Pushing my senses farther into the keep, I found nothing that would cause the worry swirling through me, and I turned to Aurora.

“Do you hear that?” I asked softly.

My voice cut through the quietness like a knife, slicing melted butter. Blinking, I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth, widening my eyes when Aurora started to sway. It took effort to ignore the fear, which I decided was due to how the last attack ended and not because something was actually wrong.

“I hear them,” Aurora replied. “They’re waiting for us to make the first move.”

My forehead creased in concentration as I listened again, hearing nothing but the echo of dead silence. The only sounds I heard came from us, our heartbeats pattering with excitement, pounding like war drums. Closing my eyes, I let my magic seek out our enemies. Something popped, and I shivered.

Metal clanged, and I opened my eyes to focus on the portcullis. Slowly, it lifted a sliver before stalling out. The hair along my nape rose with the warning that something was horribly wrong. Where was the expectancy of the coming fight from inside the stronghold? Where were the shouts to prepare or any of the normal noises that proceeded combat? Slowly, I began threading the magic I’d need to erect a barrier of protection around us.

“Something isn’t right,” I mumbled, stepping back before I glanced at Esme, who was hearing the same unnerving silence.

“Aria’s right,” Esme agreed, sliding her violet gaze to Aurora. “I don’t hear shit from inside, and the men on the wall don’t have heart beats.”

“You can’t hear them speaking? They’re singing about watching us burn,” Aurora whispered in a manner that caused goose bumps to cover my skin. “I remember this song well.”

I shared a confused look with Esme before we both went back to trying to hear what Aurora was talking about. Still, there was nothing but silence. It was eerie and wrong, as if the whole place held its breath and waited for something we couldn’t see or feel.

Scratching began behind the portcullis, and torches lit along on the battlement, bathing the men in a soft light revealed their faces. I swallowed hard and forced myself not to take a step back when their mutilated faces came into full view.

“What the hell?” Esme said, her tone full of disgust as the eyeless men tilted their heads in our direction. She moved next to me, and Soraya did the same.

“Something is seriously amiss here,” I muttered, barely containing the need to run.

The issue was, if we tried to retreat, we wouldn’t all escape. I wasn’t certain how I knew that, but I felt it in my bones. Everyone was here. All of my sisters joined in on the strike at Aurora’s behest, and I was unwilling to lose so much as one of them. I lifted my hand to the swell of my belly and ignored the fear surging through me.

“It’s a fucking trap,” I hissed loud enough for everyone to hear. “Call your magic to you, now.” I was already in the process of ripping power to me from the realm.

“Can you hear them singing?” Aurora asked, still swaying. Still not pulling power. “My mother used to sing that song to me when I was a child.”

Kinvara snorted while shaking her head. “I don’t hear a thing. Does anyone else?”

“I don’t,” Reign announced. “I can’t hear or feel shit. It’s almost like there’s no life in this place—at least, not within the stronghold.” Reign withdrew her blades and poised for an assault.

Rhaghana grunted in agreement, and a white line of worry appeared on her lips. Others stepped closer to Aurora, as if it would help them zero in on the singing she was clearly enjoying.

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