“You will rise. But only to be captured by me, Aria Hecate, because you’re mine from this moment on,” he smirked, standing up. “Get her up, and let’s go home.”
I was lifted painfully and shoved forward, only to land face-first on the ground with my ass in the air, exposed.
“Pretty little ass,” Killian growled, reaching down to grab it. I moved, turning to glare up at him as my body trembled violently from his touch. My skin lost color, turning a ghostly white with memories of my time in the cell. He watched, stepping back as if realizing what he had done by touching a witch he loathed, and instantly looked as if he regretted it.
“Enough,” Knox snapped, pulling me up until I whimpered as pain burned on my arm where the cuffs were too tightly placed. “I love the sounds you make when you’re manhandled,” he chuckled.
“Yeah, there wasn’t much difference between being fucked by you and my body being abused; both were brutal. Shows what you know about the noises a woman makes when fucking, doesn’t it?” I smirked, walking past him as blood dripped from my fingers onto the ground from where the cuffs had torn my flesh.
“Brander, tend to her wrists. Can’t have her broken before I even begin playing with her.”
I turned, looking back at Knox over my shoulder, lifting an eyebrow. “Don’t worry about me; I’m fine with pain and betrayal. I’m starting to expect it. My sister said something before I took her head, y’know. I actually fucking get it now. She said to be careful who I let in because most people just want to destroy you. I wonder if she would find the irony in this situation. My lover, the only man I ever allowed to actually fuck me, is also the one who wants to break me. If that isn’t fucking irony, I don’t know what is.” I turned to watch as Brander approached slowly.
He moved behind me, and I started forward, heading for the horses and dismissing him outright, along with his offer to tend to the wounds.
“Aria, your arm is cut,” Brander stated.
“Yeah? Isn’t that the entire point of this? You want to hurt me, and so I am. Do not touch me, asshole.”
“You’re riding with me,” Knox whispered softly, stopping me as I peered into his eyes. “Believe it or not, Aria, I’m trying to save your fucking life by claiming it.”
“You should have let them take my head, it would have been kinder.” I winced as the cuffs were removed, and my arms were placed in front of me.
“Brander, tend to her. She doesn’t get to bleed out,” he said, watching me as he lifted his hand, touching my cheek.
I pulled away from his touch, staring at the horse. Brander approached and looked at the small wound on my arm, peering over at Knox curiously when he found a tiny cut. He placed an ointment and gauze around them. Once done, he wrapped transparent material over the gauze and then replaced the cuffs around my wrist in front of me. He tested them and looked up at me.
“You remember the last time we did this, sugar?”
“Yeah, I only sort of hated you then, now my hate is genuine.”
Brander smiled tightly, and I turned, watching as Knox produced silk and placed it over my eyes. My shoulders drooped as he leaned closer, whispering huskily.
“And then we played this part, and you screamed my name, remember that?”
“Yeah, I remember. I remember thinking you were someone else, but you were just fucking me over then too. I was just too naïve to realize how much or how hard you planned to fuck me back then. More fool am I, bastard.”
Chapter 57
The ride was insufferable, and no matter how much distance I tried to keep between Knox and me, it didn’t work. I’d scoot up until I was damn near riding on the horse’s neck, and he’d pulled me back against his body, wrapping one arm around my waist as he directed the horse with one hand on the reins.
He’d talk, and I’d block him out as fear for my family entered my mind, controlling my thoughts. His arm slipped further up my chest, and I cried out in pain as it pushed against my breasts. He lowered it immediately, exhaling while I fought the silent sob of pain from the accidental brush.
“You always said you wanted to see Norvalla,” he whispered against my ear huskily.
“Yeah, not anymore,” I answered in a clipped tone. “I have it on good authority that the king is a treacherous prick. Turns out, I don’t give a fuck about seeing it after all.”
“It’s a wild and untamed realm with the strongest creatures that the Nine Realms have ever created or produced. It seems fitting that something such as you would end up here, fucking its king.”
“Cool, can you stop touching me now?” I asked icily.
“I couldn’t leave you to die in the Human Realm, Aria,” he said, his voice hard and cold. “I made a choice to protect you, and I don’t regret it. If I had sent you back, you’d have fought and died. I couldn’t live with that choice.”
“Who says I would have died?”
“I do. I sent in my best assassins to bring your sisters and the others back, and if they fight, they will die in that cold, selfish realm that they chose to become a part of.”
“You assume we were not prepared for treachery, Knox. We were created from a land where everyone wants to kill each other. You think my sisters will be there when your assassins breach the portal to the Human Realm, but I assure you they will not. They were gone the moment my body ignited, and the House of Magic vanished from its current location.”
I prayed that it was what happened. I’d created a spell on my own and tested it on smaller objects in order to perfect it, but a house was another issue. If it had worked, the house would still be there, along with my sisters. They would be hidden behind a shroud on invisibility; no one would be able to see it or breach the house, but my family also wouldn’t be allowed to leave it, either.
To an outsider, it would look like nothing but a vacant lot. The house itself was straddling the portal and had been since it was built, but it was also able to be moved to sit over the creek where crystals were embedded into the surrounding land. They’d picked a location where the portal was the weakest. Witches were resilient like that, always prepared to bug out if shit got bad.
We always had a backup plan, but where Aurora had planned to seal the house and leave it visible, I knew Knox would figure out how to breach it sooner or later. So, I’d used my blood, slowly draining it, and then replenishing it to drain it again in the months I’d hidden in that house from Knox. I’d added my blood, along with the ingredients, onto the altar that the bones lay upon, shielding them from everyone.
The spell would release a single piece of vellum from the ceiling, warning my family that trouble was brewing, and so it would begin. We would come back to the Nine Realms through the portal and take back what was rightfully ours.
“You think you will beat me, little girl?”
“That just depends on what you consider being beaten?”
“I have you, Aria Hecate. You’re my prisoner; that’s a fucking win I’m willing to take. I walked in and took the strongest fucking witch from right out from under their noses.”
“Technically, my evil bitch of a sister took me. I was just the idiot who fell for the whole ‘save the damsel’ routine. Guess I should have known you weren’t the saving type. Lesson learned. It’s a good thing I don’t make the same mistake twice, right?”