“This place will be gone, and we won’t be able to come back,” she insisted carefully. “The portal will be gone, and we can never come back again because only Hecate had the power to open it.”
“I know, but we can’t stay here either. We cannot hide for the rest of our lives. The Kingdom of Witches is in chaos, murdering thousands of creatures in the name of Hecate’s bloodline; that’s us. We didn’t give them permission to slaughter creatures or build an army for war. The entire Nine Realms hates us because of their actions. Our house is messy, and what do Hecate witches do when it is messy?”
“We clean the house,” she stated firmly, dropping her eyes. “So, we will go to the tombs and take my mother’s head while she slumbers.” Tears filled her eyes. “Then, we do what we need to do together.”
“I can’t go with you.” I closed my eyes as they began arguing all at once. “I am marked, and if I go with you, Knox will find you immediately. I will go elsewhere while you prepare the items we need to secure a new, stronger House of Magic. I will keep Knox busy for now. I will keep running until you send me word that you are ready to raise the new house in the Nine Realms. You must stay in the shadows and draw no attention to you once you are there, do you understand?”
“And me?” Dimitri asked.
I turned, staring at him as Knox watched through the window, unable to breach the barrier even though it was weakening. He was stuck outside the shield protecting the house unless it fell. For now, my magic held firmly against the assault his witches were throwing against it.
“Welcome to the family, Dimitri. There is nowhere else you can go, so if you want to be wicked with us, let’s get wicked, shall we?”
His eyes smiled even though he shook his head. “They slaughtered the pack. They slaughtered the entire alpha pack the moment they engaged in battle.”
“I’m sorry, but if you’re bordering on hysterics, you will need to hold it for a little while,” I said, moving to the wall to clear it of pictures and adornments. I sliced deeply into my palm, drawing a symbol onto the white paint as everyone watched in silence. “I love you guys, see you soon,” I whispered, slapping my palm against the wall, watching as it turned into a wind tunnel that would send them through the portal, straight to the sacred tomb where the dire wolves lived.
I stepped back, watching as one by one, as Dimitri and my family jumped through the portal. When the last one was through, I slapped my hands, sealing the portal before I whispered a spell, disengaging the blood and pulling the droplets from the wall, forming a ball of blood in my palm. Slowly, I turned around to stare at Knox, who watched me, along with the witches.
“Open the fucking door,” he hissed. “If you run, I will find you, Aria.” His chest rose and fell as he glared at me, noting every single movement I made with his predatory gaze. “When I catch you, because I will, I will punish you for running from me. Come out now, and I’ll go easy on you. If you make me chase you, you will regret it.”
“I know you will catch me eventually.” I smiled sadly. “That doesn’t mean it will be easy, Knox, King of Norvalla. I have no plans of making anything easy for you, all things considered. You just tried to kill the only mother I have ever known. You tried to neuter my magic and to enslave me. No, catching me won’t be as easy as you want it to be.” I pressed my head against the cool window as my hands went flat against the thick glass, the ball of blood hovering in the air beside me. Sweat beaded on my brow as his hand lifted, copying mine as if he could coax me out. His purring slithered through me, and I moaned, opening my mouth to let mine escape, watching as his gaze heated from the needy timbre of mine.
My eyes closed even as another eruption sounded, shaking the house. I had to wait out the timer. The time between portal spells was crucial to altering locations. I had to be sure I ended up far away from my family since the burning reminder on my thigh was humming with warning. I slowly opened my eyes, staring into black orbs filled with flecks of red flames. It unnerved me, not the chaos I witnessed burning in those fiery depths, but the excitement. He was deadly calm, his eyes focused on me in a way that made me shiver with trepidation. He wanted to hunt me down, and I wasn’t sure if it was the beast or man that craved the hunt more.
I started to step away, but the witches slammed the window with magic, and I lifted my fingers, snapping them once as all three fell to the ground, dead. Knox peered down at their corpses, then at me with a narrowed glare before his lips curved into a sinful smirk.
Peering over at the timer, his gaze followed mine as it ticked down minutes until I could open another portal into the Nine Realms, deep within the Wicker Forest. I was going straight to the first castle he intended to storm and see if what he said was true. I made it three steps away from the window before my leg jolted with pain, and I dropped my knees, throwing back my head to scream in the worst agony of my life.
“Get the shield open, now!” he shouted as I crawled toward the wall, painting the blood in a different design for the new location, through blinding tears and debilitating pain. “Now, before she fucking escapes!”
Once I’d painted the portal, I sat on my knees, sobbing as more pain ripped through me. My eyes lifted to his, and he covered his mouth with his hand, staring as he continued to apply pressure and pain to my leg until it was almost too much to take. Sweat dripped from my hair as I slid my arms through the backpack Kinvara had prepared for me. I grabbed the hammer from the coffee table and then the skull with my bloodied hand, centering it.
Slowly, I stood up as everything within me screamed to curl in a ball in the fetal position. My hands trembled, and my eyes lifted to Knox, watching as he realized what I was about to do.
Knox turned, staring at his people before he issued orders in rapid command as I brought the hammer down, shattering the ancient skull. I tumbled to the floor, screaming as pain burned against my flesh, and I arched off the floor, explosions sounding in the background.
My body jerked until I was seizing, realizing that when the explosions got to my house—when the last house had been demolished to erase proof of our existence—I would die if I didn’t make it through the portal. It wasn’t something I could live through. It was ancient dark magic, cast by the goddess herself.
Knox pounded on the window, and I continued to flop around the floor, unwilling to let him in to save me. I’d saved my family. I’d protected the witches who could rewrite the future without bloodshed, and I was ready to die if my life was the cost. I’d done what I needed to do and had given the Nine Realms the best chance, they had to fix the wrongs.
The pain in my leg eased, and I exhaled, laying there staring up at the ceiling as I fought to get air into my lungs. Knox continued to slam his palms against the window. I sat up slowly, staring at him as he watched me. Turning to look at the wall, he veered around, watching as the House of Alphas imploded, sending wood sailing through the air like weapons.
“Get the fuck up and get through the portal now. Now, Aria!” Knox ducked as a board impaled beside his head, sheering the siding as it stuck into the house. “Get up and get through the portal!”
I turned, staring at the wall as I summoned magic to me, crawling on hands and knees to where the portal slowly turned black and violet, spinning in a circle. I slipped through the portal as the House of Magic began to scream in protest.