Page 6 of Crown of Chaos

“She was shocked, but happier that I’d survived and was alive. I thought I’d lost her forever or that she’d ended up raped and discarded like trash, which is usually what happens to women like us seized in battle. I’d changed since we were little. She wanted me to come with her, to join Knox’s army, but at first, I refused. She explained how he treated the witches in the ranks, and I called her a liar and other choice words. It didn’t matter what she said because I’d felt the thing within me stirring and knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide it from the men of Norvalla.”

“How long have you sensed that you have something within you?” I asked, finding a new camaraderie with Esme.

“Since the onset of puberty, I guess. And you?” she countered, probing me as I was doing with her.

“Not long at all.” I considered her words and pondered why I hadn’t discovered mine until Knox had shown up and I’d slipped on his cock. “Do you use traditional magic, or do you pull from the realms?”

“I use natural magic from nature. You don’t?”

“No, I don’t. When I use magic, it’s like there’s a well of it surrounding me I can draw from. My sisters chant and pull magic from others around them, and while I can do that, too, I don’t need to. They have to find a balance with nature to focus on remaining stable. When I need magic, the well opens and offers me an endless supply. I don’t require the strength of anyone else to ground me when I cast. I also don’t grow stronger with a connection to other witches unless I call on Hecate’s magic. I try never to use it because I’ve always feared she would sense me doing so and seek to destroy me.”

“Why would you think that?” Esme asked, studying me as the wind picked up, sending debris flittering around the courtyard.

“My family claims they called Hecate to them before I was born and she demanded my mother murder me while I was still in her womb. But I don’t see how they could’ve summoned her spirit, considering she isn’t in her eternal sleep.” That question had been picking away at me, and I still didn’t have an answer. “Anyway, Hecate disapproved of Freya’s choice of bedmates because she forbade creatures that could wield flame from breeding or existing in their true forms.” A clap of thunder rumbled through the ruins, and I peered up at the churning storm. “You can’t remember anything about the man who instructed you to find the others like us?”

“No, nothing more than turquoise eyes and silver hair like yours. I believe he removed the knowledge to protect him and the others. I just don’t know why he told me to do it. A storm is coming,” Esme announced, frowning while she peered at the clouds that turned darker with every passing moment. “It feels strange, doesn’t it?”

I narrowed my gaze on the clouds over the mountains and sent magic into them, searching and discovering nothing unusual. “I cannot sense anything. Are we so paranoid that we no longer trust a normal storm front on the horizon?” I asked softly as the people hurried toward shelter. I tracked their movements, noting each one as I inhaled their scents deeply into my lungs.

“Apparently.” She chuckled. “Stop sniffing them. You wanted them here. Unless you want to say fuck it and eat some?” she continued, wiggling her brows with mirth.

The wind whipped my hair against my cheek as I turned to smile at her. Pushing the hair from my face to laugh at her antics, I slowly turned. “I need to look for that book and figure out how to erect the realm quickly. I should head there now, and see if I can find anything useful while there’s a lull in activity.”

“You mean to ensure that your mate isn’t fucking that heartless bitch of a sister-in-law who’s sniffing his ass?” She chortled, peering down at the kid who had tripped and was crying for its mother. “Go, I will keep everyone safe while you’re away, Aria. Do yourself a favor, though. Don’t lose your footing and fall on that dick. I need your head on straight to help me protect these wayward witchlings and witches.”

“If Knox is fucking Celia, it won’t be my head you need to worry about. If he wants her, then I won’t stand in his way. Lennox wouldn’t let that happen—or, I don’t think he would, anyway. He assured me I am his, and while he’s trapped inside Knox. And that makes his pretty wrapper mine, too. Wish me luck. I will more than likely need it.”

“You don’t need luck. You need sage and a handful of salt to perform an exorcism of his ghosts.”

Chapter Four

I stepped through the portallinked to my bedroom at the sanctuary and arrived in the library’s vast space already knowing I didn’t need to fear being seen. It was part of the spell I’d used, and unless I whispered the words to tell it otherwise, the illusion held firm to keep my presence hidden. The sound of soft music filled the room, and I made my way to where Knox leaned over a table, studying a map.

His muscles bunched together as his ocean-blue depths slid to where I paused. My heart hammered as he searched for me, pushing his knuckles onto the table while trying to peer through the image I hid behind. Knox lifted his nose, inhaling and then exhaling loudly in frustration.

For the last two months, I hadn’t allowed Knox to know when I was here, and today was no different. All he knew was that my portion of the library appeared as it did any other day—tidy and void of the things I’d brought back to keep safe.

I could allow him to see me, but if Hecate were actually alive and in play, then too much depended on me keeping my distance from him. If she were to find out who I was or where I was hiding, she’d be siphoning magic from the remaining witches, adding them to her endless supply of power, and coming to kill me. They were more than just a battery for a goddess on a power kick, and if I wanted to protect them, I needed to find the hidden tomes that would teach me how to create a new House of Magic in the Nine Realms. I knew the book that held those answers was within reach.

I’d endured Knox’s anger and his frequent outbursts so that I could access this freaking library and find what I needed. I couldn’t honestly say that I regretted the time with him, though, because it hadn’t all been bad. Knox was complex and broken. He’d never argued that fact and had made sure I’d known I couldn’t save him.

Only, I didn’t think he was unsalvageable or unworthy of the effort to reach him. If Knox could love his dead wife as fiercely as he had before he discovered the truth, what would it be like to have his love when there were no lies in the way? He gave every part of himself when he cared deeply for someone. He’d proven that by remaining faithful to a woman who hadn’t enjoyed his bed. He’d been an amazing father and had fought to save the boy he believed was his child. They had been doomed from the start and nothing he did could’ve stopped the train wreck set into motion by one petty-as-fuck goddess who had been told no, but he never faltered.

Silently, Knox moved closer to the barrier, placing his hands against it as it crackled and buzzed in warning. It had to hurt, but he smiled as if he found the pain soothing. He pushed against the invisible shield, and I lowered my gaze to the rippling muscles of his abdomen. Knox had been built to please the eye, and since it hid me behind the illusion, I appreciated the view without the guilt of Knox knowing I was staring.

Reaching over to the shelf beside me, I plucked a volume from the catalogue I’d been scouring through and turned back to Knox. Keeping him in my sights, I padded over to sit in one of the cozy sapphire-blue chaise lounge chairs. After adjusting the pillows, I relaxed while Knox continued to probe the barrier for any weakness he could find.

My need to find answers was warring against my desire to watch the male like some wild animal in his natural habitat. I shivered with need, and a blanket dropped from thin air. I smiled, knowing the library had assumed my response was from the chill instead of lust, and tugged the blanket over me. This place was a blessing, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt for stealing half of it from Knox.

“Aria,” he whispered, barely above a breath.

My stomach somersaulted, and a weight settled on my chest at the simple slip of my name from his lips. His sinewy muscles bunched in his abdomen, and he tilted his head with his ear pointing upward, which caused my heart rate to jump and then race. Quietly, he flicked a finger, revealing a razor-sharp nail. He pushed it into the barrier, which flexed under the pressure but grew firm again the moment he dropped his hand.

I sat up, placing the book on the chair, and watched Knox with unease. He inhaled deeply, smiling wickedly as his gaze turned black as midnight with fiery-red embers floating in it. Again, he pressed his claw into the magic wall separating us. The barrier fixed itself faster this time, and I felt the library tense, waiting for the confrontation.

“I can smell you, Aria,” Knox uttered. “You’re either staring at me or you just left. I think you’re here, right in front of me, though, watching. I can scent your fear and excitement. What has you so on edge? The fact that you know I will catch and cage you, or that I intend to fuck this need you created within me out on that tight body of yours?” His husky tone sent chills down my frame as he shifted his gaze over to where I sat. “Say something, Little Monster. Talk to me, please.”

I’d remained silent every time he’d done this, despite craving Knox in the worst way, because I would not let him punish me anymore. I’d allowed it before to get what I’d needed, but no more. Sure, I’d found peace within the violence we exchanged in bed, and maybe I was a masochist for wanting more, but that didn’t mean it was right. I deserved to be respected more than that.

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