Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,54

me what you sense.” I looked at Soraya. Siobhan opened her mouth, and I glared at her, silencing her with a look filled with warning. My attention moved back to the other witch. Soraya closed her eyes and opened her palms skyward. She tensed, lifting soft green eyes to mine.

“It can’t be,” Soraya swallowed, and I looked at Killian, who canted his head, tightening his hand on his blade. “I feel Hecate bloodline magic, but it isn’t powerful. It’s muted. However, there’s an underlying current to it. It’s seeking, searching for something, or maybe someone.” Her attention slid to the woods beside the keep. “It’s coming from there, in the woods.”

I shook my head at Killian, who stepped back, waiting. My gaze slid to Siobhan, who nodded softly, her worry washing away as Soraya spoke the truth.

“How many are out there?” I asked, directing my comment to Siobhan.

“Three, but two are further out. They’re Hecate witches, Knox. They’re watered down, unlike Aria. That doesn’t mean much, considering Hecate magic is absolute power.”

The sound of the howling shrieks on the battlement forced my attention back to where the dark witches were releasing black, poisonous magic. Their shrilling screams were barely audible over the cries and sounds of steel meeting steel on the battlefield.

“Collect a war party, and let’s go hunt down some fucking witches,” I growled, watching bodies being tossed over the side of the wall to join the others on the ground. “Soraya and Siobhan, you’re coming with us.”

“I am only a potion maker,” Soraya lied. I smiled cruelly, tilting my head as Killian’s blade touched against her throat.

“You lie to me again, and that blade severs your head, witch. I suggest you contemplate your next words. When you took that mark onto your wrist, you pledged your loyalty. That includes honesty about what you do and who the fuck you are. So, Soraya, who the fuck are you?”

“I have spent my entire adult life running from Ilsa. She built the Palace of Vãkya in my hometown and unleashed monsters within it as their prize for joining her forces. I served on my back for years, and then I escaped, and I’ve been running ever since. My bloodline isn’t the most powerful, but we are fighters who learned to hide what we are from your people. My mother, father, and sisters didn’t get out of Vãkya, and I wasn’t much help while chained to a bed for pleasure. By the time I escaped, there wasn’t anyone I recognized, either due to torture or because Ilsa had added them to the power grid that sits outside the palace. I was alone. I survived in the wilderness, but I wasn’t always successful in that endeavor. I trained myself to fight because I didn’t want to die or end up added to the high queen’s grid to use until death, drained to nothing more than a husk of flesh and bone. If you’re asking if I am powerful, I am. If you’re asking if I can fight, I can. You’re the first one who hasn’t forced me to serve on my back or beaten me. So I serve you, and I do so willingly.”

I frowned, hiding the emotion her tale stirred within me. I wasn’t blind to what other lords had done to the witches, but then I only saved those I thought I could turn and use against the dark witches. Those that survived and had been through hell, needing somewhere to grow stronger, I’d taken them, too, because once they saw what we fought against, they willingly stayed to help. War created monsters, but monsters had no limit on how far they went. I drew the line at harming women and children, unlike most of the other kings and queens of the Nine Realms.

“Lower the blade, Killian. If you turn against me or you use your magic to hurt anyone under my protection, Soraya,” I paused, staring at her coldly, “I won’t hesitate to end your life.”

“You hold the true Queen of Witches, King Karnavious. The Hecate witches are here because you hold her, and they want her back.”

I smiled tightly, sliding my gaze to Siobhan, who swallowed, averting her eyes. She nodded, not willing to meet my stare, which pissed me off. Most people wouldn’t hold it long, not like Aria did with a challenge and dare to push her fucking buttons shining within them.

“How do you know that, Soraya?”

“Because when she touched us, we felt her to our soul.