Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,33

nice meeting you, but in the future, I think I’ll stick to my silence instead of my screams,” Aria said with a wicked smile lifting her mouth. “My silence is entirely more dangerous. I am a witch, but I am also a monster.” Aria backed up, turning as she left the tent, leaving us both dumbfounded by her words.

“She’s not right, is she? I mean, Aria Hecate just tended your wounds. Hecate witches are notoriously snobbish and aloof to our kind. She seemed…”

I nodded slowly. “Aria seemed unreal and calm. She isn’t broken, meek, or wounded. She’s calm and collected, terrifyingly so. Did you see her eyes when she stopped screaming? They were almost lifeless, and then flames danced within them. If she is a phoenix, she could set the Nine Realms on fire and force the darkness into the shadows. She could kill Ilsa. Aria Hecate is powerful enough to kill the High Queen of Witches and take her throne.”

“She could kill everyone,” Siobhan whispered, threading her fingers through mine, forcing my eyes to where she held my hand.

Esme was right. Aria was different. She was a lot scarier than Ilsa because Aria held something within her, and I felt the need to stand beside her. I’d felt a peace in her presence that had left me uncertain how to respond to her. It was like standing next to a storm you knew could let loose turbulence and chaos, yet you still needed to stand beside it.

“Aria’s the High Queen of Witches. That girl is our Queen, and she doesn’t even fucking know it,” I whispered low enough that the sound hardly registered.

“Neither do they because they cannot feel what we do. Hold your tongue and don’t repeat it because we place our rightful queen in danger if we do. I felt peace for the first time in my life when she touched me.”

I nodded, fighting the thickening in my throat. “I felt it too when she tended me. I’ve felt nothing like it before. I don’t know if I want to scream or cry that she is in the hands of our enemies and so calm about it. Aria literally screamed and burst into flames, and they didn’t bat an eye when she was on fire. Then, because that wasn’t crazy enough, she sucked the flames back into her body.”

“Her soul. If she’s a phoenix, it went back into her soul.”

I blinked, turning to look at Siobhan as we stood in silence. The tent flaps moved, and we slowly stepped away from one another, turning to place the salves and things back where they went. Turning, we saw Brander coming toward us with Killian at his side.

“What you saw tonight doesn’t leave camp. If either of you tries to leave, you die. Nod and tell me you understand,” Killian stated, his eyes on me.

“I understand, My Lord,” I swallowed, nodding.

“Good, now go,” he growled, turning to look at Brander while we slipped out of the tent.

I rushed beside Siobhan back to the herb tent, sliding inside as the warning echoed through me. They knew what she was, and they intended to unleash her upon the witches, which meant my baby sister was directly in their path. Julia was ten times more powerful than I was, and she was Ilsa’s current slave, continually supplying her power. Their target was Ilsa, which meant I had to get my sister out of that palace before they reached it.

Chapter Nine

Aria

For days I’d avoided speaking with Knox. I needed the space from him to clear my head because my psyche’s pain had been debilitating. I’d spent hours going over facts and working through reasoning, such as Knox knowing how to ferret out my family but hadn’t used it until I’d forced him to question everything about his life with Liliana.

At any time, he could have forced me to tell him where my aunt and sisters were hiding, but he hadn’t. He could have hurt me, and even though he’d held me underneath the water, he’d refrained from causing me pain. Yes, we went at one another hard and fast, and we tore into each other deeply. I was starting to believe it was more to do with what we were and what we carried within us that made us battle one another.

Over the few days that I’d avoided him, I’d felt my anger spike without reason. I’d wanted to rip into Knox’s skin, digging into his heart to sink my claws, and there’d