Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,105

could sense entering her, and instead, she’d let it in to quiet the pain.

My eyes slid over the men, and I swallowed down the nervousness at letting them get too close while stuck in my memories. Slipping further into the shadows, I watched sharp sapphire eyes slide to where I hid within the shadows, outside of where they could sense my presence.

The cage moved closer, and I winced at the pain etched on the silver-haired witch’s face. Even with her eyes closed, agony etched her delicate features in a pinched tightness. Almost as if within her mind, she was living inside a nightmare.

I knew that pain intimately. I’d sold my soul to stay close to my sister. My body was used viciously by cold-bastards who got off on hurting us for fun. Whatever it took, right?

I felt a connection to this woman’s pain, and I hated her for it. I hated that I felt anything for the woman since her life could release Julia’s from the nightmare she lived at Ilsa’s bidding.

The man with sapphire eyes paused, canting his head on his large warhorse, peering right at me. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I fought the sudden thundering of my heart as it thumped wildly in my chest. Eyes that bespoke of fire slid over my body, and I went completely still, staring into their promise of passion and power.

Someone up the line spoke, and he turned back toward the male with platinum hair and amber eyes, who slid his golden gaze toward me and frowned. The larger of the two males nudged his mount forward, and something touched my shoulder.

Spinning toward the hand, I frowned at finding Esme there, watching me. I vanished without warning, unwilling to deal with her or her group of rebellion leaders today. I appeared outside the palace on the rolling hill filled with crumbling graves and crude gravestones.

“You’re not making it to the palace to tell your master what happened,” Esme snapped, appearing before me.

“Get out of my way,” I warned, pulling power toward me.

“You fire at me, and I’ll be done with you, Soraya. I know you think Ilsa will allow Julia to escape, but she won’t ever allow her to go free. You and I both know that. Come with us and help us. We can make a difference together!”

“By doing what? Pretending what I do fucking matters? You and I both know that unless you find someone much stronger than Ilsa, you’re only stalling the inevitable from happening.”

“I found someone stronger,” Esme argued, lowering her voice as guards passed by the road above us.

“Like the last one? Or maybe like the one before her? The corpses of your so called hero’s now swing from the walls inside the palace, Esme. I know because I pass their rotten bodies every day. I enter that blasted place to see my sister, who remains trapped in her body filled with darkness.”

“I know you think Julia is in there, but even if she was, you can’t remove the darkness. No one can! Julia is gone, and you need to face that fact! You and I both know that she’s lost, Soraya. You can’t save her any more than I can save my sisters. Once they succumb to the darkness, they’re gone. You know what Julia went through, and why she took that darkness. She was sweet and pretty and didn’t stand a chance in this world. They never allow those types of girls to live long. The smart ones got out and hid, and yet you couldn’t let her go. It’s understandable to want to save our bloodlines, but think about this, there’s a reason they’re rotting within their bodies. They’re already dead.”

I lunged, slamming my fist into Esme’s nose before she could deflect it. The crunch of bone meeting fist was satisfying, and yet the pain her words created within me caused hot tears to prick my eyes.

“I will do whatever it takes to free my sister. Unlike you, mine didn’t get out in time.”

Esme snorted, her violet eyes flashing with the pain we both felt at reliving the memories of the first few weeks of Ilsa moving into this place. Her dark head shook silently.

“I lost my mother, and both brothers, Soraya. I lived the same horrors. Ilsa’s soldiers held me down and raped me until I wanted to die. Do you know how many men can fit into one woman’s body? I do, vividly. I watched them slit my mother