Page 14 of Crown of Chaos

“Daughters, Aria. You’re a Hecate witch, cursed to only bring forth female children into your line,” Esme pointed out, rubbing her eyes with a wariness that I felt to my bones.

“We shall see, won’t we?” I smiled at her narrowing gaze. “I will need your help to turn Avyanna back to her original state of being. Her face was ruined because of the blood running through her veins, and I have agreed to remedy that as payment for our lives.”

“I would love to help, Avyanna, but Aria is drained, and in her current condition, whichwewill keep toourselves, but we’ll need more help to deliver on the promise she made to you. Since we can’t really hang out here until that happens, you have two choices. You can come with us and we’ll get you fixed up when we get back to where we’ve been staying, or you can remain here and wait for us to come back to do it.”

Chapter Eight

Avyanna tended to us throughoutthe night, but when the dawn rose, we all left her rambled shack. Walking was slow and painful even though I’d drank more of the medicine she’d crafted, and just knowing that the trip back to the sanctuary would be a long, daunting task in our condition.

As it was, we were spending more time stumbling through the dense underbrush than making progress in the woods. There was nothing but giant, sprawling trees that reached toward the clouds above us, which promised rain soon. Well, other than the incessant underbrush, biting our legs and twisting around our ankles. Insects buzzed and made other noises as we moved deeper into the forest, and no matter how desperately Esme or I wanted to take a break, we wouldn’t allow ourselves to rest for more than a moment or two before we were moving again.

Avyanna wasn’t any help, either. She hadn’t left the shack in decades other than to hunt for ingredients or food. Not that I blamed her, considering we’d learned rather quickly that her sight was more problematic than just a bit of color blindness. Avyanna had downplayed it inside the hut, and I understood why she had. You didn’t admit to weaknesses in this world, not unless you wanted it to be used against you. However, it had her tripping on twigs and vines far more often that Esme and I did.

Esme grumbled under her breath, and I paused, closing my eyes. My side burned like a hot poker was continually being pushed against the skin. I placed my hand on my wound and gasped as fresh pain shot through me. A round nodule was growing where I’d been hit, and I could smell the toxins building up beneath the flesh.

Esme stopped, and her sharp, violet gaze lowered to my abdomen. She didn’t offer to help or make a fuss while I tried to catch my breath before starting forward again. My strength was waning, and I was regretting my choice not to stay in the comfortable hut another day.

I didn’t know who had saved us, but sticking around to see if they came back sounded like a bad idea.

“I brought the tonic with us,” Avyanna announced. “We will require shelter before dark anyway.”

“We’re not stopping,” I argued, hating the weakness raging through me. Sweat beaded on my brow, dripping and rolling down my neck and face. The borrowed dress I wore was covered in mud from trudging through the swamp to reach the higher ground of the woodland landscape. The fabric might have been a baby blue at one time, but it had turned green with sludge and other shit I wasn’t sure I could identify.

“We will have to stop unless you plan to battle orcs and other miscreants that live within these woods,” Avyanna returned coolly, as if she hadn’t just dropped an orc-bomb. Her fingers lifted to her perfectly curled hair and pushed the stray strands behind her horns as if she were fluffing her hair in anticipation.

I wasn’t going to judge her taste in bedmates because I was a notorious monster-fucker myself. I didn’t have room to say crap about anyone’s likes or dislikes where sex was concerned. My fingertips brushed a cedar, and I leaned my weight against the tree, pausing to listen to what lived within the woods.

“You did not just say orcs?” Esme asked. Her eyes sparkled with mirth at how my head swung back and forth, following the silent conversation. Both of them were making faces, which was pissing me off. She enjoyed it when I was left out of the loop or didn’t know something about the creatures in the realms.

“They’re not really that bad unless you are in their forest after dark. After all, orcs own the woodland area, and those who wander in normally do so for a night of unbridled passion, which the orcs are more than happy to deliver,” she stated with a shrug. “They agreed to give me my space in the swamp, so I followed their rules, mostly.” Avyanna’s eyes widened—if that were even possible. Her lips curved into a wicked smile at the same time as Esme’s did, and my curiosity was hitting an all-time high.

“You forgot to acknowledge how much they enjoyed fucking you like crazed beasts once they have captured you. Or the part where they share you because normally there are more of them than wayward travelers to go around,” Esme added.

“And how do you know that?” I asked.

“I could tell you it was a guess, but I’ve purposely wandered in here from time to time, fully willing to be shared.”

“When you talk about orcs, do you mean big ugly things?” I questioned, praying my imagination was wildly off base. My gaze slid between the women, who were both smiling wickedly with dreamy expressions on their faces. “Seriously, orcs? We don’t have time for orc dicks!”

“They’re easily the tallest creatures inside the Nine Realms,” Esme explained conspiratorially as we started moving again. “They are not ugly, but they’re not beautiful, either. They have enormous cocks and fuck like wild beasts. Orcs don’t speak our language, though, and that tends to keep them away from other species unless they wander into these lands. They give witches wide berths, but I think that’s because we can make them smaller. Or it could be that they just don’t want to be associated with us since the entire realm seems to want us dead and they don’t want that kind of attention,” she concluded, smiling when my mouth dropped open at her explanation. “You’d probably like some orc dick, Aria. After all, I heard about the tent you and Knox shared during your heat cycle. I believe the words Siobhan used were monsters, destruction, andoh-my-lord-what-in-the-ever-loving-fuck-was-even-happening-in-there?”

“Okay, so we find somewhere to hide until the sun rises?” I asked, needing someone else to feel the panic rushing through me. “You said they give us a wide berth so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about anyway, right?” I persisted, holding my hand on my burning side. “Wait, Siobhan told you about the last stage of my heat cycle?”

“Of course, she told me all about your tent excursion. Siobhan is my sister. And no, we don’t have too much to worry about, but too much isn’t nothing. You heard me when I said they fucked like beasts, right?” Esme chuckled, her eyes laughing at the horror displayed on my face. “But first, we must find somewhere to stash you.”

“Mmm, it has been a while since an orc rode me.” Avyanna sighed dreamily. “I do like when they hold on to my horns while going hard against my soft flesh.”

Blinking slowly, I struggled to stop the images playing inside my head, which was more or less a picture of Shrek riding Avyanna like a horse, and no matter how much I fought the urge to laugh, it escaped, bubbling from my lips. I coughed violently before wheezing in pain and clutching my side.

“Are you sure you two aren’t nymphs?” I snorted and then braced against a tree because the ache pulsed and shot liquid fire through my stomach until I gagged. “Jesus,” I groaned and plastered my hand over my mouth while both women looked at me with worry.

“We need to hide her somewhere,” Esme announced. “If we have to run, you wouldn’t make it very far—not with the injury festering. So, sit down, and let Avy look at it, Aria.”

“Avy? You’re already on a nickname basis with her?” I asked in an exhausted tone, which belayed my status more than the fatigue displayed across my features.

“She likes me more than you.” Esme snorted, watching the way my body moved sluggishly. “You’re certain you removed all the poison?”

“I did what I could.” Avyanna ripped a portion of the dress open to reveal the angry red gash of the arrow wound. “Obviously, I didn’t get it all out,” she hissed upon seeing the black lines spreading over my side from the hemlock. “We need water and moss immediately,” she growled, not waiting for us to follow as she rushed toward the sound of water.

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