Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,230

bloodline, shaking my head.

“Is this what was inside the tomb?” I whispered through the closing of my throat.

“Your murderous whore of a grandmother’s skull? Yes, that is what was inside my wife’s tomb!” Knox hissed murderously.

“This isn’t Hecate, Knox,” I swallowed, tossing it back to him as my mind rushed through the scenario. “It’s not Hecate. Is there any chance you lost your wife’s corpse?” I asked, watching the hatred burn until it liquefied. Probably not the best thing to ask him, all things considered.

“No, I didn’t lose her fucking corpse, Aria!” Knox shouted, holding up the skull as he glared at me. “It’s the mark of the first witch! The same fucking mark that is on your skull and was on my son’s,” he growled.

“Not your son, Knox. Sven wasn’t yours. Hecate doesn’t carry the mark the rest of us have. She carries the mark for the Goddess of Magick, the first witch. Liliana was timid, like—Kamara. It was right fucking there the entire time,” I whispered, dropping my head back. Exhaling slowly, I leveled my gaze on Knox, who watched me, frowning as he did the math.

“Hecate wouldn’t have been timid, ever. She’d have taken that dick and rode it home. No one ever entered her tomb once she went to her eternal slumber. It wasn’t allowed, not even for us.” Of course, her daughters had been the one to lock her into that tomb. They’d tried to prevent her need for power and greed from ruining their home.

“Aurora couldn’t access Hecate’s tomb. I had to break into it with my magic to find out she wasn’t there anymore. Kamara being used as a substitute for your wife actually makes perfect sense. She’d have trusted her mother blindly, doing what she was told. They’d have replaced Liliana before you wed her, which means she’s probably the woman in Hecate’s tomb. They’d have studied the way Liliana acted, the way she moved and spoke. They would have replicated her scent, and Kamara would have easily held enough power to hold the image of Liliana’s appearance. The amulet was for you, so you would smell her scent and find her pure and untainted, mimicking the essence of a true mate.” I swallowed, chewing my lip as tears pricked my eyes while I watched Knox shut down right in front of me.

“Hecate was enraged because Norvalla failed to do as she bid, so she sent you her daughter to change your mind. I’m guessing Kamara either got too close or had served her purpose here and could better serve her mother as a power source. I can’t explain Sven, or who he really was, other than they needed him to hurt you.”

“Liliana was pregnant for seven months. She gave birth to my son! Even if she wasn’t Liliana, Sven was mine.”

“No, he wasn’t. It wasn’t possible for Kamara to have more children. Aurora told us that after Kamara lost her boys, she destroyed her womb because she couldn’t live through another loss like that again. You thought Sven was yours because the magic told you so. Hecate’s magic is absolute, Knox. It can glamor a pregnancy and make you see what she wanted you to see. Did your son ever rattle or purr? How did you bypass the curse of your people to breed? Hecate cursed you and your people never to breed again the day you stood against the petty, vain goddess who had never been told no. You weren’t wrong about that. It is in our books and our library. Did you think Hecate would just forget your slight against her? That she wouldn’t reach out to tear you apart any way she could? Hecate is evil in the purest form. She is the darkness because the other gods cursed her, removing her from their presence for reaching for what wasn’t hers. I removed that curse against your people, and I’m working to remove every other curse she ever placed onto the Nine Realms so everyone can be free of her and her dark magic.”

“Kamara is the High Queen, Aria,” Knox snorted, raising his eyes to stare at me.

“I thought so too, Knox, but we were wrong. Hecate is the High Queen of Witches. Her daughters and her descendants carry her mark. She carries the star of power, and we are the circle that surrounds her as protection, with her mark in the center. That is why we carry her star, and the surrounding circle, Knox. Kamara would have