Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 2)

by Amelia Hutchins

  “I won’t ever be a queen,” I snorted.

  “You will be one day, but you will never rule. You will be the face for the people, and I will be the one who rules through you.”

  “So you’ll marry me and rule through me? You’d need my permission because of my bloodline, and that isn’t something I’d ever agree to do. Besides, Aria, Queen of Norvalla, and Queen of Vãkya doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it, now does it?” I glared at him, studying the way his jaw tensed at the idea of marrying me.

  “I won’t marry again, Aria. There’s also the fact that you could never sit on the throne to Norvalla. I wouldn’t allow it.”

  “I wouldn’t want to be your queen anyway,” I supplied thickly, watching the tic in his jaw, pulsing and straining at my words. “Nor will I steal the throne from Aurora. She will sit upon the throne, as is her right as the oldest Hecate witch.”

  “Aurora wouldn’t ascend, Aria. You know it as well as I do, that won’t happen. She’s weak of mind and too kindhearted ever to rule. She abandoned the Nine Realms once already because of fear of opposition, and she runs when scared. Her siblings are all gone, and Hecate can’t rise without a host from a direct descendant. Aurora isn’t strong enough for her mother to use. Your sister Sabine, she wants the throne, but she’s weak too. The rest are powerful, but they’re followers. You were created to lead armies into battle and built to savage those who oppose your path to the throne.

  “I wasn’t certain it was you who would take the crown at first. At least not until you attacked Bekkah. Three things rule the High Queen of Witches — the need to protect and defend her people who are too weak to manage on their own. The ability to lead her armies, and the power to destroy realms at her discretion and desire,” he snorted while studying the way I watched him silently. “You don’t need an army, but if you had one, they’d follow your pretty little ass into battle and die to protect you, Aria. You already feel the need to protect those who are weaker than you, and you also took power from the Nine Realms, which required an actual goddess to place it there. The only thing you’re missing is your crown and throne.”

  “And apparently, whatever magic mushrooms you ingested to buy the drivel coming out of your mouth. I’ve killed more witches than I care to admit since entering this shit-hole you love so much. They’ve tried to feed me to monsters and drugged me to give to men to breed my bloodline by force. I’ve been beaten, abused, and chased since the moment I got here. You think I want to rule a place like that? I told you I would clean my house, but once that is done, so am I. I’ll slip away, find a charming man who stares at me like I’m the answer to his universe. I’ll have a few kids, and live a long, boring life with him while we watch our children grow into nice, respectful adults who don’t run a reign of terror onto the Nine Realms.”

  “You couldn’t be boring if you tried, woman. You’d eat a nice, boring male for a snack. Hell, you’d probably even eat his young while he watched, just to prove you weren’t his bitch.”

  I opened my mouth before snapping it closed. Knox smiled wickedly while I searched for the words to shoot back at him, knowing he’d just pegged me right in the ass. I bristled as his eyes sparkled with victory.

  “Why do you have to piss on my dreams?”

  “I’d piss circles around you if it got my point across. You’re mine. End of discussion. There’s no ending here that doesn’t result in you as mine, Aria.” He splashed me with water, and I spluttered, lifting my hand and slapping water back at him.

  He opened his mouth, smiling, and my lips mirrored his. Knox splashed the water back at me, and I repeated it until I was outright laughing as he did the same. I lifted my hand to do it again, but he vanished.

  Peering around, I tried to sense him but couldn’t. I closed my eyes, seeing if the little magic I held could pinpoint his location, but a hand touched my face, and I looked up, finding him watching me intently before he took me down into the water.

  Sputtering, I came to the surface, looking around for Knox, and when I found him a few feet from me, I zipped with inhuman speed to catch him. Missing Knox completely, I ended up slapping my entire body into the water, coming up choking.

  I turned slowly, finding him watching me. I launched myself at him before he could move, and it sent us sailing beneath the waterfall that pelted us with water that felt more like bullets. I yelped, and Knox grabbed me, protecting me as he took us to the other side of the waterfall.

  The waterfall hurt a lot more than movies or TV shows ever made it appear. I laughed, touching my head while Knox watched me, smiling as his eyes sparkled with laughter. My breath caught in my lungs at the sight of his unguarded smile that lit his eyes with a playfulness that struck me stupid.

  Knox unguarded was dangerous because there was a side to him that was mischievous and playful that called to the woman in me. Yes, his masculinity spoke to my vagina through a direct line, but this side of him disarmed me and left me without defenses.

  “Well, that wasn’t romantic like the movies play it out to be,” I murmured, dispelling the moment that had left me uncertain how to proceed. “I can officially add flirting to the list of things I am not good at.”

  “Are you trying to flirt with me?” he asked huskily, tilting my chin. Heat pooled in my center at the look shining in his eyes. Knox, vulnerable and playfully sexy, was lethal to my senses. His smile made him appear younger, carefree, and his eyes shone with humor as his mouth lowered to mine, brushing against it softly while still holding my chin.

  His kiss was devastating, causing my eyes to close against his assault against my senses. He wrapped his arms around me, lowering them to grab behind my thighs, lifting me against him.

  Knox’s tongue found mine, and need tore through us. My fingers trailed through his hair, holding him against my mouth while we devoured one another, giving in to the pool’s magic.

  I felt Knox against my opening and didn’t fight him as he pulled away from the kiss, staring at me. He searched my eyes for permission, smiling roguishly when he discovered it. Power ripped through the cave we’d entered, and we turned to take in the rows of skulls that lined the walls.

  “Your vacation home?” I swallowed, noting the pentagrams marking their skulls.

  “No.” Knox growled as he readjusted himself away from my wanton flesh. I shivered and almost argued about him not giving us what we both wanted and needed. “That’s a tomb,” he disclosed.

  “So it is,” I agreed, slipping into the water.

  “Don’t move, woman,” he ordered, diving beneath the waterfall.

  I let my attention return to the wall of skulls, standing waist-deep in the pool. Power rippled beside me, and I turned, finding a man with silver hair and light turquoise eyes beside me. His eyes were a softer blue than the others I’d met like him.

  He swallowed, dropping his gaze the length of my body. Scrubbing his hand down his face, he lifted his fingers to snap them together.

  I shivered, peering down at the white dress that appeared on my body, soaked from standing in the healing pool. The man reached down and grabbed my hand as he smiled.

  “Can you feel that?” His watchful eyes moved over my face. “You do, little one.”

  “Who are you?” I asked softly, stepping back as he peered over his shoulder. The man vanished the moment Knox returned, pausing and lifting his nose to scent the air.

  I looked down at my naked body, frowning. What the hell? The dress had vanished with the male, and now I was left with a very suspicious Knox. My gaze slid toward the door of the tomb, held closed with magic.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked, swallowing the worry that slithered through me, knowing the silver-haired male was still here, watching me. I could feel his gaze heavy on my nape while Knox looked around, as if he, too, sensed the other male.

  “Come here.” Knox grabbed me, kissing me hard and fast before his lips brushed over the mark on my shoulder, growling before his rattle sounded. My spine arched while his h
and snaked around, running his fingers over my belly. Teeth scraped my shoulder, and I moaned at the feel of him pressing against my ass. “Why the fuck do I smell male?”

  “Because you’re here?” I squeaked and felt the vibration from his laughter.

  “I know my scent, and it isn’t the one I smell on your flesh, woman. Do you think me stupid?” he asked, sliding his fingers through my hair, turning me toward him.

  I felt the flicker of magic and lifted my stare to the door that buzzed with power. Walking closer, I paused in the darkness, noting the glowing blue light illuminating the markings on the skulls and the door.

  Glowing runes were carved above the door, written in the language of the elders. Older than any language the world knew or could decipher. I doubted even older-than-dirt Knox could read the runes.

  “What the hell is this place?” I whispered into the cavern, feeling Knox at my back as I slowly exited the pool.

  He yanked me back toward him, turning me to face him as he placed a soft, delicate blue dress over my body. Knox righted it over my thin frame, then lifted my face to his while he searched my eyes.

  “We’re not done discussing the dick in this room.”

  “I only sense one,” I smirked, lowering my attention to him pointedly. “Of course, when he’s in the room, he’s all I sense.” I swallowed, blinking at the throaty voice that had escaped.

  “Keep it that way, Little Lamb,” Knox smirked, bringing my mouth against his with a hand pressed against the back of my neck. His tongue swiped my lips, demanding access, which I gave, moaning against the dominating male who turned me inside out, uncaring that the other male watched from the shadows.

  Knox’s hands slid down my back, cupping beneath my knees before he lifted me against him, striding up the stairs that led down into the pool. The moment my feet touched the ground, a hissing noise sounded.

  I shivered, spinning to look at the wall of skulls that turned before the jaws opened and the hissing noise grew into an ear-piercing shrill. The door clicked and then slid up into the top of the cave.

  Air escaped the door, blowing my hair behind me. Power radiated from the opening, slithering over my flesh until a violent shudder rushed through me. I stepped closer. Fear wrapped around my throat and everything within me said to turn back and leave now. Knox was following me, taking in the freaky skulls that continued hissing until we’d passed through the doorway. My spine snapped to attention at what my eyes told me I was seeing.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  The entire antechamber held hundreds of crystal pillars and crystalline stalagmites. The huge stalactites on the ceiling were shaped like icicles, with colorful drops of liquid dripping from their tips. The droplets collected into a stream of water that rushed through the chamber, moving deeper into the cavern. Well, some of the water did. My eyes followed what appeared like droplets of blood that dripped, only to float in the air before it shot up toward the stalactites and vanished.

  Large stalagmites glowed along the path, lighting the way deeper into the cave. The walls were covered in writing, and white-blue words pulsed eerily to a beat that made my blood sing to hear the words. It sounded like a lullaby, seducing me, pulling me further into the cave.

  Knox grabbed my arm and then hissed as power rushed through the cave as if it would attack him. I reached for his hand, threading my fingers through his, peering over my shoulder to give him a dreamy smile.

  He was so beautiful. My lips curved into a sultry grin, and I turned toward Knox, humming to the music. He narrowed his sea-blue eyes, holding mine captive as his lips moved, yet I couldn’t hear words over the cave’s song.

  I laughed, pulling Knox to me and lifting on my toes to claim his lips as he rattled deep from his chest. My rattle echoed his with approval as I cupped his cock, growling ravenously at finding it erect and ready to destroy me with the euphoria he offered.

  “I want to fuck you,” I admitted, watching his eyes burn with a matching fire that threatened to consume us to nothing more than ashes.

  “You’re glowing, woman.”

  “With the need to be fucked hard, fast, and brutally,” I murmured thickly, the words coming out sexy and wantonly. “I want you inside me. I want to feel you in my soul, touching every single piece of me until there is no more me without you.” I watched the tic in his jaw, noting his tongue jutting out to swipe over his lips at my words.

  I released my scent, watching the muscles of his stomach tense with his own need. I smiled, leaning closer to kiss the words on his ribs, flicking his nipple with my tongue as he hissed loudly. His eyes began glowing with a vibrant color of the high seas amidst a raging storm. I held his erection in my hand, feeling it jerk as my hungry mouth craved to taste the saltiness of his cock against my tongue.

  “Something is wrong, Little One.” Knox’s tone mixed with worry as lust grazed over my flesh, tightening around my nipples to thump against my clit painfully.

  “You’re not in me. That’s what is wrong, My Love,” I whispered, watching his attention move from me to slide through the cave. When he didn’t free his cock, I pouted, which made his lips curve up at the corners.

  “Obviously, something is really wrong, Aria. You’re pouting over me, not throwing you onto the ground and fucking that dripping cunt that I can smell luring me. That’s not you.” Knox grabbed me, pulling me against him as my throat tightened. He pushed my legs apart and moved his hand to the hem of my skirt, lifting it to slide his fingers through the arousal flooding my sex. “Bloody hell, woman,” he groaned, finding my core soaked with the need for him to drink me, lapping with his talented tongue against the desire threatening to consume me. “You need to pull it back before I lose control. Do you understand me?” I rolled my eyes, stepping away from him to move deeper into the cavernous underground room.

  At the entrance, I turned to look at Knox, watching him suck his fingers clean with a smile on his generous mouth. My pulse spiked before sliding to the midnight-colored eyes that sparkled with fiery embers burning in their depths.

  “Do I taste good, Monster?” I whispered, and he smiled around the finger.

  “You taste like sin and trouble. I want to eat you until you scream my name, begging me for mercy. I fucking crave you, Little One. I crave the need to wreck you, to taste you when you come against my lips. I crave the sound of your cries as you come so violently on my cock it becomes painful because your body needs me deeper, knowing you don’t even understand why. I crave to fuck that fight out of you, to fuck the happiness you felt with us buried deeply within your tight cunt when my creature and me made you a woman.”

  My body grew flushed with need, and I purred huskily for the beast who stepped forward, sliding his hands over my hips before lifting me against him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pushed my fingers through his hair until the song stopped, swallowing past the heaviness in my head.

  “Can you hear me?” Knox asked, and I nodded while blinking rapidly. “Something is wrong.”

  “Obviously, but this is sort of hot,” I admitted, watching his eyes turn back to the startling blue that indicated he’d tamed his monster for the moment.

  “Honestly, so was your dirty mouth telling me how much you wanted me buried inside your tight body. It doesn’t change that something is making you ravenously needy, woman.”

  I swallowed audibly, and the dimple in his cheek appeared. I wanted to kiss his dimple, to memorize it with the look of happiness burning in his pretty oceanic depths that promised to swallow me beneath the storm churning in them.

  Instead, I slid down his body, narrowing my eyes on the wall. “It’s the sounds creating the song in the cavern. It’s a spell of some sort, a lullaby that calls to me. It made me shed my inhibitions and lower my guard. It’s dangerous to hear it so close to you,” I admitted, dropping my stare from the fire raging in his eyes.

  “Why? Because it made you want to fuck me?” he asked softly.

/>   “That’s exactly why,” I admitted, moving away from him and down a staircase that led into the darkening cave.

  The deeper we walked, the more the crystals pulsed on the ceiling and floor of the cave. As the cave grew wider, it forced us to follow a set of narrow stairs that led down until we reached water once more.

  The water turned to the same color as the outside pool, sea blue of the deepest, wildest depths that made me think of Knox. Walking through a narrowed passage, we emerged in a large room that held an altar in the middle of a round platform. Around the platform’s edges were five female sculptures, each one clutching a colored sphere in a raised hand. The other hand of each statue pointed toward the middle of the platform as if something had once been there.

  Each of the five different-colored spheres represented the five elements.

  Amethyst for lightning.

  Carnelian for fire.

  Moss agate for earth.

  Aquamarine for water.

  White fluorite for air.

  Around the edge of the platform was apophyllite that represented the ether.

  Swallowing hard, I moved closer to the altar as the stones ignited, and the room came to life. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and sage. I sucked my lip between my teeth, worrying it as I moved onto the platform.

  Turning back, I found Knox slamming his hands against a barrier that was glowing an eerie color of blue, preventing him from entering the chamber. His mouth opened and closed, and yet I couldn’t make out his words.

  I started toward Knox, but scrapping sounded behind me. I stepped back as more silver-haired men leaped onto the platform, observing as it turned, and the crystals sent rainbow prisms onto the floor. The moment each crystal lined up with their correlating statue, the floor opened, and something rose from beneath it.

  “I told you she could do it,” one of the men snorted.