Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,57

arms around my legs before adjusting the skirt of my dress.

“The Nine Realms leaders summoned my parents to a meeting before the summit ended, leaving Knox in charge while returning to the kingdom. He’d just finished his knighthood with Killian and Brander days before the tragedy struck. To celebrate his coming nuptials and knighthood, they all got drunk, and the soldiers sent in women to entertain them. A courier notified Knox that the king and queen had gone missing before ever reaching the meeting. It forced Knox to stand in as king until our parents were located. They were already dead; he just didn’t know it yet. They found the carriage with me still inside, but there was no sign of the king or queen. They’d vanished into the mist without a trace.”

“Knox was young, then?” I asked, and Lore turned, nodding slowly.

“But not by your standards. Our knighthood is a rite of passage. It takes five hundred years to achieve in Norvalla. It’s an act of dedication and devotion to protect and better the realm. The day the patrol discovered our parents’ heads, Knox vowed revenge against those who murdered them. The problem was that Killian was impatient for Knox to take his sister as his bride, so she wouldn’t have to wait to wed him when they went to war. Killian didn’t want the responsibility of caring for two sisters during that time since he’d raised them after his parent’s murder, years before ours died. Knox married Liliana, and the kingdom found some relief knowing he had found his true mate. It eased the grief our people felt at the loss of our parents.”

I swallowed hard, looking away from Lore, whose gaze drifted, lost within his memories. “I imagine Knox and his wife were the perfect power couple.”

“Liliana was weak and feeble. She suffered horrible headaches once a month. Knox loved and adored her, but Liliana was gentle, and he was savage. Knox worried about her obsessively to where he wouldn’t sleep in the same bed with Liliana for fear his beast would take her and harm her during the night. They never shared a bed, and he hardly touched her, worried he would hurt her with his need to mark her.”

“Knox does bite rather hard, but it only hurts for a moment. I’m sure she didn’t mind it once it turned to pleasure,” I muttered, hating the jealousy that wrapped around my stomach, hurting at the thought of Knox marking his true mate.

“Knox never marked Liliana. She was far too delicate for something so savage to be done to her. He tried once, and she sobbed, stating she feared it more than anything. I think if Knox could have, he’d have allowed someone gentler to take his wife to bed if it kept her safe from harm while securing an heir for the kingdom. He devoted himself to her. His need to protect her was unnatural considering the nature of the beasts we house. None of us understood it since Liliana was like us. Her scent was the same as ours, but unlike Killian or Kalyria, Liliana neither rattled nor purred, and she was old enough to do one or the other. She was so beautiful, delicate, and petite. Her disposition was Knox’s perfect match, docile and submissive when his temper rose, and yet the soft queen that the people needed and craved after losing our gentle mother.”

“Knox does like submission,” I frowned, hating that Liliana was pretty much everything I would never be. No wonder he thought I needed to be caged.

“You’re nothing like her.”

I swallowed, staring at the playing children, hiding the pain Lore’s words caused. “I’m neither docile nor demure.”

“No, you’re savage as fuck. You go to war against Knox, fighting him and making him earn your submission. He isn’t worried about hurting you because you take his jagged edges and aren’t afraid of getting cut. Knox has never allowed another woman to remain in his bed overnight, yet you don’t leave it. Knox isn’t soft, and he has no problem fucking a camp follower and kicking her out when he’s finished with her. I’ve never seen him with the same woman twice.”

“I’m so glad he doesn’t care about how much he hurts me,” I grunted, turning angry eyes on Lore, who shook his head.

“You misunderstand my point, woman. Knox can savage you, and you take it. He goes to war against your tight, soft body, and you tell him harder. You’re not afraid