Page 86 of Summer's Seduction

The back of my sword connected with his face. The sick, satisfying crunch of shattered bones sounded as blood poured from his nose. “You do not get to speak of her like that.”

He stepped back as my wings flexed, my fangs lengthening in anticipation of the kill. It was the first time anything resembling fear flickered across his face.

“You used her, taking advantage of her weakness for the effects of the poppy, and then left her to rot once you got what you wanted.”

I lashed out. Hypnos sidestepped the first and narrowly avoided the second, but I drew blood with the third strike. Blood welled along his shoulder, staining his silver tunic in red.

His eyes widened, recognizing for the first time that I wasn’t the same terrified boy he’d forced to murder for him. Somewhere along the way, I’d found myself—I’d given myself permission to become the person I was meant to be, even if that was the opposite of what Hypnos had wanted.

“A new dawn is here, Father.” I stood before him. The sound of wings stirred behind me, the light brightening, but I focused on my father, watching how his stunned gaze turned inward—grew calculative. “Will you stand aside and help me bring further a new age?”

I lifted a palm for The Cornucopia, keeping my sword poised in the other.

He bent down to pick it up, looking as if he might hand it over. “You’ll have to pry this from my dead body?—”

Thunk.

His head hit the floor before his mouth stopped moving. I’d once heard men whisper of seeing a decapitated head blinking before, some claiming there were seconds where the brain functioned off of the blood a little longer. I wondered if my father was aware of what the tilting of the world meant. If enough consciousness was left for him to know it was his head rolling.

His body fell, joining the hundreds of others lost to this war. It was only fair he stayed there, among the dead. Nestled in the gore and destruction of his own making.

I turned away from the pieces of my father, noting the chimeras surrounding me. Their snake tails hissed, scenting the fresh blood, but their lions’ heads were calm and respectful evenas I lifted The Cornucopia. The white poppies engraved on the edges shimmered, the petals darkening into a deep ruby as the horn filled.

Magic swelled within, latching onto my bones and weaving through my body. Pricks of energy danced along the top of my head, linking to form a matching ruby crown reflected at me in the eyes of the surrounding beasts.

And there, walking toward me as the chimeras and remaining dark ones of my army parted for her, was Larkspur. Ebony wings edged in violet fanned out behind her, and her fingers, now tipped in black, looked more akin to talons than nails. Her umber curls had pulled free from the braid at some point, loose and framing her green eyes ringed in a red so dark it was nearly black. An aura of night seemed to cling to her, like wisps of dark dreams swirling around her.

I recalled the tales of the lost princess and The Strix family being descended from gods. Looking upon the amethyst crown set upon her head, it all made sense. The persuasion, the powers that must have manifested very strongly and at a young age for her to escape The Glass Palace unscathed, the reason why there was no other path forward if she held on to her memories—if she was allowed to grow into all she was meant to be before we were here, at this moment—Larkspur, my brave, beautiful, powerful little monster wasn’t only a newly crowned queen… but the chosen descent. The one who would inherit the magic and title long since left vacant.

Larkspur was the Goddess of Nightmares.

LARKSPUR

Smoothing out the black, silky fabric of my dress, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see Morpheus staring at me with wonder in his gaze. His golden eyes darted from my wings on full display with the low back to my black-tipped claws, to my clearly longer fangs framed by a red tint I’d coated my lips in. My amethyst was poised on the top of my head, and I felt every bit the queen I was—goddess, I reminded myself.

I’d thought Morpheus was out of his mind when he’d first suggested on the battlefield, but Hecate and Hades had agreed. My woven life thread had changed, or rather it was allowed to glow as it was always meant to before it was bound and shrouded.

“You are stunning,” Morpheus growled, his golden eyes growing dark as he stalked across the newly redecorated room in The Slumber Palace—a room that was only ours.

My palace still needed repairs. It had only been a month since the war, but everything had changed.

We’d lost a significant number of dark ones, and many souls would need to be put to rest, but the huntresses suffered only minor wounds, Psyche was safe… and Hypnos was dead.

“Absolutely not,” I said, shaking my head with a playful grin as I scented his arousal spike. “The coronation is in just a few minutes, and I look perfect right now.”

Morpheus’s smile tilted as he dragged his nose up my neck, pressing teasing kisses over my pulse. It took all the control I had to ignore the hard press of him against my back and step away.

“I want you smelling of me,” he purred, dark wings flexing as he crept forward. “I want to watch you kneel as you accept your place in The Darklands and know that every being knows you belong to me.”

Heat pooled low in my belly, my thighs clenching as slickness built. “Morpheus,” I started to say, but then he dropped to his knees, staring up at me from between my legs, and I couldn’t speak.

“We can’t have you messing up that pretty face just yet, little monster.” Morpheus’s hands grazed the back of my calves, the smooth fabric of my gown pooling as his touch trailed up. “But there’s nothing to stopmefrom getting dirty.”

He pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh, causing me to squirm with need. “Tell me you want me, Larkspur.” His hands drifted further, cupping my ass as I opened wider for him, tilting my hips for him. Morpheus licked higher, nearly to the place I needed him most. “Tell me how you want me buried between your thighs and feasting on your sweet pussy.”

“Yes,” I begged. “Morpheus, please.”

He pressed a kiss to my pussy, inhaling a groan before he licked his lips. “Your wish is my command.”

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