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“They are stronger this time. This time, they’re not only yours and Knox’s babes, they’re ours. All of ours. Do not fear for them, for they are indestructible. Lennox and I planted the seeds, but you and Knox will grow them. He needs to come back to us. We need him too. No one else will kiss me, Aria.”Ember’s fear of never being kissed again registered low on the list, but it still made tears swim in my eyes. I knew explicitly how she felt. I wanted him back, too.
The shadows bathed the forest in a chilling cover of darkness. Knitting my eyebrows together as I peered into the shadows, I felt them rounding as the bolt of lightning sliced through the sky, revealing the form standing directly across from me. Under the cover of darkness within the obscurity of the trees sheltering him, Knox stood. The dim silhouette outlined only by the blinding, white light of the bolts zipping through the clouds above us.
My heartbeat stalled and then began beating against my ribcage at a dangerous pace. His eyes slid down my frame, and where I’d once felt only desirable heat from the action, now there was only iciness that scraped down every single inch of my frame. No words escaped my lips in warning. A chill shot down my spine, even as Knox stepped out from beneath the forest.
Knox’s movements weren’t hurried, as if he had not a worry in the world. Each powerful stride brought him closer to us. My fingers curled into my palms as they formed a tight, nervous fist at my sides. The closer he got, the more I felt the need to run away. His sightless, black eyes remained anchored on my face the entire trek across the clearing.
“Are you planning to fight me, Little Monster?” he purred, the sound like silk against my mind.
“No,” I uttered while scanning his eyes for the sliver of blue, needing to know he was in there. The idea of someone else having control over this man was inconceivable. He was one of the most powerful beings within the Nine Realms, but yet she’d got to him.
Knox’s mouth tugged up on one side farther than the other. The wickedly dark smile softened his entire face, as impossible as it seemed. My heart wrenched as his head tilted. The familiarness of the look threatened to destroy what remained of my heart, without him there to hold it together.
“Well, I know you’re not planning to fuck me. So, what have you planned for us to do out here?” His eyes drifted to my clenched fists and then drove back to the anguish apparent in my face. “Oh, my sweet, gorgeous girl. Are you intending to murder me? Even if you take my life, she’ll continue using my worthless corpse.”
“Not if you fight her,” I begged, not caring how pathetic or desperate I sounded or if Hecate heard my words. “Help me fight her and rid you of her influence, Knox. I can save you if you’ll let me.”
“I don’t want to be saved. I prefer Hecate’s bed to yours. Her skill’s unmatched for pleasure.”
“Like when you kissed her on your way out of the citadel? I get it, Hecate, that you got him, but that oily slime you forced into him doesn’t compel him to do what you really want. from him. Does it? He wouldn’t even kiss your poisonous lips back.”
The sound of a sword sliding through a scabbard ripped through the air. My eyes widened as the flash of steel aimed for my neck. Unable to move, I watched as Knox’s blade rushed toward my throat. The thundering echo of the blade against the hard steel of another sword vibrated in my bones, rattling my teeth.
Killian’s fingers wrapped around my upper biceps, biting into the flesh as he jerked me backward in time as the sparks from the colliding blades, barely missing me. With frightening strength, Knox slashed his sword toward Zyion’s blade as he deflected and blocked each angry, aggressive blow.
Realizing he couldn’t get to me without going through Zyion first, Knox squared up to him, then swung with alarming speed and accuracy. Zyion blocked, his arms shaking with every blow. Together, the men danced with agile, sleek moves that looking more like a dance than a battle. In perfectly balanced steps, they both moved forward, then back, striking blades as sparks began adding a pulsating glow from the echo of steel colliding against steel.
Each strike made my heart race a little faster. To win, Zyion had to take Knox into the salt barrier, where he would have to rely on his defensive skills to fend off Knox’s aggressive, lethally-aimed strikes. If Knox took Zyion down, that was it. He’d mercilessly slaughter Zyion, as there was no humanity behind the creature wielding the fortified blade that he attacked with.
If Zyion went down, I’d be forced, along with the others presently watching the vicious assault, to flee for our lives. Knox had to be forced into the circle, or at least one of the others we’d spent endless hours placing in case he couldn’t be walked into this one easily. Zyion pushed Knox forward, but for every one step forward, Knox pushed him two steps back.
Stepping closer, I lifted my hands, fighting the worry over the battle waging before us as I tried to find the end of the thread of darkness, or something to grab on to. I needed a way to unravel the layers Hecate had needed in order to control Knox. No matter how hard I searched, I continually came up empty. It was as if she’d forgone merely adding the slimy layers, and poured it into him, instead.
“Do you honestly think I’d allow you to havemygirl?” Knox snarled vehemently. His eyes crying the black sludge in rivers of tears.
“Fuck you, Karnavious.”
Realization that it wouldn’t work as we’d expected, tightened painfully around my heart like a vice, squeezing until my heart fluttered. Each violent strike clattered like a war drum into the night. How much longer could Zyion endure defending before being forced to go on the offense?
Closing my eyes, I tried again to find a way to unravel the insane amount of darkness within Knox. Hecate had either anticipated I’d try to remove it, or she’d felt it when I’d attempted to remove the darkness before. Each attempt drained the well within me, as if I was merely feeding Knox my power. It was worrisome, forcing me to back out, even as frustration washed through me.
“You think I’ll let her live? You’re smarter than that,” Knox taunted, his words bitter with acid burning me from each thing he said.
“I am smarter,” Zyion returned.
If he didn’t start taunting Knox back, we’d never force him to the surface. What the hell was he waiting for? An invitation? I’d told him to use whatever he needed to incite and provoke Knox harshly. We had to force him to fight against Hecate’s hold. Alone, we’d fail to eviscerate her from his being.
“You don’t have it in you to fuck Aria the way she needs it, Vicious. That little slut takes a beating and still begs for more. She’d fucking eat you up and spit you out, little boy,” Knox sneered. While I wasn’t concerned about the world’s opinion of me, I also didn’t want it to be disclosed. “Hell, she even took my entire knot into that greedy cunt of hers and liked it like the filthy whore she is. You think you’ll ever be able tofulfillher needs? Nah, that’s right. The first girl you loved? Didn’t that bitch swan dive off of a cliff? Total header, right? Oh, I remember now. The idea of returning to your tiny pathetic prick after having a real dragon made her want to die, right? She knew you’d be unable to quench her thirst for a real man so she did what was needed to escape you.”
Zyion’s strike against Knox’s blade sent him back, forcing him to dig his feet in as he smoothly countered it. Knox’s fingers tightened against the pummel of the blade, as sweat trickled down my back. My nails pricked against my flesh as my stomach roiled with tension. Knox swung then lifted his foot, kicking Zyion in the chest, sending him staggering back a few steps. The color fled from my face as I watched Knox bring his sword back, then swung it with a killing blow. Zyion turned just in time, missing the blade connecting with his chest by a hair’s breadth.
“Do you remember the second woman? I do. I remember her screaming for you as I ended her life. And she did, Zyion. She pleaded for me not to kill her, too. But I ensured she sang for me before I allowed her to find the blissful nothingness of death. That whore sang like an angel as she took every fucking inch of my blade through her supple, tender flesh. So, do you honestly think I’d entrust my whore with you? You’ll never have her, Vicious. At least, not while I still live.” Fear fluttered through my awareness as the vicious determination on Zyion’s face, as his body grew taut and rigid with murderous rage.
“I already fucking have her, Karnavious. I’ve had her many fucking times, and I’ll have her many fucking more now that you’re out of the way. And your girl? She sings so fucking pretty when I’m inside her. Fucking hell, it is so deliciously beguiling to want her to continually sing her sweet, lustful song again so soon after I just had it humming around my cock as I fucked her throat, raw. Your girl even sang my praises as she purred against my lips, promising to be a good little slut and let me use her however I’d like once we’ve finished up here. Of course, I wouldn’t say she sang like an angel, but she did gag prettily as I forced my entire cock down her throat. She’s exquisitely primal. That is why you like her so much, isn’t it? She doesn’t just give you her submission, she makes you fucking take it from her.”
My eyes fluttered in shock at his words, even as Killian’s gaze burned into the side of my head. I had told him to use whatever he could to bring Knox to the surface. There hadn’t been time to specify what would be out of line.
Turning to glance back at him, I exhaled before whispering, “I said whatever it took, Killian. Do you honestly think I’d have fucked Zyion and then brought him home with me to meet Knox?”
