Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,19

was too quick to speak earlier. I haven’t finished playing with you quite yet, Aria.” Knox nipped his teeth against the delicate flesh of my throat, laughing ominously before running his tongue against the skin, tasting me. “Take my prisoner to my tent, Killian. Don’t let the little bitch out of your sight for any reason. I’ll be there shortly, and I’ll get the truth out of her one way or another.”

Chapter Six

Sitting on the bed, I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shuddering body while Killian stared daggers at me. He hadn’t spoken a single word other than to demand I sit and keep my poisonous, lying mouth shut. His eyes radiated a murderous rage from their depths. The anger inside the tent refused to abate, and every minute that ticked by only made it increasingly worse.

I reminded myself that he was Liliana’s brother and Knox’s best friend, who assumed I was plotting against them all. Knox had been gone for over an hour, and every time I closed my eyes, Killian would slam something down on the table to keep me awake.

My body ached, and exhaustion was taking over without having slept enough to heal, which drained me rapidly. Not to mention, I’d run my body hard in the time since escaping Kristal and Lord Andres, only for Knox to add to the emotional overload. I was running on fumes and sitting in a tent with a male that literally hated me, and it sucked.

I leaned over, resting my head on the palms of my hands to apply pressure where my head pounded. Killian slammed something down again. I ignored it, unable to hold my head up any longer. My body became weighted down, and my eyes felt like they had glass in them from not enough sleep and crying.

“Sit up,” Killian snapped harshly.

I lifted my head, and it rolled backward, jerking as my eyes closed. Knox’s scent hit me before he even entered the tent, and my body came alive. It would be so much easier to control the urges and my response to him after I rested. He strolled in, turning toward me as he narrowed his eyes.

“Move to the table and sit, Aria.”

I stood, swaying forward, causing my hold on the blanket to loosen, accidentally dropping it. I bent to retrieve the blanket as Knox watched me with a stony expression that spoke of disdain and indifference.

Fuck him. He’d told me exactly what I was worth, which meant I’d die before giving it to him now. I grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around my body tightly, and sat at the table, fighting to keep my eyes open while he studied me.

He set a small tincture bottle onto the table. Frowning, I watched the bubbles rising to the top of the blue liquid within the bottle. Lifting my attention to him, I grunted while holding his hate-filled stare with one of my own.

“Drink it now, Aria,” Knox ordered. “All of it.”

“Is it going to kill me?” I asked in a hopeful tone. When he just watched me wordlessly, I reached for the bottle. Using one hand to clasp it while the other held the blanket closed, I sank my teeth into the small cork to remove it. Spitting it onto the floor, I smelled the potion and rolled my eyes. “No hemlock for me? Just so you know, that’s what kills me but remember, remove the head afterward. Hemlock grows wild in these mountains in case you’re too fucking stupid to be aware of it. If that’s not a harsh enough death for me, you could raise my mother from her grave and ask her about the other ways she tried killing me. Speaking of my loving mother, you and she would have a lot in common these days. You’d have enjoyed her methods since she excelled at causing me the most pain imaginable.” Snorting at the burning hatred in his gaze, I tipped the tonic back, drinking it as he watched.

Knox withdrew an hourglass from his pack and turned it over, causing my eyes to narrow on the sand falling into the bottom. His fingers drummed on the table, unnerving me, and apprehension slithered through me while heat filled my cheeks. I frowned, swallowing past the excessive saliva building in my mouth. My hands tightened on the blanket, and his gaze dropped to them, slowly lifting to lock with mine.

He slid his eyes to the hourglass before turning to Killian, who observed us silently. Brander