Page 94 of Crown of Chaos

“Fuck off, Knox,” I muttered before shooing the raven away with my foot. “We’ve been located. It’s time to move.”

“What’s the plan?” Siobhan asked, her eyes turning to where hundreds of ravens were landing around us. “What in the actual fuck are they doing?” she whispered, her question filled with fear and apprehension.

Turning to glare at them, I snorted. It wasn’t an unkindness, it was an army of them. I inhaled deeply, unsettled by the number of scents in the air that were blocking me from locating the one I was searching for.

“They’re his spies and allow him to see us through their eyes and listen through their ears. It’s how he kept his eye on me as I moved through the Nine Realms before. His tattoo tracked, and they were his fucking eyes to watch everything I did.”

“That’s reassuring,” Esme pointed out with a chuckle that scared a few of the ravens away.

“So, what is the plan?” Soraya asked, grimacing as the witches howled from the wall of the stronghold. “That’s so fucked up. I’ve heard of torture devices and horror stories of how they worked, but that shit is a new level of twisted.”

“We need to regroup and figure out a way to nullify the runes. This won’t be as easy as I thought it would be. Knox’s defensive strategy for this place is both impressive and daunting. This is where the keeper of the wind is, which means we have to figure out a way to get in there. The problem is, there are too many people inside there for me to do it easily. I can’t just murder everyone.”

“Why not?” Esme asked. “They’re allowing those men to torture the witches. They’re not bothered by it in the slightest. Look at the children. They’re cheering them on!”

“So they are,” I stated with a pitiful frown as I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the stress just being here was creating. “I can’t use too much magic because I have a feeling that, the moment I reach for the keeper, Hecate will show up.”

“So, we can’t stop this?” Soraya demanded, her question causing a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“No, not unless we kill everyone we see quickly and brutally. Even then, the whole place in blanketed in wards to prevent magic from being used within the walls. Whoever laid them is as powerful as she is skilled.” I nodded to where the witches still screamed. “Look at their clothes. You can still see the remnants of the spell work that kept them docile until their feet hit the fire. We have two options. We can try to figure out how she’s bypassing the wards and casting inside the walls and then do the same thing, but my guess is she’s wearing something that exempts her from the wards. Since we can’t use magic inside, that’s going to be a bitch to get. Our second option is to remove them, which would take time, but is possible so long as we do it swiftly enough that she doesn’t have time to cast against us.”

“I can go,” Avyanna announced, her wide green eyes holding mine. “Look, I am not dependent on magic and I’m no longer considered a witch. I’m just a healer, and if questioned, I could appear to be one. I’ll just tell the gate guards I’m here to purchase more ingredients to heal patients.”

“If you get into trouble, we can’t promise to get you out,” I warned, glancing back to the castle only to suck in a sharp breath. “Look”—I gestured toward the single woman moving from one cage to the next—“found the witch we need to talk—” Thundering hoofbeats cut me off, and I groaned in irritation. An army of troops was coming through the large arched entrance that led into the valley.

“That asshole should really just take a vacation already,” I muttered, pondering the ethicality of setting every single one of his raven spies on fire. “King of Norvalla has graced us with his presence, ladies.”

I watched Knox and then slid my gaze to the female riding beside him and then to the rest of the treacherous bitches riding behind her. Sabine pointed me out to them. Did she think to stop me? Did they think I’d stop what I’d started already? Or were they here to pretend to be on my side? None of those things were happening.

Sabine dismounted with Knox, and they started toward me. I turned away from them and watched as men swarmed the outer wall. Their weapons were being drawn and aimed at the unmarked army, which wasn’t flying Knox’s emblem from their banners. They were ruining the element of surprise as well as my ability to back away to formulate an actual plan of attack.

“Change of plans,” I announced. “We’re attacking now.”

“There are five of us!” Esme gasped, her eyes wide. Yup, she knew it was a piss-poor plan, too, but it was the only plan left open to us. “You can’t cast magic past the walls, which means they just have to make five lucky shots and we’re done. If we go down there, we will die.”

“Who wants to live forever?” I shrugged, turning to study the fear on their faces. “Do you prefer to wait here for me? I don’t advise it, since an entire army is coming this way already. There’s also the man trying to sneak closer to us from the other side, but he’s failing horridly to be quiet about it. Killian, maybe take the boots off andthenapproach the unsuspecting women on the cliff,” I called, even though he wasn’t who was sneaking up on us. I didn’t need crayons to figure out Killian had sent the troops one way to force us toward where he was hiding behind us with more.

“We’re surrounded?” Soraya said, likely seconds away from hyperventilating. I laughed, which caught her off guard just enough to snap her out of it. “I fail to see the humor in that, Aria. We’re not promised good dick and a soft bed when we’re prisoners.”

“We’re totally not surrounded.”

“You can’t mean—”

“Bottoms up, bitches!” I laughed, leaping over the edge, hooting as I fell. I did not know how deep the water was or if we’d survive the fall, but it looked deep enough to handle our drop, and I was praying I didn’t die. That wouldn’t make the statement I’d been trying to make here, after all.

“Aria!” Esme screamed, peering over the edge. “You’re insane! Shit like this is why we can’t be best friends. You do stupid shit, and then I have to follow you!” she barked angrily, but leaped over the edge, waving her arms in the air.

“Best friends don’t let best friends jump alone. You’re my best friend—” I slammed into the water feet first. The moment I felt the riverbed, I pushed against it and swam to the surface. Esme landed a handful of second behind me, and I gulped in a lungful of air before diving under to get her.

“I can’t swim!” she shrieked as I pulled her above the surface.

She slapped the water, flailing her arms and legs wildly. Silently, I promised her that if we made it through this, I would teach her to swim. But first, I had to get her to the shore.

“I’m aware. Remember? I’m your person? And as your person, it is my duty to know these things!” I stated in a singsong voice as she tried to drown me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and her legs locked around my waist. “You’re going to drown us both, asshole. I need to swim for us.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.” I chuckled.

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