He didn’t speak, and I wasn’t even sure he was still there anymore. I dropped my head back, closing my eyes before spinning around to look at him, but his eyes were cold, merciless when they met mine. I stepped back, shivering at the intensity that watched me.
“When we leave this room, you will say nothing to anyone. I don’t care if they speak to you; you don’t say a word. When we get outside, you will stand beside Killian, and you will remain silent, or you won’t like what happens when we get back to this room.”
“Why take me at all then?” I asked curiously, continuing to step away from him as he prowled closer. “Why not just leave me locked in your bedroom naked? Isn’t that what you want from me? To have me at your mercy, cut off from the world as you slowly destroy who I am to rebuild me into what you want me to be?”
“Because you’re not missing this,” he uttered as his hands balled into fists at his sides. “And I think you’re fine the way you are, but your views need to be cleared. You haven’t seen this place or the results of what your bloodline has done, but sooner or later, you will.”
He moved across the room, slowly and meticulously putting on each piece of armor. It was as if he was making a show of it, and it caused the hair on my neck to rise with the silent warning. My heart clicked into overdrive as he turned, smiling wickedly once he was fully armored, holding his hand out.
Whispering through the dryness in my mouth, I started to tremble with the look burning in his eyes. Victory. “What did you do, Knox?”
“Exactly what I said I was going to do, Aria. Come, it’s time.”
“Knox, don’t do this.” My voice held a plea of desperation, but his eyes held no mercy as he moved to me, pulling me against his armor, staring into my terrified gaze. “I am begging you.”
“You won’t change my mind,” he breathed, lowering his mouth to mine as he brushed against it. “You will hate me for this, but maybe one day, you will see it from where I stand, Aria Hecate. This is their fault, and they must pay for what they have done to us.”
He didn’t wait to see if I followed him. Instead, he grabbed my hand, jerking me against him as he started out of the room. I had to run to keep up with his long, angry strides as he moved through the empty hallways with only a few guards behind us who had been posted at the door. I memorized the layout silently, staring down hallways as he took me down long, winding staircases and through more halls until I realized he was confusing me on purpose.
Once we were down the staircase, I pulled on his hold, staring in horror at the walls lined in skulls carved with pentagrams. We emerged in a large room with tall cathedral ceilings and stained glass windows, decorating the room in every shade. A throne sat on a raised platform, built from skulls of the Hecate bloodline, as indicated by the pentagrams that were magically bestowed to them at birth, instead of those that were carved into the skulls along the walls. Hecate witch skulls sat at the base of the throne, while femurs and high witch skulls created the backrest. I swallowed denial, turning tear-filled eyes to him as my chest rose and fell with the realization of how many witches he’d slaughtered. I trembled visibly as he watched me fighting the sob that built in my lungs.
“I did not lie to you, Aria. I have built my life over the past five hundred years around murdering witches. I will never stop, not until the last one bleeds their magic back into the soil of the Nine Realms. Come,” he said darkly, pulling me behind him again until sunlight touched my face. “Maybe now you will see that you cannot escape this fight. You will either be at my side or against me one way or another, little one.”
Chapter 60
Knox pushed me toward Killian, who grabbed my arm painfully, jerking me closer until I was standing between him and Lore silently. I scanned the courtyard, seeing familiar faces from my childhood as I noted the line of prisoners being brought in through the gates. I searched for my family, and relief washed over me until they shoved Dimitri into the courtyard with Aurora beside him.
The world went silent around me. My heartbeat pounded in my temples as the air sat stuck in my throat. Everything around us stopped and moved in slow motion as my hands lifted, covering the cry that fought to escape my throat. Tears burned my eyes, slowly rolling free as fear ripped through me and pushed icy claws around my heart, squeezing it painfully.
I turned to Knox, who watched me for a moment before he looked away. His shoulders pushed back, his neck stretching as he refused to look at where I stood in silent horror. He’d found Aurora and Dimitri somehow, and he expected me to remain silent as he slaughtered them?
My throat swelled and burned with tears. Dimitri caught sight of me and opened his mouth to speak, but Aurora touched his shoulder. Her gaze moved between us, and then to Knox. Slowly, she turned, staring at the statue that was inches from where she stood, where Amara’s head remained still upon it. Aurora’s mouth opened, but Knox beat her to it, shouting to incite the crowd.
“I give you the leaders of the original bloodlines! Those who betrayed the Nine Realms and will now face charges of treason against us!” he shouted, and the crowd howled in applause. “How do you charge them?” he demanded, and the crowd erupted with screams of guilty or worse.
Nausea swirled through me as he stepped to the first original in the line and used his swords to crosscut the head from the body before he used his foot to kick the body back. I sagged in shock, still covering my mouth as tears poured from my eyes. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t watch the only mother I had ever known, or would ever know, die like this, as part of his sadistic show. It wasn’t justice. It was a fucking slaughter. A low growl rose from my chest as my body rattled with rage.
“Give me one reason to take your fucking head, witch,” Killian growled beside me, tightening his hold on my arm. “One fucking move and you end here and now, and no one will stop me.”
“Careful, Killian. You were told to guard her, not goad her,” Lore warned through clenched teeth, helping me to stand back up where my knees were refusing to hold my weight. “Close your eyes, Aria.” I jerked my arms away from him and covered my mouth once more.
Close my eyes?
I continued to stare between Aurora and Knox as he continued slaughtering leaders of the original families of the Nine Realms. Her eyes pleaded for me not to interfere. My breathing grew ragged with anger and denial as I turned, watching the bodies being stacked into a pile while the heads were collected and placed as an offering to his dead wife and son. Every time he killed one, Aurora moved closer to his blades. He refused to look at me, refused to see the silent plea in my eyes.
I watched Knox in silence. Slowly, I lowered my hands together, staring at Aurora as more screams erupted, and the chaos of the crowd turned frenzied with bloodlust. Fear and anger collided within me, and I reached for my magic, forgetting briefly about the runes that had been burned into my flesh. Power from the Nine Realms rushed through me, answering my call, and I gasped silently, relieved that the runes had failed to bind my magic.
Through the noise and commotion, I mouthed the words, no one hearing the spell leaving my lips. My finger worked over my palm, giving warning to the others within the House of Magic. I watched Aurora as she stepped closer and closer, time inching toward her death with every tick of the clock as Knox picked up speed, covered in the blood of the originals. My teeth grew with the need to act, covered by my lips as I fought to contain the growl and purring that was building into one furious vibration as it built within my lungs.