Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,177

alive.”

“Knox, Liliana wasn’t your mate or mine. Smell Aria and touch her. Forget that she is your enemy and feel her against you. She’s right and durable. I just proved to you that she wasn’t weak as she took us in beast form. We are not the same thing, but we are close enough to mate, asshole. Aria was forged from the fires of the Nine Realms, created in Norvalla, and built to be mine by the legends who ruled before us. Stop pissing her off because she may eventually stop forgiving us, and I enjoy her touch. She is my calm, and I am her chaos. No more harming her. What was it you told her? Spoiler alert, she’s mine.”

“Liliana was my mate!” I snapped, hating that I’d felt Aria on a deeper level than Liliana.

“It’s a miracle Ember hasn’t eaten us yet, Knox. Open the tomb as I told you to do. See the bones. See the proof.”

“If it is true that the dark witches planned my wife and son, do you honestly think I will keep Aria around? Her grandmother would be the reason for that and the cause of my pain. Could you force our mate to endure that, if it is the truth? I would hate Aria and everything she is.”

“At first, she will expect your anger and rage. Aria will forgive you because that is who she is, and she knew our vows when we said them. She knew them without ever hearing them.”

“Why is that, I wonder?”

“When she wakes, get her mark. Seal the bond between mates, and if nothing happens, you will be right, and I will be wrong, Knox. You have nothing to lose by receiving it if what you say is true.”

Lennox eased back into my mind and vanished, leaving me with a woman who slumbered, oblivious to what had just happened. He’d given her his mark. Lennox, the King of Beasts, had just claimed his queen and mate, and she’d fucking taken him in all her glory. He’d cursed her to be stuck with me for eternity, which no one woman deserved. It wasn’t a blessing at all, but more of a punishment.

Lennox was wrong. I had everything to lose, including Aria, if what they said was true. I’d started a war from grief, waging battles vehemently and without mercy, attacking my enemies. I couldn’t stop the war; no one could. It would take an act of mercy, and none of us had any left to give.

Aria was coming into a world that wanted her dead and everyone she loved murdered. This world was going to turn her into a monster, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Too many factions were in play, with only one possible outcome.

I wanted Aria; that much was a given. Everything she was called to me and that fact bothered me most. I craved her touch, knowing that with every brush of her fingers, my walls thinned and crumbled. If that happened, everything would come out at once. Everything I’d buried behind those walls would be unleashed, and I feared unleashing it on her the most. She was my enemy, but she was also the balm that soothed my battered soul, and that was a fucking problem. It was easier to push her away than allow her to get close to me because it protected her.

I’d made more enemies than friends by becoming the high king, and I’d taken my crown by force. If I allowed the world to figure out I actually liked my wife, they’d make her a target, and that wasn’t something I could deal with in the middle of a bloody war.

Aria moaned as I ran my fingers over her naked hipbone. Pushing her over, I peered down at the bite mark on her throat and shoulder. Frowning, I leaned over, licking the wounds, only for her to part her legs, and beckon me to take her. My lips curved into a smile as her eyes opened, peeking through hooded lids to show me she was coherent.

Turning her body, I slowly pushed into her core, carefully draping her leg over my hip. She moaned, turning her needy lips toward me to claim. Swallowing, I narrowed my eyes on her blunt teeth, leaning over to claim her sexy-as-fuck lips to swallow her sweet noises.

I gave her what she needed from me. It was easy to forget what blood burned through her veins when she took me as