Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,102

sat me on the bed, cupping my cheeks, and staring into my eyes. “I’m sorry, Aria.”

“You didn’t kill them,” I whispered on a soft cry I couldn’t prevent.

“No, I didn’t. But I knew she would make a move for you. I failed to predict that your love of the children would be where she struck against you. I declared you high queen and didn’t consider the lengths she would go to hurt you. For that, I am sorry. Crawl into bed. My men will be in soon to place smoky quartz and other crystals around us for protection, and I’d rather them not see you like this.”

I nodded, staring at him as I lifted on my feet, kissing him chastely before I moved onto the bed, crawling beneath the covers. Knox stripped from his wet clothes and moved onto the bed, wrapping me up in his arms. He continued to purr softly against my ear, easing the pain of the loss, even though the moment he stopped, that pain would return.

“Who could be so evil to use children to send a message?” I whispered, and he snorted.

“Witches,” he uttered, tightening his hold on me. I started to turn around to argue that not all witches were evil. “In this world, you never show your weakness to your enemies. You love no one or anything because it is the first thing they strike against to hurt you the deepest. The high queen watched you singing a beautiful song to a babe and discovered your weakness. If she saw what I saw, Aria, she saw how much you care about the children of your race regardless of their bloodline or stature. She watched you having a water fight with giggling girls and boys and singing to a babe of lesser blood, and she struck hard and fast against you.”

“I showed her a weakness, and she used it.”

“Just as I loved my wife and son and got them killed for allowing others to know what they meant to me. Love is a weakness. You can enjoy someone, and you can use them. But loving them makes them a target. You never allow your enemies to think you have any feelings for anyone other than to use them for your cause.”

“Anything or anyone I fall in love with would be cursed. You would kill them or torture them while you fucked me in front of them, as you promised. And if I loved you, the high queen would move against you.”

“I can hold my own against her, Aria.”

“It’s disturbing that you didn’t argue the first part, Knox.”

“I can’t argue the facts or my own words.”

Knox’s men entered the room to place the crystals, and he rattled in a low warning. The sound soothing as mine echoed, reinforcing his without me having to think about it. It was as if the creatures within us were warning the other men together. Knox chuckled against my ear, noting it as well. Once the men exited the room, we purred together, my eyes growing heavy as I fought sleep, still filled with grief.

“Has anyone ever refused to follow your orders, Knox?” I asked into the silence of the room.

“Not and lived, Little Monster,” he mused. “No one except you, and you fight me. I find I enjoy battling you in more than just the bed. You challenged me when no one else would dare.”

“I’m going to kill the high queen, and I’m going to do it with the entire world watching.”

“We’re going to kill her together because you’re not strong enough to do it alone yet. Together, there would be nothing strong enough to oppose us.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I awoke to my body being ravished and consumed by an inferno of heat. I arched my back, lifting my need to the mouth, licking me awake. Fingers pushed into my body, building a sultry moan in my lungs that slowly escaped. I could not get Knox deep enough into my body to sate the burning need he was setting ablaze.

I dropped my knees apart, fisting his hair, knowing that when I got near, he’d pull away and leave me edged on the never-ending cliff he’d had me dancing on now for weeks. Knox chuckled against my sex, devouring it hungrily while I rode his face. I whimpered louder, using his hair to direct him as the orgasm slowly built within me, begging to find release.

The noises he made were sexy, that of a starving beast unable to get enough of what