Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,104

am the one your beast craves, and you go and shout another man’s name while I’m literally tongue deep in that pussy. A pussy I fucking own! I made you a woman. I am the only man who knows how you taste! How your sweet body feels around mine, clamping against it hungrily. So why the fuck would you scream his name while I am devouring you?”

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” I whispered angrily, pulling the blankets around me as the door opened. Killian walked into the room, noting the tension immediately, pausing to watch us.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Knox growled angrily.

“Now, you know how I felt when you were about to enter me, and you whispered your wife’s name and told me you loved me while attempting to push into my body!” I snapped, and he paused. Killian’s mouth dropped open while his eyes moved between us faster.

“Good morning, Killian. Want to fuck me? Knox isn’t able to finish, it seems, and I need a man who wants to get me off.”

“Get out, Killian,” Knox growled, glaring at me.

“Morning, Aria. Morning, Knox. We have completed the burials, and the witches have asked to wear the mourning clothes to honor their dead.”

“The baby?” I whispered barely above a breath, struggling past the emotion that ripped to the surface without warning.

“You don’t want to know, Aria,” Killian said carefully.

“I do. It’s important to me. She was just a baby.”

He looked to Knox, who frowned, moving toward the bed to purr softly as if he was aware of how bad it had been.

“We found her remains and buried her with the other children. It wasn’t pretty, Aria. There are some details you just don’t need to know.”

I covered my mouth with my hand as nausea churned inside of me. I jumped from the bed, rushing to the bowl on the dresser, emptying my stomach violently. Tears burned my eyes as Knox moved across the room, wetting a cloth before he brought it to me, holding it out. Accepting it, I wiped off my mouth, fighting to control the imagery playing out in my head of what Ilsa might have done to the baby.

“She suffered because of me,” I whispered, hating that Knox and Killian purred. More men entered and immediately began purring, sensing my unease. “That evil bitch murdered the baby because of me. I got her killed,” I sobbed brokenly, holding my stomach that threatened to empty again.

“Aria.” Killian’s voice beside me caused me to jump. He wrapped a blanket around my naked body. Knox took it, and held it over my trembling form. “I don’t know if the babe suffered, only that it was her hand in the bag at dinner.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” I replied, turning into the heat of Knox’s body, drinking in his scent greedily to calm my frayed senses. “What are mourning clothes?” I questioned. We’d only ever lost Amara, and we hadn’t had time to mourn her loss.

“It’s a black dress that marks the passing of the dead, accompanied by a black veil that covers their faces to hide their pain.” At Knox’s words, I nodded against his chest. “Would you like to wear something similar? I have nothing like it for you to wear, but you have a black dress in your bag.”

Greer brought in my bag. His eyes filled with worry as they settled on me. My grip tightened on the blanket as the men exited, leaving me alone with Knox. He didn’t speak as I dropped the blanket, accepting the glass of whiskey he held out to help calm my nerves. I swished it in my mouth, spitting it out in the bowl.

“This is what we go through, Aria,” Knox said with a tremor in his voice that caused my chest to tighten with regret. I started to move away, but he prevented it, pulling me against him tightly. “I’m sorry that you’re getting a crash course through this world. I am also sorry for whispering my wife’s name in our bed. It wasn’t a good feeling this morning.”

“I know it wasn’t,” I admitted. “It was difficult to make you understand, though. You’re very rough around the edges, and they easily cut me. You’re used to getting what you want. I understand that being King comes with certain perks, but I am new to this world. There’s also the fact that Ilsa will target my family now because they’re my greatest weakness. What she did last night showed