Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,13

through me. Her hand lifted, touching the amber curls that hung in rivulets down my shoulders. Ilsa stepped closer, her eyes holding mine while challenging me silently. I felt the need to hold her stare as if something more was happening here.

“Hecate’s line has returned.”

“So it is rumored, Mistress,” I answered firmly, somehow managing to stay upright past her rotting corpse’s debilitating stench.

Ilsa’s scent was thick and eye-watering, like a chamber pot filled with rotten shit while surrounded by the dead who had suffered an ailment, dying before emptying its contents. Unblinking eyes held mine, searching for any sign of weakness, but I’d long ago had it beaten out of me.

You didn’t expose fear to your enemies, or those you served. Her jaw clenched tightly, unnerved by the inability to cower me before her. She turned again, staring off into the corner before nodding once firmly.

“I have a job for you, Soraya. I do hope you won’t fail me. Such brazen courage before your mistress could be grounds for punishment, but I find your strength to pretend that you’re not terrified, intriguing. Come, I would speak to you away from the ears of the other acolytes who would listen to our every word. I’m about to make you a legend, sending you to a king that has a fondness for those who have yet to turn to darkness.” She peered out the window once more.

My heart slowed, trained to hide fear and emotion since the day I’d been born, half-witch, half-shifter. When my mother refused Ilsa’s dark magic, she abandoned us, leaving me alone to raise my younger sisters. She had known her life would end at that moment, and her attempt to hide us in the Realm of Light had failed since Ilsa had conquered it, claiming it as her own.

I swallowed, hating that Ilsa held power over me. My eyes slid to the line, running briefly over my youngest sister, Julia, who stared forward, eyes pooling with darkness. My heart clenched, knowing that I would lose my sister unless I found a witch stronger than the one I served. Steeling the emotion her emptiness caused me, I plastered a wicked smile on my lips, turning to look at Ilsa.

“I am yours to command, Mistress. Becoming a legend sounds wickedly nice. How may I please you?”

I’d be whatever Ilsa needed to remain close to my sister, even if I lost my soul in the process.

Chapter Five

Aria

My eyelashes fluttered as I lounged on the stone that overlooked the large hot springs in which Dimitri bathed, washing the blood off of his hands and arms. He wasn’t ashamed of his body in the least, or offended that I stared at his ass with what he assumed was hunger. Instead, I compared it to Knox’s masculine, perfectly muscular form and found Dimitri lacking.

“You could join me. You know you want to,” Dimitri chuckled, and I snorted, rolling my eyes toward the vivid blue sky above me.

Birds sang in colorful trees, snatching insects out of the sky every once in a while when they’d get too close. The forest we had hidden within was lush with greenery and colorful flowers that moved around the trees, pulsing with life. I studied one bird, a smile playing on my lips, watching as the flower behind it bloomed. The flower lunged, closing around the bird, sending feathers drifting down from the limb. Shocked, I sat up, feeling a pang of regret for the bird and making a mental note not to piss off the trees with flowers.

“You do realize you’re just going to get bloody again, right?” Frowning, I lowered my gaze to the witches we’d captured in the town just outside the forest. They had murdered all the villagers and had used their corpses to create the power grid when Dimitri and I found them.

“Unless they start talking,” he muttered, nodding toward the struggling witches and their severed limbs still twitching on the forest floor.

Strolling out of the spring, Dimitri paused and shook the water from his hair, making sure I had plenty of time to notice the impressive erection he didn’t even bother trying to hide.

Moving to where I sat, Dimitri leaned over to place a soft kiss against my cheek. Since I’d saved him from certain death, he’d fought the attraction he felt for me, but it seemed harder to ignore each time we ended up somewhere together. It wasn’t hard for me. On the contrary, I easily ignored Dimitri’s scent and presence.