Page 9 of Crown of Chaos

Her fear excited me, sending heat rushing through my body, which I probably would never admit. Knox bared his serrated fangs that made my thighs clench tightly with desire.

“She seeks to fuck what is ours, and you hide, and do nothing? We kill her, and fuck him on her corpse, now!”Ember’s voice exploded inside my head, almost forcing a gasp of shock past my lips.

“Uh, how about no? I’m not fucking him anywhere near that bitch, not even her lifeless corpse. That isn’t sanitary. Sniff that bitch and tell me you’d be keen to stomach doing that, Ember.”

“Fine, let’s fuck her up and wear her corpse as a warning to other bitches!”

“You need to calm down and enjoy the show. I know I am. Just look at her panicking to get away from our guys. Pure, undisguised horror is such a beautiful thing to witness in the morning, isn’t it?”I purred, hoping she’d snicker in agreement.

Only Ember snorted from within as her desire to murder Celia fought my need to remain hidden from Knox. I wouldn’t reach the bitch before he caught me, and I had too much shit to get done to play captive again. I also needed to decide my future because once I finished building the other realm and ending this war, I intended to settle down and live the long, boring life Knox had told me I would hate. I enjoyed proving him wrong.

“Leave this room, Celia, before I give Lennox full control and allow him to show you his true self,” Knox warned, his tone laced with venom. “Stop thinking there’s any chance between us. You were a mistake that I made in a moment of weakness. Nothing more,” he finished, nodding at the door. “Get out and stay the fuck away from me. You’re not half the woman Aria is, and you never will be her.”

I relished the anger and betrayal that burned in Celia’s gaze. She was a viper who wanted Knox, and she wasn’t finished fighting for him yet. I smiled, waiting until she left before I asked the library to run me a bath. The moment it filled, I slipped out of my clothes and slid beneath the enticingly scented bubbles.

I continued observing Knox from the tub as he made his way to the chest and opened it. His cheek jerked as emotion flooded through him. He inspected the lid before he closed it, silently heading for the armoire to grab his armor.

“I’m going to find you, Aria,” he warned, forcing my brow to crease at the heaviness of his words. “You won’t like it when that happens, but then, you like nothing I do anyway. I hate that you’re out there alone. You’re unprotected and in danger, Little Monster. You do not truly know who is friend or foe. If you trust nothing else I say, trust this: Everyone is against you. Don’t rely on anyone, not even those closest to you.”

He turned, looked around the room, and slammed his armor down on the table. Agony played over his face as he searched for me. In the library’s solace, he allowed his pain to be seen. Outside of here, though, he was the king he’d been born to become.

Knox walked to the fireplace, grabbed a jar from the mantel, and tossed it into the fire. The flames billowed for just a moment before they calmed enough to reveal the ifrit within them. The grotesque face of the demon stared up at him, but Knox didn’t back away from the deadly blaze. He smiled at the creature, tilting his head before exhaling.

“Where is Aria Primrose Hecate Karnavious hiding?” he demanded before stepping back from the fire. I held my breath as the flame slithered from the fireplace, moving toward the barrier. “Show me where she is.”

The fire sizzled against the barrier, making the whole thing shimmer and sending my heart into a frantic thunder. I launched myself from the water, almost slipping in my haste to get to the vault’s heavy door, which doubled as a permanent portal. I opened it just enough to squeeze through and then pulled it shut behind me. Exhaling the shaky breath from my lungs, I turned to find Siobhan, Soraya, and Esme before me. Their mouths hung open in dismay at my nakedness.

“You’re naked.” Esme snorted as she closed her book. “I hope that there’s an interesting story to go with this, Aria.”

“I don’t wish to discuss it.” I groaned, heading toward the bed on the other side of the chamber. “Did you guys find anything in the books about creating a new realm?” I inquired, changing the subject to something safer than Knox and his sneaky tricks.

“No, but we found other things that could be useful,” Siobhan offered. “You never know when you’ll need a spell to catch and control monsters within the Nine Realms.”

Esme rolled her eyes. “Your aunt was in here looking for you. She discovered another keep that she wants us to attack as punishment for their murder of witches. I told her you went to the healing pools, so she headed there to get you.”

“You knew I wasn’t there.” I smirked. “But you were buying me time to rest. I guess it’s a good thing I’m soaking wet, huh? Should I head out to find her?”

“I wouldn’t, but that’s me,” Esme admitted, standing to stretch. “But I guess it’s a good day to go murder things. It was getting dull around here, anyway.”

The girls headed out of the room, but I remained in place. I wasn’t sure if the ifrit’s flame could follow me through the portal, but if it was seeking my current location, I’d been in the library when it began hunting me. If it wanted to track me, it could burn its way through the entire Nine Realms to find me. I never stuck around in the same spot for very long, and today wouldn’t be the day I started. Knox was, in fact, a damn excellent hunter, and I’d be damned if I ended up chained to his bed.

Chapter Six

Mist covered the ground andcurled up our legs. The acrid scent of death clung to it, causing my stomach to churn and threaten to empty its contents to the dirt at my feet. Slowly, I took in the anxious faces nearest to me. My heartbeat raced, pumping blood to my head as I wondered what Aurora had been thinking when she said we were headed to a small keep.

The fort was far more fortified than what we’d been expecting. The outer battlements rose in spiraling formations that disappeared into the clouds. Black obsidian and snowflake obsidian were used to create the large, round columns. The lower outside wall consisted of smokey quartz that reflected the sun and made the stronghold hard to look at. Flags that held Knox’s insignia whipped in the high wings, giving me pause.

It would have been a beautiful place if not for the stench and the bodies hanging from the walls. I didn’t need to be told that those hung were witches. I could see it in their clothes and the markings their tormentors had charred into their flesh. Upside-down crosses had been branded into their foreheads, and their eyes had been expunged.

The needless loss of life was one thing, but to adorn the wall with their corpses like ornaments on a Christmas tree was fueling my rage. It wasn’t necessary, and they hadn’t been dark witches, either. If they had been, they would have been oozing the tell-tale tar-like substance from their injuries. My anger at the heinous crimes mingled with apprehension that something wasn’t right about the scene, and my unease was making the witches accompanying me jumpy.

“They’re not coming back to life,” Kinvara whispered, disturbing the silence with the pain lacing her words.

“They’re not going to since they weren’t immortal before death came for them,” Esme explained softly, her emotions hidden as we stared forward. “They are mere children.”

“They look young,” Kinvara returned, pushing her strawberry-blonde hair away from her face. Hooking a wayward strand behind her ear, she swallowed loudly. “They were killed, and they burned their flesh to warn others. It isn’t even a witch symbol that was placed on their heads. This isn’t right; none of it is.”

“That doesn’t matter to them, Kinvara. Our lives mean nothing,” Esme muttered.

---