Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,55

sounding as if he was inside my head. “Enough. It isn’t worth your life, Little Witch. You’re killing yourself.”

“I will not fail,” I mumbled, lifting my hand, turning to stare in the opposite direction. A coppery tang filled my mouth, and I spat blood onto the ground as everything within me demanded I stop. “I can’t fail,” I implored, speaking to the land more than myself or even Knox.

“This is madness. You aren’t strong enough to take what Taren holds. Listen to me! You’re going to die if you continue. Let it go. It isn’t worth your life.”

“You’re too late. If Aria stops now, she dies,” Taren chuckled darkly, the smile on his face sinister.

“If she continues, she dies, King Oleander. You knew that when she offered to hold the power, didn’t you?” Knox accused, his eyes darkening with murderous rage as I swayed on my feet.

“You killed my wife and took my sons away from me, King Karnavious. Did you honestly think I’d allow her to live knowing you marked her for your own? You want her to live? Free my sons from your binding oath, and I’ll help her. Refuse me, and you’ll watch her die. I’m willing to let my sons and my race die with Aria, rather than them living one more day as a slave.”

My attention lifted, locking eyes with Knox, realizing my error. Knox had gargoyles in the library, ones that listened to his every order. Gargoyles were enslaved by a binding oath, or their oaths were given freely as they craved purpose. Very seldom was it the latter.

I wasn’t stupid enough to think Taren had willingly helped me. He’d been forced to show my paths because gargoyles helped shape the future, standing sentinel over the living for protection. It was why they guarded churches and homes. They were protectors of the realm. So, what had Taren done to force Knox to murder his wife and take his sons?

My hand lifted, and I called the power of the Nine Realms to me without warning, hearing both men gasp the moment the world answered my call. Pain rocked through me, forcing me to fight against the urge to drop to my knees as the power shattered everything inside of me.

Lifting my eyes, I smiled at Knox as a loud popping noise sounded, and my vision swam. My body began to drop forward, only for a blinding, white light to shoot from the earth, catching me before I could face plant on the ground. The light lifted me, and my body slowly floated above the crimson ground below.

“Impossible,” Taren whispered.

“She failed,” Knox growled harshly, but I could hear the worry in his tone.

My body spun until I saw the purest blue sky above me. I was suspended in the air by the power of the realm that was rushing through me. My hands dropped toward the earth, hanging beside me as my body bowed in the middle, causing blood to run down my face. Power rippled through the clearing, and I moaned, forcing my eyes to slide to the portal Aurora had just opened.

I slid my eyes to Knox. Worry burned brightly in his gaze as he ignored the others.

His expression said I couldn’t die. I wanted to laugh and tell him that I agreed with him for once. There was also somberness in his eyes, and it tugged at my heartstrings. I offered him a sad smile, opening my mouth to speak, but nothing escaped past my lips.

I exhaled a shuddered breath that caused him to wince as more blood rolled from my lips. Warmth rushed over me, along with his scent. He was offering me comfort. I reached a point in my sheer stubbornness to admit I wasn’t strong enough to achieve this task.

“Aurora Hecate,” Taren said in surprise, but when she turned angry eyes in his direction, he smiled wickedly. “Still as beautiful as always, Love.” He watched her moving toward me, his eyes turning to slits as the smile faltered and vanished from his face. “She failed, which means her life should be forfeited. You knew she would fail this task, yet you allowed a child to face me. Why?”

“You know why,” Aurora scoffed, shaking her head as she peered down at me. “Almost, Aria,” she whispered, holding her hand above my chest as power shot through me, and my body rejected the crystal shard skull, now filled with violet bolts of lightning. “You took enough to do what was needed. The