“They can’t speak against him, and neither can you. Amara came home, Aria. She came home, and she shut the blinds and did nothing normal. You guys used to dance beneath the full moon, hold harvest ceremonies, or chant together. She stayed in your house or inside the shop. She came to meetings, sure. She came to argue against everything we put to the vote. She wanted us to put some guy into a speed vote to be allowed in this realm, and when the others wouldn’t agree, she got angry. She slept with husbands of prominent women, and everyone knew she did it to sway their votes, and when she put it up to a vote again and got the same answer, she changed. She wasn’t just angry; she was colder, calculated, and furious at all of us. Men still came to her, though, because what was the slogan your mother used? Once you go witch, you’ll never switch?” His head tilted, and he watched me carefully.
“Something like that.” My brow creased, and I frowned, absorbing what he said. I rubbed my eyes before groaning. “I don’t understand why she would want that creature here. She knew he used her, she bitched about him and yet she continued to request to be sent back to the Nine Realms every time. She broke my leg so that when my turn came, I couldn’t go. I’d dreamt of going since before I could remember. The thing is, Jasper, she wasn’t powerful enough to bring down an alpha, not even during the weakest moon phase. Amara refused to learn to fight, and she lacked the concentration and conviction to cast alone. Unlike me, she needed the others to cast magic other than minor spells. How the hell could she have brought an alpha to his knees and executed him?”
“What if she didn’t do it alone?”
“No one else would be stupid enough to help her break through a portal, no one. It’s treason against all immortals, not to mention against the Nine Realms.”
“Aria, someone from your line helped creatures into this realm. Someone executed an alpha on your family’s altar, draining their blood into the family crypt below it. If it was not Amara, then who else would be able to do it? You and your sisters were all elsewhere, and she was the only one here.”
“Yeah, but she wasn’t strong enough to cast a spell that would break through a portal. It looks bad, I know, but Amara was kind, and she wanted a family, one who wasn’t controlled by this place. She was dating and kept serious relationships for long periods of time. That’s unheard of for our kind, you know that. She, out of everyone else, wanted to marry and settle down somewhere quiet.”
“My mother betrayed the Nine Realms, did you know that?” he asked softly, his hands pushing into his pockets. “She abandoned us and found a lover within the Nine Realms. He promised her a kingdom, and all she had to do was bring him two children from each bloodline that lived outside the Nine Realms. She agreed to his terms and started a mother’s-day-out program for immortals living in this realm. My mother took those children to her lover in the Nine Realms, where he murdered them. He drained them of blood and made her bring their bodies back into this realm.
“Eventually, Knox came, and he ended it. He told us of what she had done and who she had been with. Knox took her head, Aria. To repay the lives she’d taken, he took her head. I stood there as her blood splattered my face as his sword severed her head from her body. I didn’t believe she could be so evil, but he presented her lover to us, and all the evidence that proved what she had done. He won’t murder your sister until he is sure she committed treason. If she is guilty, she won’t go to the Void. The alphas have requested the same punishment for her. A life for the life she took.” His head bowed, and he rested his hands on his hips while a frown marred his lips.
I listened to him tell me what he knew and replay all the events that had occurred since we left this town twelve years ago. He didn’t tell me everything, and I could tell he was holding back important information. He also kept Knox out of it mostly, but every once in a while, his story would shift, and a detail would cause the hair on my neck to lift with unease.
He’d been the first man here to sleep with Amara after she’d returned to town, and he kept it from me. I could hear the jealousy in his tone as he listed the names of her lovers and noted which ones had been murdered shortly after.
It wasn’t black and white. He filled in the grays I’d wanted to know and informed me that Amara spent endless hours locked within the store we owned. She’d fired the witches who had been hired to run it immediately after returning and spent most of her time there. It explained why the house had shown little evidence of her being there.
Long after he’d left, I stood there staring at the house. The information hadn’t helped, but then it hadn’t been what I’d wanted to hear, which made it a tough pill to swallow. Eventually, I picked up the bucket and entered the house silently, working to scrub the blood that covered the floors. It gave me an escape from focusing on Knox, and the feel of his hands on my body, which had yet to dissipate.
I worked until it had exhausted me, and eventually, I hiked up the stairs, and entered Amara’s room instead of mine, staring at the empty bed. Beside it was a picture of her and me sitting on the altar outside.
I picked up the picture, staring at the eyes that smiled at whoever had taken the picture. In it, Amara’s eyes had dark shadows, while mine reflected the light. It wasn’t a reflection or result of the lighting, it was something else. I also noted something standing in the backyard—no, not something, someone. A man stood on the far border of the property, covered in shadows that made him seem as if he belonged to them. He watched us, but even in the distance where he stood, I could see the smile that curved his lips. Weird.
I set the photo down and moved out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me before entering my room and changing into a thin nightgown. It was the hottest month of summer and having no power sucked.
Chapter 20
I awoke in the middle of the night to a sound downstairs. Standing from the bed, I wiped the sleep from my eyes. Something smashed against the wall, and I frowned. The noise came again, and I started moving without grabbing my robe as I took the stairs two at a time, coming down the back staircase.
I noted the candlelight illuminating the grimoire room, and I slowed my breathing, stepping closer to the crashing sounds and staring at the back of a woman. She turned, screaming out a spell. I thrust my left hand forward, deflecting her spell from hitting me, as my right hand lifted, forcing her to hover in the air.
“What are we looking for?” I lifted a brow as I stood in the doorway, watching her while she flailed in the air. “You know that you’re in the House of Magic, and Hecate witches have no mercy, right?” I dropped my finger, slamming her against the floor before lifting it, causing her to hover in the air again.
“You’re one of them, traitor! You don’t deserve to hold the grimoires of the Nine Realms; they belong to all witches, not just the Hecate bloodline! You will all suffer painful deaths for your betrayal.”
“I have betrayed no one.” I shrugged, watching her bounce off the floor again before lifting my finger to hold her with my magic. “Who sent you here?”
“Freya has disowned you as her daughters. She told me where to find her family’s home, so I could take the grimoires and restore them to their rightful owners. She told us it was unprotected, and that you’re all worthless sluts who can’t cast to save your hinnies.”
“Hinnies?” I scoffed, laughing at her as she waved her arms helplessly in the air. “What the hell is a hinnie?”
“You little bitch, you will pay!” Her screaming cracked as she bounced off the floor again, hitting the desk, which unseated a few books and sent papers across the floor.
“You know, it actually sounds like something my evil bitch mother would do. Sending some wannabe witch into our home to take grimoires she’s very aware cannot be removed. The book you’re holding, it can’t leave the house. Period. Not even if the House of Magic is down and exposed. Here, let me show you,” I stated, turning with my finger in the air, forcing her to follow as she continued to hover, waving her arms while holding on to the grimoire f
or dear life.
The moment we reached the front door, I used my other hand to open it with magic and sent her sailing through the opening. She exploded, and yet the grimoire fell to the ground without a single drop of blood marring the leather-bound cover. I whispered a spell, cleaning up the blood before it even touched the wood and grinned wickedly.
I exhaled, lifting my stare to glare at Knox, who watched me from the porch where he leaned against a column, his arms folded over his chest and his slut at his side. I smiled coldly, lifting my fingers to slam the door closed in their faces.
Trekking into the kitchen, I fixed my mess of a hairdo and grabbed the dirty pail of water before heading back to the front room to find Knox and Regina inside the house. Regina held the grimoire, turning the pages as her hand glowed blue. I dropped the pail of water and grabbed her with magic, holding her against the wall while I held my hand out for the book, catching it without releasing my hold on her.
“That isn’t yours,” I hissed, holding the powerful grimoire. I watched her for several satisfying moments until the hold I had on my magic vanished, and a smile curved Knox’s lips.
“Play nice, ladies.”
“Get out of my house.” Dismissing them both, I moved back toward the room, housing the ancient books of spells and magic. Inside, I touched the grimoires the other witch had piled on the desk, looking around it before I whispered a spell to stack the books back in their places, only for nothing to happen. I exhaled as sweat dripped down my neck.
Bending down, I picked up the pages that had been strewn about and set them in a pile, standing to put them back into the drawer when I was grabbed and pushed toward the desk. My leg hit it, and I cried out, grasping my leg while angry eyes locked with mine. My chest rose and fell slowly with anger, and yet Knox didn’t speak while he hungrily took in the tight nightgown clinging to every curve from the sweat that coated my skin.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, little girl?” He released me, standing back to take the mess in.
“I believe I dismissed you,” I stated, turning around to open the drawer while dropping the papers back into it.
“Pouting?”
“What would I have to pout about?” I ignored him, continuing to take my frustration out on the mess while doing my best to ignore his overpowering presence.
“How about the fact that you were about to ask me to fuck you this morning, and then I scared you off?”
“No, you didn’t scare me. You saved me from making a huge mistake, probably the worst mistake of my life. I should be thanking you, but I just don’t like you enough to be that civil. You need to leave, though. Take your whore with you, Knox, and get out.”
“As of now, Aria, nothing in this house is off-limits to me, or anyone I bring into it. That includes you,” he snapped, forcing me to turn toward him.
“These are Hecate bloodline grimoires, and no witch may take them out of this house, or even look at them unless we say so. You want to peek through them, fine. She touches one, and I will make her explode, slowly, so she feels every fucking moment of it before she detonates. And, Knox, thanks again for stopping me from the biggest mistake of my life.” I exited the room and slammed the door behind Knox the moment he was out of it. It sealed shut behind me, and I smiled victoriously.
Even without the power of the house, the power of a goddess sealed the door once it was closed by one of our bloodlines. It had been sloppy to forget to close it earlier, but then I’d been tired and searching through grimoires for the blessing. It took a lot out of me since I was still drained from scrubbing every inch of the main level of the mansion.
“Night, jerk.” Chuckling softly, I took in his glare when it landed on the door as gold and silver magic locked the bolt into place. The sound of deadbolts sliding home within the door was comforting as the tick in his jaw began hammering.
“Where the fuck do you think you are going?”
“To bed, alone,” I said, not bothering to stop as I climbed the steps for the ninth time today. By all rights, I should have a banging ass by morning.
My feet touched the floor and moved through the hallway until I reached my room. I turned to close the door only to be shoved into the room hard. I hadn’t even heard him walking behind me, assuming he’d remained on the first level with his whore. Knox didn’t speak; his cold, hard eyes told me all I needed to know. He strolled in, staring me down with heat and anger building within him.
“I guess you need it spelled out for you?”
Knox didn’t respond, or maybe he just didn’t like women speaking down to him. Instead, he paced around me, walking in a circle, glaring at me like he thought it would intimidate me, so I turned with him, never giving him my back. I followed him in the tight circle until my head began to get dizzy.
“Look, I’m exhausted and just committed a murder, which takes a toll when it’s done with magic, in case you are unaware of that fact. But you’re Knox, and you know things. I’m going to bed.” He still moved in a circle around me, but where he was walking around me, I was spinning, which was fucking with my head. “Hey, it has been fun playing spin the witches with you, but some of us are tired.” He stopped, grabbing me by the throat, walking me to the bed slowly.
I trembled, staring at him as he gave a wolfish grin, trailing heated eyes down my body as he spoke. The moment he did, everything inside of me snapped tautly and hung on his every word. Oh shit. This was bad, this was really bad.
Chapter 21
He didn’t hurt me, but he let me know that doing so would be an easy feat. He pushed me onto the bed, and I stared up at him, hating him even more than I had this morning if it was at all possible. He watched me sitting back up as his head tilted to the side, staring at the thin, sheer panties I wore that hid nothing from his heated deep-sea-colored depths.
“Touch your pussy for me, Aria.”
“Like I’m going to…What the hell?” My hand moved while my eyes rounded with the movement of my hand. “The fuck?” I snapped in shock, watching my hand run down my stomach, inching toward the sheer fabric.
“You think I would put my name on you just to protect you?” He watched my hand vanish into my panties as my finger slid through the wetness his presence created. “Fuck with me, and I’ll fuck you without even having to touch you.”
My fingers slipped through my sex as heat filled my cheeks. A moan tightened my throat and fought to escape.
“Slower,” he ordered, never taking his oceanic depths from where they’d locked with mine. “Fuck your tight flesh. Slower, Aria. Don’t want you to come now, do we?”
“No,” I hissed through clenched teeth, but my finger entered my body while it clamped around the digit, and I arched off of the bed, crying out with the need for something more. “Knox!”
“Taste yourself.”
My finger pushed into my mouth, and I sank my teeth into it, smiling around it as his eyes watched the trail of blood that dripped down my chin, defiance lit in my eyes.
He smiled wolfishly, kneeling before the bed. His hands parted my thighs, inhaling deeply before he rose, licking the blood from my chin before his mouth hovered against mine. His hand lifted, pulling on my finger.
“Release it.” His tongue trailed over my lips, and I moaned as I did what he’d instructed.
Holding my hand, he sucked my finger clean before running his tongue over the wound I’d inflicted. Dropping my hand, he lowered his mouth, kissing a spot on my exposed cleavage where a drop of blood had landed.
“You won’t hurt yourself again, ever,” he whispered huskily, backing up to glare at me. “Now, since I have you here alone, where the fuck is Amara?”
“What?” Confusion entered my stare, and I shook my head as he watched me.
His eyes searched mine before he repeated his question again, causing the skin to burn where his name had been placed. I hissed, opening my mouth to tell him where to stick it, but nothing came out. Instead, my body responded to the pain, and I mo
aned before I jerked in pleasure. He narrowed his gaze, dropping it between my thighs before moving it slowly back to my face.
“I don’t know where she is, Knox.” I’d answered honestly, but then I was confident with his name on my flesh, I wouldn’t be able to lie, anyway.
“Who was her lover?”
“Kevin Kline, but he wasn’t like Calvin Klein. There was also Harry, but they didn’t last long…”
“Who was her lover in the Nine Realms?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, closing my eyes. “I don’t fucking know who he was. Only that Amara kept going to the Nine Realms because of him.”
“Do you think she helped him escape into this realm?” He stood up, peering around my tidy room before slowly dragging his penetrative stare back to mine.
“No, Amara is too weak to do that.”
“Hecate witches are never weak.” Knox picked up a picture of Amara and me that Aurora took shortly after my mother had tried to drown and murder me. In it, I didn’t smile. I wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone for a very long time after it had happened. Amara was hugging me like she could save me from the pain the infection of the hemlock-covered blade had caused if she only loved me enough. “Did you enjoy last night?” he asked, and the self-assurance in his tone tore at my nerves, which he was pulling on.
“Not at all, asshole,” I smirked, watching him turn around slowly. I punched him in the nose, smiling as the satisfying crunch of it filled the room.
He picked me up swiftly, dropping me to the floor while his hand wrapped around my throat, watching me coldly as he stopped air from reaching my lungs. He held me there, staring down at me as his blood dripped onto my face. His smile was icy, and my hands did little to budge his from my throat.
“What the fuck was that about?” He lessened his hold to allow me enough air to speak. He didn’t remove his hand altogether, but then his weight alone left me crushed beneath it.
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