Queen of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms, #5)(93)
Brander’s eyebrows pushed together as he snorted. “If shit goes south, you’ll need me. What do you plan to do if people are hurt, you’ll have no one with you who can mend them enough to get back here.”
“If shit goes south, Brander, we will not need a healer to mend our broken corpses. Knox is one of the strongest beings inside the Nine Realms. He’s currently being driven around by a complete sociopath.”
“He’s my brother,” he continued. The look of hopelessness in his stare almost caused me to concede. Knox’s voice inside my head reinforced my resolve.
“A king doesn’t go into a battle with the odds stacked against him. Knox would tell you it isn’t your job to come for him, Brander. You handle an entire kingdom, and he’s one soul within an entire realm of souls who both depend and rely on you. If we don’t return, they’re going to need their king to lead them to safety. You can’t do that if you’re dead.”
“I’d go, but I’d only be a hindrance.” Lore grumbled. His face turned away as if embarrassed. The angle caused the moss to slide from his cheek, revealing perfectly, undamaged skin. “Besides, they’d smell me coming from five realms away.”
“Lore needs you more than we do, Brander. He needs the moss removed. Once you’ve removed it, burn it. The toxins are still active, so don’t touch them without some kind of protection. Those who are coming with me, you have thirty minutes to grab or do whatever you need to before I open a portal to the keep on the edge of the Red River.”
“Are we going to pick up what I think we’re picking up?” Esme asked with a hopeful tone.
“It’s time to announce our return and then bring them here. If shit goes bad, they’ll need someone to protect them.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aria
Powerful wing gusts caused silvery strands to whip across my cheeks. The scent of tangy copper triggered my heart to still before it hammered, pounding against my ribcage. No sound originated from the ruins of the castle that we’d left Soraya, Siobhan, and Avyanna secured inside. Fear sought to hold me in its embrace as I took in the damage done.
“They’re okay, right?” Esme’s trembling lips caused my stomach to knot.
“I don’t know, Esme.” I wouldn’t lie to her or myself. I advanced cautiously, examining the rubble for any sign of bodies littered beneath the heavy stones. “Ember, I’m going to need your help here.”
“Why? Is best lesbian, Esme about to cry? She can use your titty to wipe them away, not mine.”
“Do you hear any heartbeats beneath the stones?” I questioned, unwilling to argue about Esme with her, not when I was so close to screaming in both denial and grief.
“There are several beneath us. All beating quickly, in fear. Esme’s sister is one of them, Siobhan. I also hear the horny girl’s increasingly nervous heart thundering louder than the one that woke me as it rumbled.” Guilt washed through me, which forced my eyes to narrow. It wasn’t my guilt that I was feeling.
“You didn’t make a sound when I confronted Knox,” I pointed out, only to close my eyes as more guilt and shame drifted through my mind. “I am not upset, Ember. I wouldn’t wish to see my mate like that, either.”
“Not my mate. I can’t feel my mate anymore. I haven’t felt him since we returned. It’s as if he’s just . . . gone. I don’t know how to feel. My insides are twisted, achy, and it hurts me.”
My lips released a sad, grief-filled whimper that was part rattle, part-whimper, which had a chorus of similar sounds coming from around me. Ember’s inner turmoil became turbulent and washed through me in violent waves.
“He’s a storm, one I’d willingly weather to have him. He could drown me in his rain and I’d willingly sink into the turbulent waters to feel him. Aria, I don’t want just anyone. I want Lennox back.”
“I know how you feel. I can’t feel Knox, either. It’s like a void has replaced him within my soul.” It was a brutal and gut-wrenching truth that revealed itself. “I miss him too. Both of them, Ember. Right now, we have to ignore the pain. Bury it deep inside until they’re free of Hecate’s hold. Emotions do not belong in battle or wars. I promise you this, we’re going there, and we’re creating a perfect storm of chaos to get him back. That means we have the get the others so that we can go get our Dicker back, and his sometimes psychotic, aggressive, sexually-depriving inner beast. Then we bury the bitch so fucking deeply inside her tomb that she ends up in hell.”
“You had me at bury Hecate, Aria. No need to keep going. Tell the men to stop breathing hard and making salivating noises over my sexy, feminine noises! Gods, can’t a girl just whine a little without every alpha wanting to mount her from behind?” She appeared to be amused with herself as she teetered. “You’d think they’d let a bitch grieve her mate in peace before trying to imprint her depresso, but very sexy, ass.” Ember released a loud rattle, which freed the scent we’d been holding back from the men.
“Seriously?” I asked, only to realize I’d done so out loud.
“I knew she was different, Vicious. You smell that, gentlemen?” Basilius asked, which caused a soft rattle to release from Esme’s lips. “Just guarding your queen, huh?”