Ruins of Chaos Page 5

  We reached camp at dusk, and Knox rode straight to a large tent, dismounting without missing a step with me in his arms. Inside, a large bath was poured, and he set me down beside it, holding me close. Women moved around, easing toward me when he stepped back. Their eyes filled with understanding, which told me that between falling asleep and waking up, Knox had sent a rider ahead of us with orders.

  I watched him inhale, baring his teeth as if he couldn’t help it while Brander slid a chair beneath him, then moved toward me. The women removed my clothes while Brander assessed the damage to my shoulder. Stepping back, he looked lower to my abused thighs.

  “Were you sexually assaulted?” Brander asked.

  “I’m fine,” I whispered thickly.

  “He didn’t fucking ask if you were fine, Aria. He asked if Lord Andres got inside your body!” Knox snarled, and I recoiled as if he’d struck me. He exhaled anger and tried again in a calmer tone, “Lord Andres marked you, and his scent showed he intended to breed you. Did he succeed?”

  “He didn’t rape me, Knox.” I trembled violently as Brander observed. Knox lifted his hands, and his purr filled the tent. He silently pushed the panic away from me with his touch. “He wanted to breed me. He did things, but he didn’t get that far before you came for me.”

  Knox swore beneath his breath as he stood, sending the chair crashing to the ground with his abrupt abandonment of it. He lifted his nose as a deep rattle filled the tent, threatening to come down on us. Knox walked toward me, pulling me against him as his eyes shifted between black and blue as if he were fighting to remain in control. His body shook with anger, and I swallowed the urge to back up. His anger wasn’t directed at me. It was because of what they had done to me, causing tears to swim in my eyes.

  “What things?” Knox hissed.

  “He used his fingers to check the status of my womb,” I admitted, barely above a whispered breath. “He used them and then tasted me. He told the witch, Kristal, not to kill me because I could breed an army to oppose you. He said they could turn me into a bomb to send back to you, and to murder me would be a wasted opportunity.”

  He snorted, lifting my chin to peer into my eyes while his arms moved around me. “What else did they say?”

  “That the high queen wanted me dead. That my skipping across the Nine Realms leaving skulls for my current crush wasn’t acceptable,” I blabbed, holding his angry glare. “They were going to replicate my face and body onto another witch to get to you, but Lord Andres said you’d tasted me and would smell the difference.”

  “Get in the bath and wash his scent off of you before I lose control, woman,” Knox stated, lifting his hand to tip my head, kissing my lips softly.

  He silently retrieved his chair to set it close to the large tub. Killian entered, bringing in a dress and a blanket. His eyes slid over me before he moved to a large bed that sat beside a similar chest to Knox’s.

  I slipped into the tub, covering my breasts as the men offered me their backs. Knox grabbed the bottle of soap and began carefully washing me himself. It was an intimate action, which made me shiver as the others made busy around us.

  It was as if they’d practiced this before, Knox being seductive, and Brander and Killian pretending it wasn’t happening. I knew I was still in shock from running and what had almost happened, but I felt safe with Knox and his men, and so did my creature.

  “Why would the dark witches think their plan would work, Aria?” Knox asked, watching as I lifted and dropped my shoulders in a shrug.

  “Lord Andres and Kristal said they had done it to you before, using another woman to pose as your lover to get close to you,” I muttered, noticing his hands had stopped moving.

  Killian tensed, and Brander turned toward me slowly, narrowing his eyes to slits as he listened. I chewed my lip at the awkward silence in the tent, wondering if they knew who it was.

  The mood in the tent had shifted to something bordering violence as Knox’s hands moved back to my hair, pulling on it as he washed it. I tried to turn to look at him, but he forced me to stay where I was, facing Brander, who silently studied me. I continued shielding myself from their eyes while Knox’s hands grew hard, his actions jerking and worrisome.

  “Did they mention a name?” Knox asked softly. There was a steel edge to his words, sharp enough to double as a blade.

  “No,” I replied carefully.

  “What else did they tell you?”

  “They didn’t tell me anything. Lord Andres and Kristal spoke to each other, and I don’t think they cared if I listened since they intended to murder me. Kristal intended to murder you, assuming she could get close enough if she looked and smelled like me. Lord Andres argued it, stating that you knew me in a carnal way that she couldn’t imitate with magic.”

  “And how had they managed to do it before with my other lover?” he countered before snorting loudly.

  “They said you fell in love with her because of the tonic she drank. It induced her unique scent, which you couldn’t decipher from an actual heat cycle. Kristal said they planted her in your life when the girl was young and kept up the ruse until her death.” I felt my skin pebble as realization dawned on me as to who they’d meant.

  How had I missed it? Knox had only ever loved one person in his entire life. In my trauma, I’d missed connecting the dots. I’d missed the clues of whom they’d spoken. I shivered, fighting the fear that wrapped around my stomach and throat with my mistake. I wanted to take the words back, return them to the tip of my tongue, and swallow them down. The tension in the tent was stifling, and my heart pounded deafeningly in my ears, the admission cutting Knox deeper than if I’d taken a knife and stabbed it into his chest.

  “And you expect me to believe that?” he sneered.

  “No. You asked me what else I had heard. That’s what I heard. It doesn’t mean it is right, or maybe I just misunderstood what Lord Andres and Kristal said because of what was happening when they spoke of it. I was in pain and exhausted. Maybe I misheard.” I lied, praying he accepted my explanation.

  “And did you inform them I only enjoyed using your body and had no affection for your heart? Or did you assure them you would help them get to me?”

  I tensed as my chest tightened. “I didn’t inform them of anything or how you felt about me. I was too busy having a finger shoved into my body so Lord Andres could taste the state of my womb and breeding cycle. It didn’t seem the right time to speak, all things considered. Next time one of your men are molesting me, I’ll be sure to stop fighting them to get the details for your next interrogation, King Karnavious.”

  “You think to sway me to you with your assault as you soil the memory of my wife with your fucking lies?”

  “She’s a lying bitch,” Killian snarled, lunging toward me, but Brander moved to intercede, preventing him from reaching me. I shivered as tears slipped free. “Liliana was his mate, witch! She birthed his son. He ought to take your fucking tongue for your lies.”

  “Answer my fucking question, witch,” Knox demanded coldly.

  “No, I don’t intend to do anything with you, Knox. Had I realized it was your wife who they spoke of, I would have held my tongue on what I’d heard. I do not wish to soil her memory, nor to inflict more pain onto you. I repeated what I had heard. I know nothing of you or who you have loved in your long life. I told you what Lord Andres and Kristal said, which doesn’t make it a fact. You asked a question, and I answered it to the best of my ability.”

  “The only woman I have ever loved, or will ever love, was my wife. You use your assault to strike against her memory? Fuck you, Aria.” Knox stood, pulling me up with him. He grabbed the towel, shoving me away from him as if he couldn’t stand to touch me. “You’re just like your fucking mother.”

  I felt the slap of his words as if he’d physically struck me. I held out my hand for the towel, and he shook his head, glaring at me as if I were some disgusting thing he wanted to remember before he destroyed it. My hands trembled, and tears swam in my eyes before he threw the towel at me, hitting me in the face. My hands shook so violently that I couldn’t wrap it around me, so I held it in front of me instead.

  “Did you arrange it all? Did you help the witches slaughter an entire army and capture Lord Andres, turning him against me and pretending to be kidnapped so I would rush in and rescue you? Was that your plan, to defile and make me second guess my entire life and my wife?” Knox snarled as his nails lengthened. “Pretty fucking convenient that you go missing, only to return and say things that would make me question my reason for war and my fucking life.”

  “No,” I replied firmly. “I wouldn’t do that!”

  “You called me to you with your rattling cries, and we’re not fucking mates.”

  “I called for help because Lord Andres was about to rape me! I cried out because he slaughtered the women who helped me out of the water, right in front of me! I called for you because his bite turned me inside out, ripping me apart until I wanted to die!” I screamed through angry tears. “It felt vile and awful. It felt like he was making me his, and I wanted it to stop by any possible means. I wanted to die before he claimed me. I didn’t want to be saved, Knox. I wanted not to be his!” I held my stomach, uncaring that he watched me falling apart.

  “You’re an excellent actress, but so were your grandmother and mother. It must run in your bloodline, just like treachery.”

  “Sure, Knox,” I whispered thickly, fighting for control. “Let’s go with that. Put me in the cage, or show me where I may lie down. I’m exhausted from playing ‘let’s rape the witch and take off her head’ today. Maybe tomorrow you can do it and end this game of whom can fuck over whom the most because you’re exhausting, and I don’t want to play with you anymore. Every chance you get to
think the worst of me, you jump on it. I have done nothing to you or your people. I have harmed no one who didn’t deserve to die a horrible death. I kept my word and began cleaning my house, and I didn’t ask to be here. I’m not five steps ahead right now. I’m tripping over my feet and just trying to stay alive.”

  Knox swallowed, nodding at Brander. “Take her to your tent tonight and chain her to your bed. Gag the bitch if you need to shut her lying mouth,” he snapped coldly.

  “She’s in heat,” Brander argued before running his hand down his face.

  “And?” Knox countered, glaring at Brander. “I’ll return tomorrow after I’ve cooled off. If you’ve taken her by then, keep her. I’m done playing with her too.”

  “Knox, that’s not happening,” Brander assured.

  “Then lock her ass up, but do it now.”

  “It is fine, Brander. Just take me to the cage, and I’ll sleep there.”

  “She can sleep with me,” Killian announced, and we all turned toward him. “I don’t want to fuck her, not after what she just said about my sister. Chances are, you’ll return to her pretty throat slit during the night, and we can all quit playing her games.” Hatred burned in Killian’s eyes. I slid my attention to him, shivering at the coldness I saw.

  “You will not kill her. No matter what her poisonous lips speak, her power would still aid us in the war.” Knox stared at Killian before turning back to me. “If you try to lure him to you, you won’t have to worry about my people raping you. My beast will handle that scent of yours to stop the problem. I promise you that, Aria Hecate.”

  “Understood, Your Majesty. You could just allow me to choose someone to deal with it, and we could end that issue. Anyone would be preferable to you at this point. Maybe Aden can come in and handle my needs.”

  Knox’s lips turned up in the corners as he stepped closer. “You think anyone actually wanted you, Aria? The only reason you’ve interested anyone is because your body lured us in like a poisonous trap. No one wanted you. We just wanted your pussy.” I slapped him hard, unable to stop my hand from moving as his words knifed through my heart.

  Knox grabbed me by the throat, shoving me into the bathtub. He pushed me beneath the water, holding me there as he watched me struggle. My hands lifted to his, scratching him as my lungs burned. I screamed, sending bubbles to the surface, kicking my legs while he glared down at me beneath the watery grave in which he intended to leave me.

  Stars filled my vision, removing his image as my body jerked, and everything ceased. My hands stopped moving, and my legs went limp over the edge of the tub. He yanked me up and dropped me to the ground, stepping back as I threw up water, coughing until I’d expelled it all from my lungs. My eyes lifted, and I smiled coldly.

  “You weak-ass bastard,” I taunted through the hoarseness of my throat. “Stop half-assing it and finish it already!”

  “Aria, shut the fuck up,” Brander urged.

  Knox’s nostrils flared, studying me through the cold detachment in his eyes. His entire body was tense, filled with the need to end my life because of my words, but he couldn’t. I didn’t back down, and neither did he.

  “Don’t promise me an ending you can’t deliver, King Karnavious.” He stepped closer as I got to my feet, uncaring that I was naked. “Come on. Do it. You can’t, can you? I can’t hurt you either, and I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it. I’ve been behind you, so fucking close to your unguarded back, without you even realizing I was there. It pissed me off because I should have murdered you and spared myself from being your bitch. Yet here I am, at your fucking mercy, of which you have none to offer. For the record, you should have let Lord Andres’s warrior take my head because, unlike you, he would have ended this shit show in which you brought me.”

  His eyes searched mine as if he were just realizing the truth that no matter how much we went to war, we didn’t want the other harmed. Something stopped us, something more profound than either of us cared to look at or explore. I’d stood behind him with a chance to end his life. Instead, I’d watched him with a hunger that terrified me.

  “Careful, Aria. It’s treason to threaten the king’s life.”

  “Only if he is your King,” I laughed soundlessly. “You’re not my King, Knox. Whoever I take as my husband, he will be my King, as is the Hecate witch line’s law. No king has ever sat on our throne.” His eyes narrowed with my words, and his smile took on a sinister look. A ripple of warning rushing down my spine, but my mouth refused to cease speaking with the anger coursing through me. “A queen is so much more powerful without a king, anyway. That is why the Hecate line never allows a man to sit upon our throne. You are nothing more than a nightmare from which I’ll eventually wake.”

  Knox stepped closer, threading his fingers through my hair, tilting my head back. His mouth brushed against mine even though I fought to turn my head away from his seductive lips. “You’re never escaping me and never waking up from this nightmare you’re living. You should have left my wife out of your ploy, witch. You’ve reminded me of who you are. Apparently, I’d forgotten. You needed a reminder of who I am and what I’ve done to your people. I intend to make damn sure you don’t forget it again. The king always takes the queen, and she is silent afterward, isn’t she?” I shivered as he pressed his lips against my throat, kissing the pulse that raced there before his tongue slowly traced against it. “I was too quick to speak earlier. I haven’t finished playing with you quite yet, Aria.” Knox nipped his teeth against the delicate flesh of my throat, laughing ominously before running his tongue against the skin, tasting me. “Take my prisoner to my tent, Killian. Don’t let the little bitch out of your sight for any reason. I’ll be there shortly, and I’ll get the truth out of her one way or another.”

  Chapter Six

  Sitting on the bed, I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shuddering body while Killian stared daggers at me. He hadn’t spoken a single word other than to demand I sit and keep my poisonous, lying mouth shut. His eyes radiated a murderous rage from their depths. The anger inside the tent refused to abate, and every minute that ticked by only made it increasingly worse.

  I reminded myself that he was Liliana’s brother and Knox’s best friend, who assumed I was plotting against them all. Knox had been gone for over an hour, and every time I closed my eyes, Killian would slam something down on the table to keep me awake.

  My body ached, and exhaustion was taking over without having slept enough to heal, which drained me rapidly. Not to mention, I’d run my body hard in the time since escaping Kristal and Lord Andres, only for Knox to add to the emotional overload. I was running on fumes and sitting in a tent with a male that literally hated me, and it sucked.

  I leaned over, resting my head on the palms of my hands to apply pressure where my head pounded. Killian slammed something down again. I ignored it, unable to hold my head up any longer. My body became weighted down, and my eyes felt like they had glass in them from not enough sleep and crying.

  “Sit up,” Killian snapped harshly.

  I lifted my head, and it rolled backward, jerking as my eyes closed. Knox’s scent hit me before he even entered the tent, and my body came alive. It would be so much easier to control the urges and my response to him after I rested. He strolled in, turning toward me as he narrowed his eyes.

  “Move to the table and sit, Aria.”

  I stood, swaying forward, causing my hold on the blanket to loosen, accidentally dropping it. I bent to retrieve the blanket as Knox watched me with a stony expression that spoke of disdain and indifference.

  Fuck him. He’d told me exactly what I was worth, which meant I’d die before giving it to him now. I grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around my body tightly, and sat at the table, fighting to keep my eyes open while he studied me.

  He set a small tincture bottle onto the table. Frowning, I watched the bubbles rising to the top of the blue liquid within the bottle. Lifting my attention to him, I grunted while holding his hate-filled stare with one of my own.

  “Drink it now, Aria,” Knox ordered. “All of it.”

  “Is it going to kill me?” I asked in a hopeful tone. When he just watched me wordlessly, I reached for the bottle. Using one hand to clasp it while the other held the blanket closed, I sank my teeth into the small cork to remove it. Spitting it onto the floor, I smelled the potion and rolled my eyes. “No hemlock for me? Just so you know, that’s what kills me but remember, remove the head afterward. Hemlock grows wild in these mountains in case you’re too fucking stupid to be aware of it. If that’s not a harsh enough death for me, you could raise my mother from her grave and ask her about the other ways she tried killing me. Speaking of my loving mother, you and she would have a lot in common these days. You’d have enjoyed her methods since she excelled at causing me the most pain imaginable.” Snorting at the burning hatred in his gaze, I tipped the tonic back, drinking it as he watched.