Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,34

if you keep ignoring the dangers of the Nine Realms. You’re wasting my fucking time chasing you instead of doing the job required of me.”

“So stop chasing me and go handle your shit. I didn’t ask you to stalk me, asshole. Besides, the next time you see me, I will be beyond your reach, and you will watch me reign down hell upon the world, unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

“Never going to happen,” he seethed, letting his angry stare settle on my lips before his tongue snaked out, tracing his.

“Eventually, you’re going to tire of watching my ass walking away from you.”

“Not possible. I enjoy your tight ass, and actually like watching it,” he returned, trying to keep me close by, distracting me. I snorted, drinking in the sight and smell of Knox before I exhaled and stepped away from him, tossing him the bird over my shoulder.

Chapter Eleven

I entered the portal to my sanctuary, positioned outside of Hecate’s tomb before Knox could respond. The books I’d come for were securely in my pack, and they held all the information I needed to accomplish my task. It was time to put my money where my mouth was. The only thing I needed to do first was alert the others that I would be silent for a few weeks, gaining power and strength to do what was required.

It was time to prepare for the rising of a new House of Magic and put down roots in this cold, dismal land where even the fog would freaking kill you. So far, I’d seen shit that most horror shows couldn’t even dream up, learning that I’m stronger and more resourceful than I thought. Still, I needed to be cautious as I’d felt something wicked watching me often from within the shadows since arriving in the Nine Realms, observing my weaknesses and strengths, learning me.

I spent months figuring out the location for the next fight, and now it was time to gather my strength and power within the sanctuary where no one could track or reach me. It would give Knox a sense of nothingness once I vanished within my refuge, but it would allow me to sleep and prepare for what was coming next.

If I actually survived the next battle, I’d be stronger and more equipped to face him as well. I would do what no witch had ever done before and lived to tell it. Swallowing unease, I smiled as arms wrapped around me from behind.

“My Sweetest Girl,” Aurora whispered, kissing my cheek. “How I have missed you. Did you find the books?”

I turned, smiling. “Of course I did. You taught me well.”

“Then, let’s prepare for battle, shall we?” she asked, and I swallowed hard.

“This is my fight, and mine alone. You can come once I have obtained what we need. I can’t focus on the battle if I am worried about you and the others, Aurora. Knox will be on my trail the moment I step out of this sanctuary and back into the Nine Realms.

“I also have another problem. I allowed myself to be taken into a keep to bypass their warding spell. As I was laying siege from within, I found an odd skull and touched it. I believe it was once a phoenix or something similar. It projected me into the memory of a battle. Then, a silver-haired man with eyes the color of mine appeared, saving me from the witches that tried to harm me as I was locked in a vision of the past. Others like him appeared later in the village. They came through some form of teleport or portal that opened directly into a realm of magic. After leaving the keep, I followed Knox into a town where a mist filled with decay and husks from the dead entered the village, pulling victims into the fog and spit their rapidly decomposing bodies back out.”

“It was not a mist. It was revenants of the dead who cannot rest. It would appear to an unknown victim as a mist or fog, but it’s the souls of the damned, unable to rest until the spell holding them to the Nine Realms has run its course or the caster of such an evil spell is destroyed.”

“That’s terrifying because the moment the revenants touched my leg, I froze. I couldn’t move or even think past the fear sliding through me. I’d be added to their victim pool if my silver-haired saviors hadn’t spared me. He held magic, Aurora, identical