Page 25 of Crown of Chaos

Panic and rage overwhelmed me as hands seized my arms, restraining me from reaching him. Knox forced himself up, and liquid-onyx eyes latched on to me. Flames burned within their inky depths, and he snarled until the gorge echoed with the vibrations. A rattle left my throat, and his gaze jerked to where I was being dragged farther from him.

Magic expanded around us and suddenly slammed into him repeatedly. I whirled, wrenching even more magic to me, fully intending to lay waste to whatever or whomever was hurting Knox, but the fight in me vanished when my stare landed on my sisters. There were hundreds of witches behind them at the mouth of the river, every one of them feeding power to Aurora and my siblings.

“Stop,” I murmured breathlessly. I clutched my hair, rattling from the sense of overpowering malice riding the magic. “Don’t hurt him,” I beseeched, battling between shielding him or them. A sob escaped me, and I shuddered with dread, knowing Aurora wouldn’t quit once he was down.

Kinvara’s gaze veered to mine, and she squinted. Relief at finding her alive shot through me, and I exhaled as I continued to gather magic. My fingertips burned, extending the dark, wispy blackness over the skin of my forearms. Knox howled again, and Aurora laughed viciously, reaching to draw power from the witches to unleash on him. She walked closer, accepting the sword Reign held out to her.

She was going to murder Knox and didn’t care that it would hurt me. My teeth chattered with the intensity and amount of power I held, barring either of them from employing it against the other. Thunder clapped loudly above us, and the breeze shrieked as Aurora strode closer while gathering sufficient enough magic to paralyze him.

Staring back at Knox’s body, I resisted a furious sob, understanding she didn’t plan to depart until his life was forfeited. Aurora raised her palms skyward, and I turned and dashed toward Knox to shelter him from the incoming attack. No sooner had she aimed it at him, I reached him, twisting inches away from his body, slapping my hands to shield Knox with the only thing I could—myself.

My body flew backward, convulsing in pain that exploded through me and caused my vision to flicker. I struggled to get upright, but it felt as if I’d consumed a full bottle of tequila and had no equilibrium left. I faltered, sinking to the ground as blood streamed from my nose. Knox moved closer as I collapsed. His sea-hued eyes grew larger, and he peered at me retching up liquid, resisting the magic flowing through me, attacking every part of me.

Dropping to his knees, he brushed the hair from my face, blanching at the blood dripping from my lips and nose. He growled as his gaze lifted, leveling on Aurora, who silently glowered at us from afar. Indecision warred across his features as he slowly backed away, putting distance between himself and where I squirmed on the ground.

Aurora hadn’t held back, fully planning to incapacitate him and remove his head, and I’d thwarted her assault. I hadn’t had time to bypass the spell, leaving me to soak up the magic. It was dangerous because absorbing magic without preparing to do so could be deadly. The harder I sought to get air, the less air entered into my lungs. My entire body convulsed, and fear built within me over what I’d just done.

Gasping, I continued to struggle for breath, but it wouldn’t come. The noise I created was awful and sounded like I was dry drowning. Esme and Soraya rushed to me, uncaring that Knox’s men were moving to circle him with swords drawn. The girls slid on to their knees, forcing magic into my body to counter the spell that was seizing control of my body.

“Knox,” I hissed, choking noisily for oxygen.

He didn’t speak as he quietly watched me battling to inhale as blood gushed from my nose, decorating the earth with my life’s essence. I blinked rapidly, resisting the agony so that I remained responsive.

The witches started screaming, but the sound resonated distantly. It was taking all I had left to remain cognizant enough to prevent the magic from ending my life. Hands were grabbing me, but I couldn’t keep my mind from seeking to shut down. Those around me were working to keep me from drowning in the silky grip of magic, but it was advancing too rapidly, and I was losing the battle.

Slowly, I struggled to my feet, and when I wavered on unstable legs, Esme and Soraya caught me. Knox took a step forward, then stopped and shifted his savage glare to Aurora. Her fury was palpable, but then, so was Knox’s. The entire clearing went silent, and tension curled through it with the magic hanging between them.

Knox took yet another step back, and confusion flooded me. He was backing away? If he fought us, he’d win. So why wasn’t he using the chance to slaughter everyone present? Esme curled her hand around my waist while Avy slid hers to my face, hovering in my line of sight. I whimpered, pushing her away to stare at the indecision burning in Knox’s turbulent, sea-colored depths. They slid to me, and then back to Aurora. But instead of moving forward, he took another noticeable step away so that he stood with his men.

I fought the arms seeking to lift me, unable to make words leave my lips. He turned toward me, a white line marring his mouth. Blinking slowly, I cried out, which made his Adam’s apple bob and his cheek jerk before it tensed.

His chest heaved with rage, but he didn’t retaliate. Knox merely examined the women dragging me away. My feet barely scraped the earth as I held little control over my body. Ember was snarling, and yet, no sound left my lips as tears flowed from my eyes—or, at least, I assumed they were tears and not blood.

“If she dies, so will every single one of you,” Knox hissed in a tone I’d never heard him use before. His hands had become tight fists with white knuckles as if he were physically fighting the need to do more than watch me escaping him.

I’d taken the full force of a spell meant for Knox, a spell cast by Aurora, who had pulled magic from every witch here. I hadn’t thought or wavered. I’d acted, and now Knox was allowing me to escape so that they could heal me. It had to be why he hadn’t struck back, and it astonished me that he would rather I escape and live than for him to catch me and I die.

Avyanna and the healers in Aurora’s group rushed toward us. Her remarkable eyes looked alarmed, and the blood emptied from her face as she stalled, taking in my appearance. I choked, and a quiet rattle unlike one I’d ever created before rumbled from me.

“She’s dying,” Avy announced with a tremor in her tone. “We don’t have time to move her. I need to tend to her now.”

“You’ll create time,” Aurora snapped chillingly. Something dangerous churned in her eyes. Slowly, her glare tracked to Knox, who watched us with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “Open the portal. We’re moving now. No magic from this point on, Aria. I don’t wish to face him so soon after you interfered this time.”

Magic pulsed around me, and I looked up at the sky as someone carried me through the portal. Voices shouted from all directions, but they hustled me past them and into the sanctuary. They placed me on a bed. Women’s hushed voices filled the chamber, and I grabbed Esme as she backed up to give the healers room to work.

“No one knows,” I whispered through the wheezing of my closing throat.

“I’ll tell them, Aria.”

“No.” I swallowed, coughing as my lungs struggled to fix the damage done to them. “I don’t want that. Do you understand? You cannot tell anyone. Promise me, Esme. No one else can know about them. I only want Avy to work on me. Please, no one else.”

“I promise, Aria,” she whispered vehemently, leaning over to place a kiss on my ear. “I’ll take it with me to the grave. I will ensure Avyanna makes the same vow. You should know that Aurora didn’t stop when the magic hit you. She kept casting on you.” Her words were spoken so softly that they barely registered.

Then Esme was backing up as the room filled with my sisters and aunt. I stared into her violet gaze, blinking away the prickling of tears and betrayal that slithered through me.

Had Aurora really continued, or had it merely appeared that way? If she’d meant to paralyze him and undo it afterward, that would make sense. It wasn’t easy to stop the momentum of that much power tearing through you, either. I’d done it once before, miscalculating the intensity of the magic I’d pulled to me. But the sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach told me it hadn’t been a loss of control on Aurora’s part.

“That was stupid, Aria Primrose! You could’ve been killed. Do you honestly think Knox would die for you or care if you’d perished today? Think again. He didn’t even try to protect you. He allowed you to take a hit that was meant to end him!” Aurora snapped in a tone heavy with regret. “If I had killed you, this fight would have ended on a riverbank in the middle of nowhere, and for what?Nothing!You’d have died protecting that monster. Do you realize what you did?”

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