Page 97 of Crown of Chaos

“You and those like you fuel us with your hatred and force us to rise stronger and more determined to fight against you. We are the witches who’ll never burn, and I’ll set fire to anyone who thinks to light a match against us. So, go rattle for someone who fucking cares because that person is no longer me. I am the reigning queen of chaos, and my throne is the ground in which you buried all those who were deemed not good enough to live.” Shrill cries exploded, beginning in the stronghold’s bailey, and my lips slid into a cocky smile. “Do you hear that?” I whispered, canting my head as screaming continued within the castle walls. “And so it begins.”

I turned toward the stronghold, which looked like an anthill that someone had kicked. Men were rushing all along the battlement, frantic and disorganized. The wind carried the rich, coppery scent of blood across the valley, and the wet sounds of death ripped through the darkening night. The dead had breached the chapel, and I’d wasted enough time on disabling the runes and bypassing their witch’s bullshit nulling spells. At least it sounded as if the enhancement I’d used on the ones who still had all their body parts was holding, which was a win in my book.

“Ding-dong, the witches have come calling,” I announced in a singsong tone. I laughed, watching as men began jumping from the battlements, only to die as they slammed down on the earthen floor. “Do you still think monsters are born, or do you finally agree that wars and those who start them create monsters?” I asked, turning back to Knox.

Beneath the stronghold there was an extensive network of tunnels that were likely intended to be used to escape should anyone ever lay siege. Ironically, I’d used them against the denizens in the keep. Removing the runes had been easier than I’d thought, which allowed the army to breach the tunnels and follow the glowing tendrils of magic that used to lead them to where I needed them. The best thing was the weapons my undead army now wielded were the stores the lord had stockpiled in the passageway to keep from corroding in the salty air. The army had flooded out through the chapel, sweeping through the bailey and courtyard to prohibit the army within from seeking to escape through the portcullises.

Of course, I was preventing them from just slaughtering the entire place. They fought only those who moved against them, while dispatching those who rushed to the wall, intending to fight us. No children would be harmed, as the spell I’d cast on the army prohibited it, keeping my hands from being covered with more innocent blood.

“You’re not strong enough to do this,” he whispered. “Don’t do this, Aria. Hecate won’t hesitate to end your life. Do you hear me? Don’t add your name to my ghost. Please,” he growled, pressing a palm against the barrier.

“Like you’d fucking care? Go marry your fiancée and make whatever fucking life the council demands of you, Knox. Don’t worry about me. Theyliterallycreated me to be a sacrifice so they could take my powers. I’ve made peace with what can happen here. But, for the record, I’m not the asshole who fucked this up. You are. I’m petty enough to call you out on it before I finish this.”

“Aria, stop!” he demanded, but I kept walking. “Fuck! Get this thing down, now!”

“We can’t,” Sabine whispered thickly. “She’s more powerful than all of us combined.”

“Aria, please?” Kinvara begged.

My feet almost faltered, but I managed to keep going, chin tilted in defiance as I ignored their pleas. Knox argued with Aurora and the others, and I blocked that out, too. It was time for me to summon the keeper of the wind element, and if I allowed them to keep splitting my focus, it may end up being the last thing I ever did.

I’d constructed this plan, and while I wasn’t certain it would work, I was praying it would. I knew that the moment I touched the element and called forth the keeper, Hecate would know. I’d spent several days pulling enough magic for me to unleash at the event she showed up, but I really had no idea if it would be enough. I wasn’t sureanyamount would be enough to handle what I intended to do. But, with a little luck and whole lot of praying, I might survive this shit show long enough to meet my father, right?

Chapter Forty-Eight

The screams had tapered off, and the plumes of smoke were spiraling high into the air. It created a foreboding backdrop that had my lips twisting into a wicked smirk. The army behind us stood in silence while listening to my undead slaughter the ones hiding inside the stronghold.

I’d observed the fight through the eyes of the undead, switching between several to see what was unfolding within the barriers. The group I’d sent to sweep the village and castle for innocents moved quickly. They’d done a good job of moving them to safety or ensuring they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. Not all would survive the night, but I was trying to spare as many as possible.

Men rushed back and forth, fighting and dodging the army that had swarmed in through their hidden tunnels. Every exit—save for the main gates—was blocked, and those with blood on their hands were being dispatched easily.

The castle was handled, and now came the hard part.

About a month ago, Esme and I had taken a trip to visit Hecate’s tomb.

Inside it, we’d found the real Liliana, and I’d slowly examined the meticulous way they had placed her and presented on the altar of magic and rebirth. It had been right there the entire time. I’d, of course, dropped Liliana’s remains off inside the library with a note for Knox. Then I’d spent hours looking over the vast knowledge the library held about Hecate and her daughters.

The library had supplied books, one after another, as I’d lounged about, kicking back beside Liliana’s lifeless corpse. If the lore in the Library of Knowledge was correct, I would need to lock her in the body she currently inhabited, which meant I needed the real one to show up here. If it was her true form, I’d know it by the barrier around her body. It was a thick layer of protection like the barrier holding Knox and his army back right now. It had to be removed, and I had to lock her into the body it protected. If I could do that, it would prevent her from healing or her moving into another, more powerful body. When her daughters had tried to seal her away, they had actually sealed Liliana’s body in Hecate’s place without knowing it.

I wasn’t ignorant enough to believe that I would succeed where Aurora and Freya had failed, at least not yet, not today. But I hadn’t come here with that as my plan. I just had to be strong enough to best her in combat and seal the bitch inside the body she had been born with, which was weakening and needed a constant flow of power and magic to maintain.

I knew she was weakening because the number of witches within the Nine Realms was dwindling. I’d ruined her continual feed of magic when I’d fractured the flow and taken lightning. I’d fractured it even more when I took water. Sure, it fed her power still, but not as much as her greedy soul needed to be all powerful, and that was more than anyone else had ever achieved.

My stare slid over my undead army, and I tried to pick out where my girls were hidden. All but one was invisible amongst the sea of black cloaks. Avyanna’s horns were too distinguishable, but I’d loathed the idea of asking her to cut them just to fit in with dead creatures.

As assured as I could be that they were safe, I turned to Knox, who was still watching me. Worry etched his face, and dark circles marred the skin beneath his ocean-colored eyes. At some point, he’d peeled off his chest plate and started his ceaseless pacing. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white, his breathing was erratic, and tension rolled off him with every step he took.

In another lifetime, we’d have been happy. I needed to believe that. I wanted to think that we could have loved one another and done things normally, even if the idea of dating him seemed unrealistic. It was because of that pathetic scrap of delusion that I also hoped Knox knew that Aurora intended to end his reign. She wanted his throne and had already proven she was willing to do horrendous things to achieve her goals.

The sight of Kinny’s hands pushing against the barrier and the tears rolling down her cheeks made me pause. Only, she had betrayed me as surely as the others did, so I allowed my attention to slip past her. The others had huddled around her, but Callista was missing. Asking them would be useless. They’d just feed me whatever lie served their purpose.

Staring at the vacant road that cut down the middle of the field, I shivered violently and silently whispered prayers to any god or goddess willing to hear my pleas. If I messed this up, I would leave the Nine Realms in the hands of a petty, sadistic, murderous goddess who enjoyed being evil.

If I died here tonight, I wouldn’t get the chance to know love or see those I cared for again—not in this lifetime or the next. No one would orchestrate any rites or blessings to move my soul into the next lifetime to be reborn. If Hecate showed up and ended my life, it would be permanent. So, I had to believe that, even if I didn’t have the power to end her, I had enough power to bind her.

That decided, I lifted my hands before placing my palms toward the ground and ripped the keeper of the wind toward me with my fingertips and then immediately released it. A loud, unsettling rumble rushed through the meadow like an earthquake, and my lashes dusted against my cheeks. Shouting began and then turned to panic when they felt the power rushing through the earth, disturbing the being hidden deep within the ground below. An ivy-colored altar rose, shining with green jewels embedded in the stand. I didn’t approach or move a muscle closer to it as her power slithered through the clearing, searching for me.

The wind turn punishing, whipping against my face and causing my eyes to water. The hair that came loose from the braids thrashed against my cheeks hard enough to leave red welts. People on the battlements screamed to the army behind us, pleading for mercy.

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