Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,88

on me with something akin to worry. Shaking his head, he walked to the table as a male pulled out a rolled-up scroll, unraveling it on the tabletop.

It was a map of the Nine Realms, and on it were places crossed out in red ink. My eyes slid to Siobhan, finding her studying me with regret and compassion. I knew she’d been spared at a young age, but she’d been raped and harmed before serving the King of Norvalla. Her family was slaughtered, and he was her savior.

“Aria was here when we found her,” Brander stated, pointing at one of the weaker keeps. “Then she moved here, decimating it easily. Afterward, she turned herself into a Trojan horse and gained entrance into this keep, which is where Aden’s men first found her.”

“You said they had silver hair and turquoise eyes?” Siobhan asked.

“They looked as if they had the same fucking parents, but we all know that’s impossible with the Hecate line. Only one appeared sexually interested, and Knox gave him a show. He marked Aria in front of him, showing that Aria submitted to Knox and only him. It should have stopped them, and yet they’re trailing us to Dorcha. We’ve seen them outside of camp, hiding where they thought we wouldn’t notice. Today they were closer, but Aria was in danger. They didn’t intervene to protect her. I think they want her for the same reason Lord Andres did. They intend to breed her. She’s not the final product of whoever created her. She’s their first step in creating an unstoppable monster. Aden only wants her womb. Luckily for us, she can’t smell shit past Knox’s scent.”

“I can’t ward against them reaching her if we don’t know who or what they are, Brander,” Siobhan admitted softly, her hand pushing the map out further. “Aria’s magic, it’s unhinged and unimaginable. She rained fire from the heavens, and it didn’t fucking weaken her. I’ve seen nothing like it, or her. The king goes hard against her, and she pops right back up and doesn’t carry a grudge against him for long, from what I have seen.”

“You forgive someone until you can’t forgive them anymore. Once you reach that point, there’s no forgiveness within the well to offer. The king will push Aria too far, and she won’t forgive him,” I whispered, causing all eyes to turn toward me.

“If that happens, she’s dead. We can’t chance Aria attacking us,” Killian grunted. “She burned everything to the ground, eliminating any trace that life had ever been within that stronghold. It took that girl five minutes to slaughter an entire army and remake the land to what she wanted it to be. Curiously enough, she sprouted hemlock with her magic. Witches eradicate the plant since we can use it against them. Aria grew an entire field of it, and then some asshole tried to kill her with her creation. I want to know who it was and why.”

I swallowed, lifting my eyes to Siobhan. She held my stare and turned to Killian. “I did it because Aria should be immune if her beast half is dominant. She wasn’t immune.”

He tensed, staring at Siobhan. “You tried to murder her?” Killian growled.

“No, the glass only had hemlock outside of it. It wouldn’t have killed Aria, but it tested my theory. Brander had the antidote in his medical tent for the burns, so I knew it would heal her quickly. You’re not hearing me, Killian. Aria doesn’t have a dormant half. Both are active and thriving. The thing is, she’s not even figured out how to tap into her Hecate magic yet. She relies on her beast and the magic she pulls to her from the land. Hecate witches are always magic dominant, which means she hasn’t reached her full potential yet. Aria rained down hell on earth, and the world trembled in her presence. What happens when she taps into her magic and wields it?”

The men swallowed past the unease of Siobhan’s words. I trailed my fingers across the map, skimming over the Kingdom of Vãkya’s location. I knew what would happen when Aria gained her magic and what it would mean to have her at her full potential.

“That’s easy, Siobhan. Aria walks into the Palace of Vãkya, and she removes Ilsa from the throne. We assume she hasn’t figured out how to wield her magic, but Aria’s not stupid. There’s intelligence in her eyes that shines from within.” The door opened, and I paused as