Flames of Chaos
Amelia Hutchins
Flames of Chaos
Amelia Hutchins
Flames of Chaos
Legacy of the Nine Realms
* * *
By Amelia Hutchins
* * *
Copyright ©January 2020 Amelia Hutchins
ISBN: 978-0-9977201-7-4
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book in its entirety and in portions is the sole property of Amelia Hutchins.
Flames of Chaos Copyright©2020 by Amelia Hutchins. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic, paperback or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
This eBook/Paperback is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to place of purchase and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Authored By: Amelia Hutchins
Cover Art Design: Cover by Combs
Copy edited by: Melissa Burg
Edited by: E & F Indie Services
Published by: Amelia Hutchins
Published in (United States of America)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Created with Vellum
Warning
Warning: This book is dark. It’s sexy, hot, and intense. The author is human, as you are. Is the book perfect? It’s as perfect as I could make it. Are there mistakes? Probably, then again, even New York Times top published books have minimal mistakes because, like me, they have human editors. There are words in this book that won’t be found in the standard dictionary because they were created to set the stage for a paranormal-urban fantasy world. Words in this novel are common in paranormal books and give better descriptions to the action in the story than can be found in standard dictionaries. They are intentional and not mistakes.
About the hero: chances are you may not fall instantly in love with him, that’s because I don’t write men you instantly love; you grow to love them. I don’t believe in instant love. I write flawed, raw, caveman-like assholes that eventually let you see their redeeming qualities. They are aggressive, assholes, one step above a caveman when we meet them. You may not even like him by the time you finish this book, but I promise you will love him by the end of this series.
About the heroine: There is a chance that you might think she’s a bit naïve or weak, but then again, who starts out as a badass? Badass women are a product of growth, and I am going to put her through hell, and you get to watch her come up swinging every time I knock her on her ass. That’s just how I do things. How she reacts to the set of circumstances she is put through may not be how you as the reader, or I, as the author would react to that same situation. Everyone reacts differently to circumstances and how Aria Hecate responds to her challenges, is how I see her as a character and as a person.
I don’t write love stories: I write fast-paced, knock you on your ass, make you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next books. If you’re looking for cookie-cutter romance, this isn’t for you. If you can’t handle the ride, unbuckle your seatbelt and get out of the roller-coaster car now. If not, you’ve been warned. If nothing outlined above bothers you, carry on and enjoy the ride!
To everyone just trying to tread water, you got this. Your chaos shines brightly, don’t dull it for anyone. Let your flames burn wildly and rattle the world with your inner beast. Set the world on fire, and rise from the ashes smiling. You are brutally beautiful in your own way.
Contents
Books by Amelia Hutchins along with reading order for series
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Nine Realms’ Compendium
Books by Amelia Hutchins along with reading order for series
Flames of Chaos
Ashes of Chaos Spring 2020
* * *
The Fae Chronicles
Fighting Destiny
Taunting Destiny
Escaping Destiny
Seducing Destiny
Unraveling Destiny
Embracing Destiny coming February/March 2020 (Final book)
The Elite Guards
A Demon’s Dark Embrace
Claiming the Dragon King
The Winter Court
A Demon’s Plaything
A Guardian’s Diary
Darkest Before Dawn
Death before Dawn
Midnight Rising TBA
Playing with Monsters
Sleeping with Monsters
Becoming his Monster
Last Monster book TBA 2020
* * *
Playing with Monsters Series
Wicked Knights
Oh, Holy Knight
If She’s Wicked
Book Three, TBA
* * *
Midnight Coven Series
* * *
Immortal Hexes
Midnight Coven
Finished Serial Series
* * *
If you’re following the series for the Fae Chronicles, Elite Guards, and Monsters, rea
ding order is as follows.
* * *
Fighting Destiny
Taunting Destiny
Escaping Destiny
Seducing Destiny
A Demon’s Dark Embrace
Playing with Monsters
Unraveling Destiny
Sleeping with Monsters
Claiming the Dragon King
Oh, Holy Knight
Becoming his Monster
A Demon’s Plaything
The Winter Court
If She’s Wicked
Embracing Destiny 2020
Chapter 1
Exhaling a long, shaky breath, I stared at the lights of the city below the cliff I stood upon. Haven Falls, a city of immortal beings that weren’t even from the Human Realm. A place that haunted my dreams and lived in every nightmare I’d ever had. It was nestled between winding valleys, hidden within them to remain a secret from the mortals whose realm we lived in. I’d stood in the same spot long enough for the day to become night. The town had turned from a bustling hub of activity to a lighted dreamscape.
I’d been twelve when my Aunt Aurora had taken us away from here, away from the cruel brutality of the immortal realms from which we’d come. This place held no appeal and no good memories for me. It was the center of everything I hated; everything I wished to burn down and feel the ashes of the wreckage between my toes. I’d dreamt once I had burned it down, leaving those who stood aside and watched me being tortured, brutalized, and terrorized by my mother, in ashes.
My sisters didn’t share my vision of this place, nor had they endured what my mother put me through trying to end my life. They relished being home, seeing their old friends while helping me search for my twin, who had been missing several months now without a single sign of her.
My eyes lifted toward the galaxies of stars above and then lowered to fall on the oldest of my sisters as she moved to where I stood.
Sabine was everything gentle and motherly to us since she was the oldest and had been present for every set of twins being born, and also because our mother was a heartless bitch. We had to learn quickly to depend on one another in order to survive. Stopping beside me, she peered up at the stars before she spoke.
“Once we enter the town, they’ll know we are back,” she muttered in a hushed tone, pushing her golden curls away from her face as the wind picked up, mirroring the internal struggle her words created within me.
“They already know we are here,” I countered, sensing eyes that viewed us as we stood in the crisp evening air, staring out at the town. “We are being watched and have been since the moment we exited the cars.”
“They can watch us all they want. Someone here knows what happened to Amara, and we’re not leaving here until we find her.”
Frowning, I considered her words. Amara had been withdrawn from me for a while now, and I wasn’t so sure she wanted to be found. It hadn’t been unusual for her to be missing for an extended period, but this one felt different. It felt wrong, and everything inside of me said to find her before it was too late to save her.
Turning, I took in the stares of my sisters, who had rallied behind me to come find Amara. Every single one of them refused to stay behind, and I loved them more for it. We were of the original family of witches, born from the same blood that ran through Hecate, the Goddess of Witches. She was my grandmother, and because of her, we had a duty to this town, one we’d escaped from until now. We’d left our mother, Freya, here to deal with the fallout, but Freya was wishy-washy and had a bad reputation for shirking her duties. She vanished soon after we did. Shocker.
Amara, my sister who I had a love-hate relationship with for the last few years, had come back to Haven Falls to secure our family’s place on the council within the Nine Realms when word had reached us that Freya had vanished without a word. It would have been troubling if it was anything new, but it wasn’t. Freya loved men, and she cared little about propriety or reputation when she took them as lovers. She hated being part of the council that oversaw the immortals entering the Human Realm from the Nine Realms.
Only those with the purest of bloodlines could sit on the council of the Nine Realms. Together they decided whether immortals were safe enough to enter the Human Realm and if they could maintain our secrets. In the center of town is the portal between this realm and the entrance to the Nine Realms. Those coming through had to check in with the council, gaining papers that made them legal to be here.
Amara came back to Haven Falls on her own, offering to hold the seat among the council. I pleaded with her to reconsider, but she refused. She’d reminded me that no immortal passing through the portal could gain entrance unless a witch of Hecate bloodline voted with the others. Still, it could have been anyone else. She’d come back soon after that, but more often than not, she missed meetings. She withdrew from everything and everyone, which made waves in this town. Amara had even withdrawn from magic, unwilling to do spells that called for the coven, claiming she was drained or sick on the days they needed them.
Upon her return to the Human Realm, she checked in weekly, letting us know everything was fine. Then weeks turned into months, and then nothing. It was as if she just vanished. We’d called her phone, leaving voice messages and text messages to no avail. Then the day came when her phone was disconnected. Calls to the original families held little to no hope. No one had seen her in weeks, and even worse, the store we ran was closed down. The bond I shared with Amara had severed as if she’d just ceased to exist. For me, it was debilitating to be unable to reach out and sense the presence of my twin. It felt like a part of me was missing, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t reconnect it.
“Someone in this town has to know what happened to her,” my sister Luna said, slipping her hand into mine and squeezing it reassuringly. “They’ll regret it if they touched one of our own. There are enough of us to wage war if they so much as harmed a hair on her pretty head.”
Enough of us.
My family was composed of all females, eight sets of twins. Hecate had cursed her line to birth multiples, all female offspring. She’d ensured we would never be alone, but that came at a heavy price. Any female who carried a male child learned quickly the cost of doing so. My mother was the daughter of Hecate, purest of blood, and yet she birthed twin daughters without a care of what happened after we’d detached from her womb. Her sisters Hysteria and Aurora had been the ones to deal with the repercussions of her overactive libido.
Freya had wanted an army of witches, but she didn’t want the responsibility that came with birthing that army herself. Instead, she left us with her sisters, who loved us like their own children, Aurora more so than Hysteria. Hysteria had entered the portal and hasn’t been heard of since. Hecate herself birthed two sets of twins. Freya and Aurora and Hysteria and Kamara. Kamara had been lost centuries ago or left on her own. Nobody knew what happened to her, other than she’d vanished and hadn’t been seen or heard of since.
“We may have to consider the fact that she might have gone with our mother,” Kinvara stated, shrugging when I stared at her, brow raised in a questioning look.
“I have considered it, but Amara isn’t that stupid.” I frowned, knowing it was a viable explanation, but that wouldn’t make Amara safe. “I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to trust our murderous mother.”
“I don’t think our mother would try to murder Amara,” Sabine pointed out. “She’s cold-blooded for sure, but she isn’t a murderer. Maybe she wanted Amara with her to lure men to her bed, but murder? I don’t think she would do something like that to her own child.”
“Seriously?” I snorted. “That bitch tried to murder me frequently. Hell, she tried to abort Amara and me from her womb. If Aurora hadn’t stepped in during every attempt on my life, I would be dead. I was a child.”
Sabine frowned, nodding at the anger and hatred that dripped from my words. “She was crazed after she came back. Something was off, Aria. I don’t know why she did what she di
d to you, but whatever the reason, know that she wasn’t the same when she returned from the Nine Realms, heavily pregnant with you and Amara.”
“It doesn’t excuse her actions, Sabine. She tried to murder me.”
“Yes, and Aurora saved you. She never tried to murder Amara directly. She only aimed for her when you were both in her womb, so not sure you can assume she’d go for her now. That is what we are saying, and since we left this place, she hasn’t been able to find you. Aurora made certain we were untraceable.”
Our mother, God love her, wasn’t selective about the creatures she took between her thighs. Freya also never kept track of who had fathered us, making it impossible to know what we were until the change began within us; then, we handled it on our own. Aine and Luna had glowing blue eyes, marking them alpha wolves, alerting us to their heritage. Sabine and Callista were nymphs or sirens, but it was hard to tell since there wasn’t much difference between the two species. We’d resorted to calling them hookers because it made them laugh when we did. Kinvara and Valeria were succubi, the result of our mother getting busy with a horde of incubus demons on one of her trips into the Nine Realms. She’d created her own twisted version of Noah’s ark, but with daughters.
