Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,24

and fell as I sensed his nearness, inhaling the smell of his body.

“I do want you, woman.”

“Yeah, to use me as a weapon against those who seek to oppress you and your people? I am neither wanted nor craved by you. I am simply a means to an end. I don’t think anyone has ever wanted me, not simply just for me.” My eyes peeked open a sliver, and I found him frowning at me. “Don’t misunderstand, Knox. My family loves me very much, but I am the strongest player in their game. I know that, to them, I am also a weapon. It would be nice if just one person wanted me because I was worth wanting. Maybe someday, right? When this war is won by you or by me, and you no longer care where I am, I will find a man who craves me for who I am as a person, instead of the power within me. That would be the dream, wouldn’t it? To be worthy of one being who just wants me and likes who I am,” I swallowed thickly.

“I want you right now, Aria. I dream of the time you spent in my basement. The day you discarded your human skin and let go of those emotions and inhibitions. You shed your morals like snakes shed their skin, revealing the beast within you. I’ve seen you at your rawest, most vulnerable, yet truest self. You fought me, and I fucked you harder for assuming you had what it took to take me on. You liked it and begged me for more. You lost control, and I didn’t. You became this beautiful little monster who raged, pleaded, and lifted that sexy ass into the air, urging me forward to take what you so willingly offered. You are a savage. You wouldn’t settle for someone just wanting you. You’d want them to crave you with intensity, and fight you when that anger rips through you with savagery. Admit it, that’s why you didn’t feel shit with Dimitri’s kiss. He lacked everything you crave from me. He isn’t man enough for you, and the moment you fought him, he’d bow to you, and that isn’t what you want from a man. You want someone strong enough to bend you over and pull that hair while destroying your sensibility with every thrust into that tight cunt. You need someone that will dominate you in bed because it’s the only way your creature will allow it to happen. Just as mine demands you yield, yours demands to be earned and subdued. It’s why she fought me before letting me fuck her.

“You’re just like me, Aria, whether or not you like it. We are monsters clothed in a package that eases other’s fears because if they ever looked upon us in our truest form, we’d feast on their bones. You and me, we’re not created for dreams. We’re created for nightmares, and we’re okay with that. We’re smart enough to know that dreams are sweet whispers of promises that never happen or come true. Nightmares are what people fear most, praying they never unfold into reality. You never forget a nightmare because they haunt you forever.”

I swallowed, placing my palm flat onto the floor as a portal opened beneath me. His eyes narrowed to slants. I lifted my head, smirking at him.

“That’s where you are wrong. I am someone’s dream, and you’re my nightmare, Knox.”

Passing through the portal, I landed in a field of soft flowers, peering around the space before I moved through the long grass toward the woods. I was exhausted, but that man was frustrating and tiring me out on purpose.

His eyes mocked me, forcing me to hear what his lips didn’t speak. He’d taken me right back to that basement, forcing me to relive every sinful act we’d done, right down to the ones that had been painful, and yet I’d roared his name, urging him on. Some shit remained in the dark, and him getting his jollies over his time with my creature was one of those things.

Rubbing my eyes, I studied the terrain, forcing my gaze toward the keep I couldn’t breach because of their wards, barriers, and protection crystals. Frowning, I gazed around the field until I found a cliffside, knowing if nothing else, I could catch enough sleep inside before the sun rose.

Chapter Eight

Hands grabbed me, yanking me up from the cave floor where I’d found respite from Knox and his men