“I know who he is,” I swallowed, holding Knox’s damning stare that told me he intended to replace his mark, violently.
The male’s mouth curved against my shoulder, and Knox stepped back, lowering his head as fiery embers burned in his gaze. I could feel the violence he wished to inflict on the male holding me. His power slithered through me, and I wasn’t sure I would survive both men sending power into my body at once.
Even with the male behind me, my eyes refused to leave Knox’s gaze, knowing he was the more deadly of the two. The creature’s hands lifted, cupping my breasts, his wings enveloping us, and he laughed at the sound of the low, growling purr that exploded through the barrier. His thumbs traced over my erect nipples, sending awareness pulsing between my thighs.
“I didn’t call you here for this,” I muttered, turning to stare into eyes that reflected lightning within them. “I called you to take the element back, and to remove the curse from your bloodline. I came to free you, and to take the magic from this realm into my soul. Not so you could mess with King Karnavious by fondling me in front of him.”
“You’ve come alone, little one. I cannot give you the power without a coven to ensure you don’t die before fully taking it from me. If you failed, my line would die out permanently.”
“I will not fail. I am of Hecate’s bloodline, and so much more.”
“Request denied,” he snorted coldly, stepping away from me as if he planned to leave. “You and your kind have been a plague within this world. You’ve taken and taken until there was no other choice but to do as your whore of a mother demanded of us.”
“Grandmother,” I corrected icily. “The blood of the firstborn witch resides within me, and something else. My power comes from the Nine Realms, not from other witches. I am strong enough to hold the power alone. The power of the Hecate line is within me to ensure I live to house it, guaranteeing my survival!”
“If you failed, the cost would be your life and that of my children, child,” he snapped loudly, causing lightning to pulse through the field, his eyes and hair igniting, and his wings vanished as if they’d never truly been there at all. “I won’t let you put my people in danger of extinction at the cost of your impending failures.”
“I will not fail,” I hissed, glaring at him. “You have no choice but to do as I bid! I am of Hecate, born of her daughter. I will take back the magic fueling this world, showing them what this place will be without the magic that holds the balance. I have slaughtered thousands of witches in the little time I’ve been here. I will undo the evil the witches have created, and I will free this world of their hold. However, I can’t do that without the power you and the other Keepers of the Elements, hold.”
“You think you are strong enough to hold my power? I am three thousand years old, and I almost failed to house it for Hecate. You’re a child, untested and untrained.”
“I am Aria Hecate, and I intend to rattle the Nine Realms!” I shouted as the castle beside us began to rebuild from the shambles I’d rendered it into during battle.
The army outside the barrier started floating in the air. All except for Knox, who peered over his shoulder. He turned his angry glare back to me as he lifted a brow with silent question smoldering in his stare.
Chapter Seventeen
The creature looked right, then peered left before he smirked wolfishly, stepping closer, touching my face to brush his thumbs over my lips. I raised my hands, and the entire castle creaked as it lifted from the ground. His lips tipped into a grin, and he grabbed my hands. That would have prevented a normal witch from casting or holding a spell, but it didn’t stop me.
The creature narrowed his eyes as he brought my hands to his face, slowly studying them. He pulled me against him, claiming my lips in a sinful kiss, producing a moan that escaped me. When he pulled back, his eyes slid from the castle to the men, still floating in the air.
“You’re not of Hecate, Aria. You’re of them. You’re… very special. Your father must be very proud of the little monster he helped create, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know who my father is,” I admitted breathlessly, swallowing hard as heat rolled through me.
Knox’s scent was overpowering, pushing the other away, even from outside the barrier. He forced my attention to him. Midnight skies had replaced ocean-colored eyes, and the fires burning within them threatened to consume me. His power wafted over me, bypassing the barrier to carry his scent to me, creating a mass of emotions throbbing through me.
My shoulder pulsed where the mark once was, and I wanted to beg him to replace it, to mark me again. Lips curled into a devilish grin, as if he sensed my need and approved my instinct to be reclaimed by him alone.
“No, but you will soon. Your father is very aware of you, Aria. You weren’t just something that he accidentally created. He wanted you. He’d have felt the war coming and designed what the world needed to protect against the destruction coming. Even so, only you can choose the path you will take. It’s curious, though, considering who you’ve allowed to mark your body.”
“Choose a path? How am I supposed to know what path to take? I was living a normal life until all hell broke loose, and I ended up here. My mother slept around a lot. I don’t think anyone designed me. I think I’m an accident that she wanted to erase, and she tried her best to accomplish that goal.”
“Not an accident, Aria Hecate. Your father doesn’t make mistakes. He creates solutions for what this world needs in times of crisis. Make no mistake, this world is in crisis, and you’re here to be the deciding factor on who will win the war. You are needed. Your choice of lovers, however, may cause you many problems.”
“Just because Knox gives good dick doesn’t mean he’s anything more than that. King Karnavious tried to murder the only mother I have ever had, and his dick isn’t good enough to lose my head over,” I muttered, and the male laughed as if I was delusional.
Violet eyes searched mine before he exhaled, sliding his attention to where Knox prowled outside the barrier. His hand slipped around my waist, causing Knox to snarl his annoyance at another male touching me. The creature leaned down, nuzzling his nose against my ear. Knox’s scent struck me without warning.
Knox’s power echoed through me with a deep, rumbling rattle that filled my ears, calming my response to the male holding and touching me. I frowned, sliding my gaze to Knox, purring huskily for him as his eyes heated, and a knowing smile spread over my lips.
“His mark isn’t just for claiming you, Aria. The mark on your shoulder, yes, that was a mark of ownership and a warning to others that you’re his and untouchable,” he said softly. “He didn’t just claim your flesh. He claimed your soul. The mark on your thigh, placed there by his blood magic, is deeply embedded into your soul, not even I can fully remove it.”
“I’m aware of the mark on my thigh, very aware of it,” I swallowed, unable to look away from Knox or the intensity burning brightly in his eyes. “I’m working to remove it now.”
“You can’t remove it, woman. No one can, but the one who placed it. Right now, Knox is planning to mark you much deeper than that. He doesn’t lose control, but he’s fighting for control over his beast because I merely touched you. He didn’t much like that, or that my lips brushed you, kissing your pretty mouth. Not to mention, I just ripped his mark from your shoulder by force, and you both felt that down to the very fiber of your beings. Let me show you the future, should you sway from the path he created you to take.”
“If I agree, will you allow me to take the power of your element?” I asked, watching as he swallowed hard. The tick in his jaw began slowly, and his eyes turned to angry slits as he studied me.
“Yes, but should you die, the world will turn into ashes. Can you live with that? Could you accept that knowing you would be at fault?”
“I’d be dead, so that is a moot point, isn’t it? The world is already a place of nightmares. Witches have created slaughterhouses of those who are just trying to survive. Hecate
had no business decreeing herself, the Goddess of the Nine Realms. She shouldn’t have forced the creatures to bow to a goddess who was selfish, unhinged on her best day, and a monster on her worst.”
“You understand that speaking as such is considered treason against the goddess, correct?” he countered, eyes sparkling with mirth. “You do, and yet you don’t fear her, which is troubling.”
“Speaking the truth shouldn’t be considered treason. Are you saying that I am wrong? Correct me if I am, but you’re here because Hecate placed a curse on your people to ensure you never rose again to live among the Nine Realms. You didn’t bend a knee to the Queen of Witches when demanded you do so, even though you were the king of your realm. You and the others didn’t choose this fate, nor was it justified, Taren, King of Gargoyles.”
“You know of me?” he asked, smiling as if he found me amusing.
“I made it my business to know who was wronged throughout the history of the Nine Realms by my people. Gargoyles intrigued me greatly. I knew that you were their king, and that Hecate slaughtered those following you. Those who hid in the shadows are still there, or at least those who weren’t full-blooded and died of the curse Hecate unleashed upon them and their unborn children. I knew that she cursed you and that it was not right. By taking the magic you were forced to hold, I can free you and your people. I am undoing the wrongs my bloodline has inflicted on others, or I will die trying. Go big or go home, right? I have no home, so I’m going big. Show me what will happen if I fail or stray from the path created for me.”
Taren’s hands lifted, and his wings wrapped around me once more, clasping my face in his hands as he lowered his forehead against mine.
The world spun around us, changing to darkness before we reappeared in a world of burning embers. Ashes rained down from the sky as blackened ruins covered the meadow. Fields were covered in skeletal remains, and in the distance above the rolling fields stood a castle, built from skulls.
I moved toward it, but Taren grabbed me, pulling me up against him, placing his finger across his lip. His lips brushed my neck as he turned us to follow the knights in armor the color of raven wings with the emblem of a skull, and twin ravens beside it.
Armed knights moved beside us and stopped, tossing more witches to their knees before dismounting close to where they’d fallen. My heart thundered in my chest, and I tried to step closer to the witches, only to realize they couldn’t see us. Arms wrapped around my chest, and Taren forced me to watch as the knights withdrew their swords.
“I didn’t use magic!” the witch cried, and I tried to break free, but Taren’s hand slid over my mouth as he pulled me backward, hard, holding me against his body as fear rippled through me. “I didn’t, please! I didn’t cast, nor did she. We’ve followed the high queen’s rules!”
The high queen?
Horse hooves over rotted bones sounded, forcing me to turn and gaze in the direction of the noise. A woman dressed in a black gown and armor molded to her petite form, dismounted. She reached for the sword on her horse’s pack. She moved toward the witches; her face covered by the onyx-colored visor of her armor. The sword swung without warning, and without cause, and tears burned my eyes. She lifted her mask, turning to stare at the knights as the color drained from my face, and my eyes slid to the knights.
“Place their corpses on the wall and collect the heads,” I stated, exhaling as I wiped my blade off on the woman’s dress. “Place their heads inside the palace as a warning to those who oppose me.”
What the actual fuck? Was I fucking evil? How?
The world spun around me again, and I gasped as my chest tightened. When it finally stopped moving around us, I dropped to my knees, retching onto the green grass of the same meadow. My hand lifted, wiping the bile away from my lips as I gazed at an entirely new scene.
Witches moved about, carrying herbs and cauldrons as the sun dipped behind an extensive, sprawling mountain range. In the distance, I stood with babes dancing around me. I struggled back up to my feet, turning to glare at Taren.
“You couldn’t have started with this one? Maybe worked your way up to me being the evil queen?” I snapped.
“You are both, Aria. You house the ability to become either. Which you choose will depend on you and the path you have taken to get here.”
“Which path leads to me to becoming evil? I’d like to avoid it at all costs.”
“Do you think this world needs a hero? I assure you, it doesn’t. It needs a monster, Aria. All the best heroes are villains, after all. If this world only needed a hero, King Karnavious would suffice. His intentions are pure, if not for the ill-planned path to achieve them. The Nine Realms has enough heroes who have tried to save it from destruction. You’re not the hero, little one. You’re the villain.”
“Ouch,” I grumbled irritably. “Did Knox pay you to say that by chance?” I queried before turning my attention to the future me, who laughed as she lifted a boy onto her hip.
I studied the dark hair and ocean-colored eyes that smiled up at me with love. My stomach somersaulted, and my heart clenched as the boy’s dark head leaned against my arm, placing his tiny hand over my heart. A small girl leaned against my hip, her silver hair and turquoise gaze watching the babe. I adjusted him to run my hand through her silver strands.
Taren watched me gazing at the future version of myself and exhaled. “King Karnavious is a lot of things, but not my friend, I’m afraid. Hence his reaction to my touching the woman in which he has laid claim. I can’t tell you which path to choose, Aria. That is something you have to figure out alone. Every direction you’ve taken since entering the Nine Realms has forged your path toward one of these futures. The pain you will endure. The losses you will survive. The choices you will make in the spur of the moment, or in the heat of a battle, will lead you to one of these two destinies. It is for you to decide. Now, let’s get you back so you can choose your path, shall we?”
“I don’t want to be a monster,” I whispered, shaking my head. My fingers curled into my palms as I balled my hands tightly at my sides. “Unfortunately, I think my path will lead me to the version I don’t want.”
“No one chooses to become a monster, Aria Hecate. Sometimes the world creates them because it needs one, which doesn’t make them bad or wrong. King Karnavious is wounded, and his grief and the promise he made to his wife have turned him down a very dark path. He intends to keep that promise he made to his wife, even though keeping it will destroy the only happiness he’s ever truly known.”
“He intends to use me against the witches.”
“Indeed, and he isn’t wrong. There are too many to stand against without a witch to match their power. You alone can do that. You’re needed to win his war. His war leads to one of those outcomes, which one depends on you. Can you sell your soul to the devil and dance beside him, or will you be the end of him?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded through trembling lips, but the world started spinning around us when Taren touched my arm.
“It means your paths are connected, and you were supposed to meet. How it ends is up to you, and only you, Aria Hecate. One queen will emerge, but the name she chooses to use will decide which side of the war you wage your battle. Choose well, because one ends with you buried in a nameless grave to be reborn, and the other would see you rule the world.”
Chapter Eighteen
Taren and I broke apart the instant I could manage to stand on my own. Shaking my head, I shivered as my hands lifted, warming my arms before my attention slid to Knox, the tic in his jaw hammering visibly.
I swallowed hard, sliding my eyes back to Taren, who offered me a crooked grin, noting where my attention had moved to for strength and reassurance. I hadn’t even realized I’d looked to Knox for that purpose until Taren grinned, twisting his lips. Lifting his arms, crossing them over his muscular chest, he observed me carefully.
“Are you ready, then? Or do you need a moment to tell your lover goodbye in case you
don’t survive what happens next?” he asked, studying the way I slid my eyes to Knox once more.
“No. I am ready.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat, pushing down the anxiety that threatened to choke me.
Would Knox care if I died?
Would he mourn me?
I doubted it. I’d just be another dead witch he couldn’t sleep with anymore. Knowing Knox, he’d miss being unable to cause hell on my libido, but not necessarily miss me. He’d probably place my skull in his bedroom, and skull fuck it to make sure I never fully escaped him.
Taren held out his hands, and I placed mine into his, stepping closer to his body while a frown played on his generous mouth. If I fucked this up, his race was toast.
No pressure.
Right?
Taren’s lips twisted as if he was sensing my thoughts, and he tilted his head to the side as he brought me out in front of him, forcing me to face Knox and his lethal gaze.
“You’re going to call to the land and ask it for the element of lightning. Then, you’ll call the lightning forth, and when it answers, I will push it into your soul. When I disengage, you will need to summon the lightning from the four corners. Contain it, or we die. Do you understand?”
I swallowed past the worry and the lump growing larger in my throat. “Yes.” Knox smiled coldly as power continued to slam against the barrier.
My attention slid to the witches beside Knox, adding to his power to break through the barrier that held him at bay. I exhaled, letting my gaze linger for a moment before focusing on Knox’s form, letting my hunger-filled eyes slide to lock with his.
Goodbyes were overrated anyway.
Right?
“Knox is impatient to reach you. Considering your body’s delicate position, and the scent it is currently releasing; I don’t necessarily blame him. Shall we begin?” Lightning crashed beside us, causing the loose strands of hair to float in the air as the rich scent of ozone filled the surrounding barrier.
Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 2) Page 13
