Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,29

off fingers for slights, and when he ran out of those, he took other parts of them. Some claimed witches, slaughtering them for fun. One had found me on an errand run, tying me to the tree, using knives to hold my body still while he shoved into me brutally. I’d slit his throat on my way out, cutting off his flaccid cock, shoving the thing into his mouth as a warning to anyone who thought to use me again.

“What are you doing, Soraya?” Siobhan asked, and I straightened, hiking a thumb to where Aria sat in the same spot she had for the last couple of days.

“That’s a legendary witch who looks pretty pathetic if you ask me.” I wished Esme could see her savior now, broken, mentally detached from the living, and pathetic as fuck.

“I’d hold your tongue and not let anyone else hear you speak of her,” Siobhan warned.

I snorted, watching as the men moved around Aria. They monitored her closely. Even the king himself seemed opposed to letting her out of his sight. He was always someplace where he could visually see her and know what she was doing. It was pitiful in the grand scheme of things since he was renowned for sleeping with a witch once and leaving her bed afterward. Frowning, I watched the children gravitating toward Aria as if drawn to her.

Her silver hair was unique and pretty, even though it was an odd color for a witch to have. Wide, turquoise eyes framed with thick black lashes dusted her cheeks. She was petite, and while lithe and small, she had a look in her eyes that spoke of fire, or had. Now it actually hurt to look at the pain in her eyes.

It was a pain I knew intimately. I had learned to turn it off, to put Julia and her needs before my own. I’d spent the last couple of years forcing my emotions to a deadened state. I didn’t allow fear to slip from me, knowing exactly how to respond to Ilsa on cue. I’d trained for battle, learned to creep up on a powerful enemy, striking hard and fast.

Learning to survive hadn’t been a simple thing, but it was the only option left to me. I shivered at the memories, dismissing the dismal state of the witch. Siobhan opened her mouth to speak but straightened at something behind me. Turning to see what had drawn her attention, my mouth opened at the dark-haired male with sapphire eyes that slid over me before moving back to Siobhan.

“I need a favor, Siobhan,” the male stated, his voice sliding over me like honey melting on warmed bread.

His voice was a sexy, deep, rich baritone that slithered through every nerve ending, firing them up. I stepped back, trying to break whatever spell had entered my system with his nearness. The male’s eyes moved to me again, noting the way I’d tensed. My body heated beneath the stare, forcing my legs to clench with anticipation.

What the hell was happening? I didn’t like men. They wanted one thing, and they took it brutally, uncaring what happened to us afterward. How many bastard babes had these assholes left in their wake while marching across the Nine Realms? It numbered in the hundreds of thousands like it was their right to breed us out of existence now that Hecate was gone.

“How can I assist you, Brander?” Siobhan asked, her tone sultry and filled with lust.

His chuckle sent gooseflesh rushing over my skin, and I swallowed at the sound of it. “Aria hasn’t bounced back,” he stated, and I perked up at his interest. “I wanted to see if maybe you could reach her.”

“Why would I try to reach a Hecate bloodline witch? I am beneath her,” Siobhan returned, pushing her dark hair behind her ear.

“You’re a woman who knows the pain of being assaulted. It isn’t about her heritage. She’s not from the Nine Realms and doesn’t care about shit like stature or bloodlines. She’s hurting, and I fear our part in it won’t allow us to change that for her.”

I swallowed at the words Brander said. A witch who didn’t judge someone based on bloodlines? Right. I could see it if Aria didn’t have the royal blood pumping through her veins to her heartless chest.

Her name made her royalty, with or without the magic to back it up. I’d seen her fight and take the element from the Keeper of Lightning. She was one of