Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,107

the soft silk cape that went over my naked shoulders, completing the outfit.

I’d marry Knox to ensure he couldn’t murder my family because the tremor in my spine told me he would. I would use it as my backup plan. He wouldn’t harm them if I were his wife, forced to protect them from the High Queen of Witches until we could figure out a way to remove their magic. Considering what magic ran through their veins, that wouldn’t happen. You couldn’t remove Hecate magic from a witch. It just wasn’t possible until their death occurred.

Knox was silent while I finished placing the simple chains onto my wrist, throat, and waist. Pulling out the actual crown I’d retrieved from Hecate’s tomb, I set it on my head and slowly turned, finding Knox sitting on the bed, watching me.

“You’re not five steps ahead right now.” Knox frowned, standing to move in front of me. He stared at my crown before pushing my hair behind my ear and leaned over to brush his lips against my cheek. “You won’t escape me, woman. I won’t ever agree to let you go. You are my beauty. I may not love you, but you’re the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever encountered. Liliana was ethereal, and everything graceful. You, Aria, you’re the fire that ravages through me that I pray is never extinguished. I don’t know what it is about you, but my beast demands we claim you. That alone should terrify you because you’re wrong. My beast wants yours, and he thinks you’re the most perfect being he’s ever come across in his entire life. Lennox never acknowledged Liliana, and I wanted him to so badly that I ached with that need. You’re the only woman we have both wanted. What that means, I don’t know yet, but I want to discover it with you. I recognize it’s strange that my enemy is my perfect idea of a mate. That alone makes it impossible for me to believe you’re real. You’re too perfect, Aria. You are everything I want, and that seems too good to be true in a world of magic.”

“You’re right. I am not five steps ahead, because unlike you, I can admit that I misjudged you. I thought you’d be easy to deal with, but you’re nothing like what I assumed you’d be. No one designed me. I am real. I bleed, Knox, and I have wants and needs that have nothing to do with anyone else. We house monsters that seek to accomplish our desires. Have you ever considered the fact that while we may hate one another, our creatures could be mates?”

“No, because I bred with my wife,” Knox snorted, moving to dress in his armor. “What I am, my race, we mate once in a lifetime and create our children through that union. I don’t care what anyone else says. I craved my wife and her scent, and we created life. That means she was our mate, and I have yet to die. My beast wants yours, but that doesn’t mean he wants to mate with her, Aria. He’s a primal male, and your beast is an alpha female. Lennox likes to be challenged, and you and your creature have openly challenged him many times. Now, get your shit because it’s time to go. We’re marching a mourning party into Norvalla’s border to the Beltane Circle. If you agree to my terms, you’ll become my wife on Beltane. If not, you’ll be opening the ceremonies and keeping the first deal you made for the release of Callista.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I stood inside the keep’s doors, staring at Knox, listening as he spoke to a group of men that looked haggard and dirty from riding hard to reach us. They were exhausted, dark circles marring the otherwise bronzed flesh of their faces. Knox listened, his head moving as anger ignited, his body tensing at whatever they were saying to him. Oceanic eyes turned to me, and the entire group slid their attention to where I stood, clothed in the finest dress I owned, with the actual Hecate High Queen crown adorning my head.

He exhaled a shuddered breath, slowly moving toward me. My heart lifted to my throat as my stomach plummeted to the ground. Knox brushed his hands over my cheek the moment he reached me.

“There was an attack on a stronghold this morning,” Knox rumbled, grimacing.

“Let me guess. You think I had something to do with it again?” I snorted, watching