The walls of the valley weren’t walls at all. They were rooms with altars, each one carrying the remains of yet more witches. This wasn’t a village. It was a tomb.
Stepping closer to the window, I leaned out, noting the large rocks that adorned the high cliffs that hid the village. Apparently, not good enough if Knox had discovered it and slaughtered them.
I peered up at the sun, noting how it hit the altars, creasing my brow before I turned around, only for the wood beneath me to give way. Knox grabbed me before I could fall, pulling my body against his as we both breathed hard. After a moment of panic, I frowned while sucking my lip between my teeth before releasing it.
“I’m good,” I murmured as pain sliced through my chest, where my ribs ached. Stepping away from Knox, I glared at the window ledge that had given out from decades of rot. “You came upon them during sacrifices, I take it?”
“Does it matter? This happened a very long time ago. The dead no longer care, Aria. Leave it alone. You have no idea what it was like back then. War is brutal, and often those who are innocent pay the price for the deeds of the guilty.”
I snorted, leaving him standing in the room as power slithered over my flesh. I turned silently on the staircase, staring at Knox, where his eyes glowed with red embers and extinguished so quickly that I wasn’t certain I hadn’t imagined it.
He stepped toward me, pausing as I dismissed him, slowly starting down the stairs to find a shimmering apparition waiting for me. The temperature in the house dropped, and my breath came out in a cloud in front of me. A chill rushed down my spine, and nausea churned in my stomach.
The ghost wore a purity gown, her wrists and throat dripping blood upon the floor, and yet no blood reached it. I stepped back, finding Knox right behind me, his arms going around me protectively.
Her ghostly eyes lifted to the man behind me as her mouth opened, and a shrill scream escaped from her. The volume of her scream caused me to cover my ears, holding them as she continued shrieking like a banshee.
Knox picked me up and rushed us outside, only to pause as a sea of dead witches stood around the house we’d entered. Knox’s men closed in around us as he set me down. My skin ached from the chill in the air, and I shook my head while blinking to keep my eyes from freezing open. It was as if we’d stepped into the Arctic Circle, and yet the sun shone around us but didn’t offer heat.
“They’re cursed to remain here,” I whispered more to myself than to the others. “They’ll kill us to keep this place protected.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” Knox demanded.
“Look at the markings on their heads. They carry the curse into death, forcing them to remain where their soul last lived. That is why there was so much power in the cave. This place is someone’s power source. Someone is siphoning magic from the dead and storing it for something massive. Considering the amount of magic kept in the caves, it’s someone very powerful. Possibly the same person creating the power grid in the other village,” I pointed out, crossly.
“Let’s go,” Knox growled, and the witches all let loose ear splitting screams that took us to our knees as pain ripped through us.
“I think that’s a no,” I groaned, searching through the ghosts for the head witch anchoring the others with her magic. “I told you we shouldn’t be here.”
“It’s unclaimed land, which I added to Norvalla by force.”
Knox turned glowing eyes in my direction, and I shook my head. “By all means, King Karnavious, explain that to the dead. I’ll just sit here bleeding out of my ears while you make them see reason.” He growled as my lips curled into a pained smile. “I’m waiting. Or, you can unbind my magic and let me send them on to the next life, freeing them from this place of death in which you caged them.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Blood dripped from our ears, noses, and eyes while waiting for Knox to choose between death or freeing me. I’d offered to give them a solution, and yet he procrastinated. His warriors were rattling along with him, but no one moved. After another moment had passed, Knox grabbed my arms carefully, his eyes burning with a silent warning.
“One wrong move, and I won’t hesitate, witch,” he snapped.
The cuffs slipped from my wrists, and I stood, smiling down at him as power rippled around me, sending my hair into the air. Knox stood with me, unfearful of the power slithering over him as I pulled the magic to me. I drank it into my pores as the pain from the beating lessened with the taste of magic that instantly began healing some of the damage.
“Step aside, King Karnavious. This is a job for a witch, not a warrior. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt, now would we?” I hissed, moving past him to face the witches.
The deceased witches continued to howl and shriek with cries. I started through them, moving toward the strongest witch. I rushed forward, expecting to slide through one witch, only to end up shot backward from a jolt of power the moment we collided. Her black gaze turned, lowering to me as her head tilted.
“Well, that was rude,” I grumbled, hating that I hadn’t expected them to hold that much power, let alone be corporal forms.
“You are unwelcomed here,” the strongest witch snarled.
“I didn’t ask if I was permitted entrance, now, did I?” I snorted, feeling Knox at my back. “You’re cursed to remain here, and yet you don’t belong here either. You’re dead.”
She blinked, tilting her head to the side before she scoffed, pulling an alarming amount of power to her. Her mouth opened, and she screamed, forcing Knox and me to our knees. My head throbbed, noting the others with her pausing in confusion.
“Your plan is so much better than mine was, Aria,” Knox grumbled.
I lowered my head, collecting the rattle before I screamed back at the witch, forcing my body up from the ground as my creature chuckled. Her power added to mine as she rattled through me to fill the meadow and the village until the golden sheen obsidian cliffside began crumbling as rocks slid free.
The ghost’s eyes turned to slits as she continued shrieking louder than any banshee could ever hope to achieve until another rattle joined mine. It was more masculine and absolute power that forced my hips to spread as my back arched.
Knox’s hands gripped my hips, pulling me back against him, stilling the storm his rattle held over me, threatening to release and render destruction to my body. One hand slipped around my chest, pulling me back as we continued rattling together until the witch dropped to her knees, her eyes wide with wonder.
The combined noise echoed through the valley, sending rocks cascading from the high cliffs to reveal amethyst points, larger than any skyscraper in New York City could ever dream of reaching.
My rattle lowered, changing octaves as I melted against Knox’s heat, turning to gaze into his sea-blue eyes that smiled at me knowingly.
Hell, even I could scent my need this time.
“That was the hottest thing I have ever seen, Peasant!” Greer chortled, forcing my attention to him.
Greer’s words struck me stupid. I turned, finding all of Knox’s men on their knees along with the apparitions, but where they bowed their head. Knox’s men on the other hand, looked perturbed at what we had done.
My nose lifted to the air, inhaling their arousal as Knox’s hold tightened on me. He dropped his lips to my shoulder, kissing the mark he’d made as if to remind me I was his. I could scent their aroused states, which called to my creature, making her perk up. Knox growled softly against his mark, and I shuddered.
“My Queen,” the dead witch whispered, causing my eyes to narrow.
“Nope. Not your queen!” I laughed nervously, uncomfortable with her words. I needed to figure out if the Nine Realms offered counseling after Taren’s little future walk. “I am just a girl trying to do the right thing here.” Her head dipped to the ground in a bow without a response, and I turned toward Knox, frowning. “This next part is going to be rather… dark. I have to light the sage and chant, so I’m going to need you n
ot to murder me if it affects your men. I can’t shield them and send the witches onto their next path.”
“If you so much as whisper a spell to harm them, I’ll remove your head.”
“You’re such a romantic asshole.” I swallowed hard, nodding. “Just don’t look at my head while you’re… you know. Doing things if you do end up removing it today,” I swallowed, hating that the scent wafting from him was driving me mad with need.
My body clenched minutely, and his eyes dropped to my apex as if he had sensed it tightening. A cocky smile played on his generous mouth before he nodded.
“No promises on that one, Aria.”
I shook my head, expelling a slow breath, before moving toward the largest stone altar used to do powerful spells or blessings. Once I reached it, I bent down, retrieving the stone box of herbs probably way past their expiration dates, but I had little options at this point.
I pulled out a few small glass jars, sprinkling the entire contents onto the altar before stepping back, slowly lifting my hands as I summoned fire to ignite the valley’s sage.
“Aria,” Knox warned, and I turned to peer at a house that began to burn. Obviously, they stored sage within it, or it wouldn’t have caught fire.
“Let them burn. This is a tomb that shouldn’t be left for others to disturb. If nothing remains, others won’t wish to return to it either. I need your blade,” I whispered, turning to see his eyes narrowing on me. “Cut my palm then,” I offered, holding my hand out to him.
Knox hesitated, staring at the broken skin on my wrist before reaching into his scabbard, withdrawing his sword. Candles erupted around us, sealing the circle we stood within, and Knox glared at me in silent warning.
“It’s a protective barrier to guard us against attack since we’re exposed and vulnerable during casting, which I’m sure you’re aware. Don’t worry, King Karnavious. I’ll protect you from the monsters,” I smirked, watching his lips twitch as I offered to keep him safe.
“Aria, I am the fucking monster.”
Knox response sent a shiver rushing through me. Lifting his hand as an invitation for mine, I studied it with a frown of indecision. The moment we touched, sparks tingled, and the witches rose, causing us to turn toward them as they closed in around us. They chanted, their words were ancient and of the First Witch, Hecate. Swallowing hard, I shook my head against their words. Bitches be crazy if they thought I was marrying his ass at their altar!
“What are they saying?” Knox asked, sliding his stare to mine.
“Oh, you know, things like goodbye, and that they’re thankful we’re here,” I offered with a frown, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth while still shaking my head as he studied me with a smoldering look in his eyes.
“Are you planning to marry me on this altar, Aria?” he asked, causing me to sink my teeth into my lip as my eyes turned to slits. Warmth spread through me, and I ignored it, stifling a groan at what it meant.
“Absolutely not,” I whispered thickly, uncertain why saying it created an ache in my chest. I started to pull my hand away from his grasp, but he held it tightly. “You know the first language, don’t you?”
“I know everything about my enemies, Little Lamb. I make it my business to know every detail about someone before I declare war against them.”
I shivered as he brought his sword up, slicing carefully through my palm before releasing my hand. Moving to the altar, I made a fist and grunted as pain slid through me, and the magic grasped for me, uncaring that I was weakened from my last attack.
“Aria?” Knox whispered, standing closer to purr softly beside me.
“I’m fine,” I replied, counting the blood droplets before it began flowing too fast.
I swayed on my feet and relaxed against the body that stood behind me. Knox offered me silent strength, which I wasn’t sure he intended, and yet I still welcomed it all the same.
“You’re not fine. You’re already weakened from the beating, removing your rib, and then being stubborn to prove you’re not weak. You walked over twelve miles through a mountain pass to reach this village.”
“I made it here, didn’t I?” I asked irritably, weakening from the blood loss. “Something is wrong,” I admitted thickly, turning toward Knox as he grabbed my hand, holding it against his mouth to lick through the wound. “That was just wrong.” Knox gazed up at me with black eyes, his mouth opened to reveal serrated teeth as his head tilted, smiling wickedly.
“You taste fucking delicious.” He pulled me closer, brushing his lips against my throat. “Who hurt you? I will rip them inside out, and bring you their heart, mate.”
“Well, that escalated quickly.”
His lips curled against my neck, sending everything within me, screaming for him to continue. My hand lifted, holding his mouth to me as the chanting grew louder around us. My body heated, burning with the need for his claim.
“So willing for me, Little Mate?” he growled huskily.
His teeth brushed against my flesh, and I gasped, turning my mouth toward his as black eyes turned to blue, and Knox watched me. Anger slithered over my skin as he studied me, reacting to his creature.
“He’d destroy you, Aria. He’d savage your pretty little throat and drink your blood as you bled out in his arms. Remember that. Finish the fucking spell and stop acting like a…” he paused, and I stepped back from him shaking off the haze of lust his creature had sent me spiraling into.
“A whore?” I asked, glaring at him.
“Like a feral bitch in heat, because my creature is becoming harder to control where you are concerned,” Knox corrected. “I’d hate to wake up to you dead beneath me, soaked in your sweet tasting blood while I fucked your corpse because he took control and murdered you in his need to savage your soft body.”
“I’m not even sure what to say to that.” I offered, moving back to the altar as he stared at me with a look burning in his eyes that both terrified and intrigued.
Whatever had just happened between us, it had spooked him. Knox had just lost control, and I didn’t know how to react to it, or him.
Smoke billowed from the cottages, along with the sage that grew naturally within the valley. I closed my eyes as the blood ignited, and the chanting changed to what was replaying within my mind.
“We do not die. Do not stand at my grave and weep for me, for my soul is now finally free. I am not there. I do not sleep. I rejoice in the freedom that death has granted me. I am now the wind that fills your sails, that echoes through the valley as it wails. I am the glint within the snow. I am the sun that feeds warmth into your blessed soul. I am the rain that grows your crops, for I am everything that feeds the realm and heals your ails. I am not here, nor am I there, for I have moved on to strengthen your air. I am released from curses of flesh. I am released from curses left. I am free of this living realm. Go now to where witches freely dwell. I am the magic that will feed the land. I am she who releases you from this place of sadness where you dwelled. Blessed be, sisters.”
I turned, staring at the witches as tears burned my eyes, watching as they turned to ash, carried with the wind that rushed through the valley.
Knox didn’t watch them returning to the earth. Instead, he watched me as tears rolled down my cheeks for the dead. His hand grabbed my wrist, carefully replacing the cuff to one before repeating it with the other as candles extinguished around us, and the circle broke.
“You cry for the dead?” he asked carefully, lifting his hands to rub away my tears with his thumbs.
“I cry because they’ve been here a very long time. I feel their pain and relief that it is finally over for them. They’re now free. I did that for them,” I said thickly, turning to look at Knox. “And the sage fucking stinks. It’s burning my eyes and making them water, asshole.”
He smiled before using his hand to hide his grin as he turned away from me. “Come on, woman. Let’s get you to the healing pool. I don’t enjoy seeing you bruised and hurt.”
Knox escor
ted me through the increasing smoke toward a tunnel built into the amethyst cliffside. The moment we crossed to the other side, I gasped at the sparkling crystal cove filled with a turquoise pool and a sprawling forest that stretched further than my eyes could see.
We entered it silently, moving over a citrine pathway that time hadn’t touched, still shining brilliantly as the sun beat down on the clear yellow stones. Once we reached the pool, I paused, shaking my head at Knox.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. My vagina is not getting in that pool!” I snapped, glaring at Lore, who laughed outright as Greer choked on air.
“You’re getting into that water. We have hundreds of miles to travel before we reach the next place to camp for Beltane celebrations. You’re wounded, and I am not watching you continue to endure pain, Aria. Strip and get into the damn pool.”
“Beltane too? Damn. You’re doubling down on the vagina mojo, huh? That is a fertility pool. You bath in it and then create a life with the blessing of the fertility goddess, and for the record, it isn’t Hecate. It’s Hora, which I do believe is your goddess, is she not?”
“Do you plan to fuck me?” he asked pointedly as he searched my face.
“No, but that isn’t the point. Accidents happen!” Growling erupted, and I shivered as shadows slithered out of the woods. “Dire wolves! Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I snapped as Knox pushed me behind his body protectively. “I told you we weren’t supposed to be here!”
“I don’t do dogs!” Lore snapped, drawing his sword as the others followed his lead.
“Aria, why would they be here?” Knox asked icily.
“Because we’re not supposed to be, which I keep saying, but what the hell would I know?” I asked, peeking around his shoulder at the pack of dire wolves. “Fuck me! They’re dead, too. Don’t kill them again.”
“Why the fuck not?” he snarled.
“Because they multiply when they’re dead. You can either chant them away or force the dire wolves to heed orders, but you can’t cut them! They multiply to increase their power against whoever hurt them,” I groaned, dropping my head. “This idea of yours to heal me? It fucking sucks balls, jerk.”
Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 2) Page 34