Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,89

the king entered to stand beside his brothers.

“Continue,” the king stated, peering down at the map.

“Aria isn’t like us. She depends on her creature to guide her. I’ve watched her, knowing that she was created or born to be our queen. Aria almost succeeded in removing the darkness from the witch on the bank. No one else within the Nine Realms has ever come close to completing such a feat. What if she’s already tapped into her magic and doesn’t need it because the magic within her is so powerful that adding more would become unstable?”

“Too much magic is never a problem,” Siobhan snorted.

“Not if it is just magic. Aria pulled magic to her from the Nine Realms, raw, undiluted, powerful magic. Add Hecate bloodline magic to that, and you’d have one hell of a monster. It would be too much magic. No one within the Nine Realms wields two types of magic at once. It becomes unstable, and Hecate murdered those born to two breeds that housed their own type of magic. Why?”

“Because they were more powerful than the Goddess of Magic,” Knox stated, leaning his body against the table. “What if Aria wasn’t created to use against us? What if she was created to destroy the witches?” he asked, turning blue-green eyes on Siobhan.

“That would explain why she wasn’t to be murdered,” Killian answered.

Knox nodded, snorting as he looked at the map which marked each castle, keep, or stronghold Aria had decimated. “It would explain a lot, but it would also create a lot more questions.”

“Is Aria a phoenix?” I asked softly, watching their eyes turn to me.

“We don’t know, but killing her isn’t an option to find out if she is,” Brander stated, holding my eyes with something burning within his. Curiosity or interest? Both terrified me.

“They died out long ago, and there’s been no trace of them since Hecate decided their fire was too dangerous to allow them to remain in the Nine Realms. Aria called flames from her rage when she screamed in pain from the assault. She was a fire. You said something moved in her spine? What if it’s wings? Phoenix women had wings, and yet they held their human-like form as Aria has. They nested, and they birthed litters. It’s possible they went to ground. Some could have escaped Hecate’s genocide on their race, but they’ve hidden so long it wouldn’t make sense to return just to breed one daughter. I could see a son. Aria is a woman inside and out,” Siobhan stated, and Knox snorted, his eyes filling with need. “Stop thinking with your dick, King Karnavious,” she murmured, heat filling her stare while he narrowed his eyes.

“How do you control both?” Lore asked, and my eyes slid to the soothing golden embers of his gaze. “You claim it, and you make it yours.”

“May I ask you a personal question?” Siobhan asked, peering at Knox.

“That depends on the question, woman,” he said with a guarded expression.

“You know Aria will become High Queen of the Witches; that’s a given. You know she has Hecate’s blood within her veins. You realize she is like you, or very similar to what you house. Have you not considered marrying her, claiming the crown, and her before she reaches her potential? No Hecate witch has ever married or allowed a male to rule her throne. The reason being, once they have, they give up their power to their husband, combining two lives into one power source. I know what you can do, but can you imagine it combined with what she can do?”

“I’ve considered it,” he stated, stepping back to glare at her. “And rejected it because what runs through her veins murdered my child. I made a vow, and I have never hesitated to keep it. Keep those words out of your mouth, Siobhan. This meeting is over. Return to your post.” The king glared at her before turning and leaving the room with Killian and Lore behind him. I started toward the door, but Brander’s words stopped me.

“Stay, Soraya,” he ordered, and Siobhan stopped too. “Leave, Siobhan. Return to the witches.” Once the door closed behind her, he smiled and snarled. “Submit.” I hit the ground, spreading my hips as my forehead touched the floor.

Brander moved around me, his feet the only thing I could see before he kneeled in front of me, ripping my head up by my hair, pulling me up with him.

“Why the fuck did you submit?” he asked, his