Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,132

or allow her more of me than to feed her basic needs. That she’s simply a means to an end for what I promised them,” Knox swallowed, staring at me as he moved past, leaving me with his men.

“Aria,” Brander whispered, touching my fingers. I closed my eyes, fighting for strength as I stepped over the blood on the ground. “Come, I’ll get you somewhere that you can clean up and get a drink before sleeping.”

“Thank you.”

We walked toward a large stone structure that sat in the middle of the sea of tents erected around the stone circles. Inside the small cabin was a single room with runes painted around the walls. Inside sat a bed piled high with clean linens and furs, and a large pole sat at the head of it for unwilling brides or sacrifices. I felt like both.

“Drink. It will help you,” Brander stated, shoving whiskey toward me. “Tell me how to make this easier on you.”

“Free me,” I answered, staring at him.

“I can’t do that, Aria.”

“He’s about to take everything away from me. If you can’t free me, then you can’t help me, Brander,” I whispered, drinking the whiskey to calm my trembling hands.

“Knox gave Liliana a child, Sven. Knox was fighting in a war for several years before they conceived Sven. He returned from war a colder, harder man—one who didn’t look closely at what was happening around him. Sven was born seven months after Knox returned. He wasn’t small. Sven was a healthy boy. He didn’t hold the gene to rattle or purr, and the land hadn’t accepted him before he began his one thousand deaths. Our children are not born early. And with Knox’s genes in him, Sven should have been consoled by his father’s noises. He never was. Liliana was weak, and when the witches cursed Sven, her first instinct was to run from both Knox and Sven. Our women don’t do that. They fight to protect their young, even if the cost is their lives. Knox called her weak and told her he wished it had been she who was cursed instead of their gentle son. Those were his last words to her. When he returned, Liliana was dead. It broke him. And I think you are opening those wounds. I also think you’re healing them, and Knox is afraid that you can make him forget the pain.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, holding my glass out for more whiskey.

“Knox is my brother, and I love him with everything inside of me. I understand your need to protect your siblings at all costs. If you can unravel what I am saying without committing treason, maybe you can find at least one thing to get out of your marriage that you want, Aria. He will not make this easy on you, because to him, he’s committing the biggest sin by wanting you. He’s betraying the memory of his son and wife, who wasn’t perfect. She was weak in mind and body. She willingly sought her mother’s witch once a month to ease her migraines, among other things. It’s the same witch who gave her the toxin that killed her. If what you said is true, and since you were beneath a truth serum when you repeated it, then give tomorrow a shot.”

“He intends to marry me and give me an entire lifetime of servitude.”

“He doesn’t have to marry you to take that throne. He doesn’t have to marry you in order to use you as a weapon. Knox doesn’t have to marry you at all, and yet he is. Ask yourself why he needs this. You’re brilliant, so put that brilliant mind to use.”

“He doesn’t love me,” I swallowed, fighting the pricking tears that burned my eyes.

Brander exhaled, slowly shaking his head. “He doesn’t, and he may never be able to love again. That creature inside of him, Aria? He won’t let you go, so you might as well find the middle ground and force Knox to stand on it with you,” Brander stated, nodding toward the bed. I polished off the glass. “Sorry, but I need to secure you to the pole.”

I stood slowly. Stripping out of the dress, I slid into the bed, turning to look at Brander. His eyes slid over my body, slowly taking in every inch of me that was bared to him.

“It really is too bad you’re his,” he uttered.

“You could have changed that. You were too slow.”

“I don’t move fast, woman. I’m