Page 80 of Crown of Chaos

One dropped from thin air, and I used it to dry my body off before wrapping it around me. Moving toward the barrier, I sucked my lip between my teeth and held my hand up, accepting a soft white gown, which I shimmied into it before tossing the towel into the air.

Standing in front of the barrier, I tapped my foot on the floor, preparing to forgo Ember’s plan. It was rather hard to try it when the male I needed hadn’t returned to his room since I’d grown the balls to seek him out and ask him to assist me. The song restarted, and I peered up at the ceiling, preparing to ask the library why it was playing it on repeat, but that thought died when I turned back to the shadows and found Knox sitting in his full armor with his crown sitting on his head.

“Knox,” I whispered, moving even closer to the invisible wall.

His eyes roved over me while I wondered how long he’d been sitting in the chair. On the table, right in front of him, was Celia’s decapitated head. I swallowed the urge to gag and tried to ignore the way his presence had the hair on my neck prickling with apprehension.

My hands lifted to the barrier, and I remained in place. Slowly, he lifted from the chair and moved closer to me. Knox’s eyes were rimmed with red, and there was something colder about him. Somethingdarker. My pulse jumped, but I forced my breaths to stay even and unaffected.

“Are you okay?” I whispered, afraid to disturb the silence, which was insane with the same song playing repeatedly in the room.

“Areyouokay?” he asked, watching me with a burning look in his eyes.

“Fair enough,” I answered. “No, not really.”

“No,” he admitted as he placed his bloodied hand over mine against the barrier.

The connection sent a shiver racing down my spine. Heat pooled in my belly, and I closed my eyes as he pressed his other hand against my other one. The song ended, only to start back up again, and I forced my eyes open, flinching at iciness peering back at me. There wasn’t any feeling in Knox’s eyes.

“Nice ink,” he whispered, turning to move back to the chair.

Not knowing what to say or do, and with Ember being unable to offer any explanation for his behavior, I backed up to my chair as well.

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

“I’m sorry about your cousin.” His smile was off, as if I was missing something. I frowned, but forwent asking if I had misunderstood.

Blinking calmly, I nodded before hugging my arms around my middle. I drove my attention to the fire, watching the flames kissing and caressing the log that burned within it as I searched for something to say. It wasn’t a problem I’d ever had with him because we’d always been arguing, which made choosing words easy. Daggers and insults were easier to find than words to ease grief.

“Did you murder an entire pack of alpha shifters today?” he asked.

“I did,” I confessed, moving my gaze back to him. “They chased us, and I thought you were with them. We wouldn’t have made it, so I allowed myself to be captured so my companions could get free. At first, his scent and his touch felt like yours. Then he spoke close to my ear, next to your mark, and I heard it . . . the subtle difference in his tone. I told him I couldn’t wait to make more sons together. He promised we would. So I murdered him and the others closest to me.”

He flinched, standing to return to the barrier. I rose, moving toward him as if drawn by an invisible thread. He pressed his hand against the barrier, and it was my turn to push my palms against his, craving the subtle contact. I stared at our hands, marveling at how large his were but how tender they could be when needed.

“There were over one thousand men there to murder you, Aria. You could’ve fucking died. He’d have ripped out your fucking throat and mounted your head on his wall like a trophy kill. Stop being a fucking lamb and start thinking like a lion,” he growled.

“I know,” I replied, frowning when he merely continued watching me.

“Why did you really surrender?” he probed. “Because you weren’t going to make it or because you assumed I was the one about to capture you?”

“Ember said that eventually, we’d become crazed if we didn’t do something about the situation.” I swallowed past the embarrassment I felt admitting my predicament. “She informed me we could either find you in the height of our heat cycle or we could do something else to hold off the worst of it for a while longer.”

His cheek jerked as he stared at me. Knox didn’t speak, but his persona dared me to explain whatelsewe could do. Slowly, he started undoing his armor, and I hungrily stared at him as he stripped out of the chest plate and set it aside. His gaze never left mine, but he also removed nothing else. His bloodied hands dropped, clenching at his sides, waiting for me to continue.

“She said we could trick our body into thinking it was getting what it needed,” I admitted hesitantly, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth before releasing it. “That if we orgasm while we could scent you near us, then we didn’t need to...” My words died off, hoping he would fill in what I’d left unsaid, but he offered me nothing. “Actually do it.”

“You want me to stand here and watch you fuck yourself? And you want me to use my hand while you do so?” he asked cautiously, noting the way my gaze slid to Celia’s lifeless head, which judged us through unseeing eyes. The bitch couldn’t even stop staring at him in death, apparently.

“Yes?” I asked nervously.

“No.” He snorted. “If you need to get off, Aria, do so.” He lifted his hand to the barrier and I watched in horror as his nail sliced through it. The entire wall rippled, revealing just how thin it had become. “I will not sit here and torture myself with being unable to touch you. If you want me to fuck you, you can walk through this damn barrier and ask me to soothe that ache of yours. Be woman enough to own your needs.” His gaze slid over my face before he stepped back. “You want it? Come and fucking take it yourself, Aria Primrose.”

“It’s Aria Prometheus,” I corrected.

“What the fuck did you just say?” he asked in a tone that sent shivers rushing down my spine and racing to my toes. Had it been fear or disbelief?

“My name, Knox,” I explained hesitantly, “is Aria Primrose Prometheus. It was the name I should have been born with.”

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