Page 5 of Court of Dragons and Twilight

Aphrodite’s lounging on the throne next to him in a long red dress. It’s wrapped tight around her neck, and the silk falls around her curves. The bottom part sparkles like diamonds on the stone ground, and it matches her blood-red lips. She brushes her braided hair over her shoulder and smiles at me like we are long-lost friends. Every bit of hate, disgust and desire to kill her must be written all over my face, because she stops smiling for a second and looks away.

“You brought most of your lovers and mother here to die a quick death? They should thank you, and it does save me chasing them down in each of those pesky courts.” She makes a joke like this is all nothing to her. Maybe it isn’t to her, I don’t know, but she is ruining my life and joking about it.

I step away from Lysander and lift my head high. “Gods like to play games, so play one last game with me with the stakeshigher than they have ever been.” She rests her head on her bent arm and waves at me to continue. “You liked that I won your trials. I saw it. It was probably some sick but fun entertainment for you. It must get boring after all these years of being a god of love, trapped and married to him. Who better than the goddess of love to play with a girl that has five men in love with her? So, I offer you one more game. The winner gets this world and everyone in it. That includes my king, and Ares has to leave his body. I want Ayiolyn and I will claim it. Play or we can do the boring thing and fight until you are dead.”

Her painted lips turn up into a huge smile, one that unsettles my stomach. “You’re smart, smarter than your mother?—”

My mother steps forward to my side. “Careful how you speak about my daughter. I watched you, goddess of love, and I know you’re nothing but a sad woman who is suffering, so you’re going to bring the entire world down with you because you aren’t happy.”

Emrys…no, Ares speaks. “I’d like to trap her in a prison for years again. She clearly didn’t use the time to learn how to shut her fucking mouth.”

Aphrodite puts her hand on Ares’s arm. Touching Emrys. Touching my mate. Burning jealousy makes the entire world darken around me, shadows slithering into gaps in the stone and waiting like snakes to strike at my command. Aphrodite doesn’t move her hand, but she straightens. “The first thing my husband will do is kill Emrys’s body and soul for good if you dare attack me in my home.”

“This isn’t your home,” I snarl.

Grayson comes to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist. “Where’s my sister?”

Aphrodite looks him up and down in a way I don’t like. Fuck her. “Safe, below, in the dungeons, earth king. You’re too pretty to see cry, so I won’t kill her…yet. It’s a bit cold, mind you. Imight chuck her a blanket if you play nice. She cries all the time. She’s rather annoying.”

Grayson tenses and the ground cracks under our feet. “Give her back, you fucking?—”

“Why would I do that? I’m not stupid. I realise exactly how powerful each of you is. My husband’s in the air king’s body and feels his power. He could suffocate this entire world if he wanted to. You could burn it down. You could drown it, and you, earth king, could rip the earth apart.”

“If you touch a single hair on her head or she dies from the cold… If she has cried this entire time, ripping the earth apart would be the least of your problems. I’ll help Ellelin rip you apart with her shadows and watch you scream. Trust my words. We will enjoy it.” He cocks his head to the side. He isn’t wrong. I’ve wanted her dead for so long, and every time I think there is a chance I could get time with my kings, something always goes wrong. My uncle Phobos once told me that murder doesn’t count if they are annoying shitheads who deserve it, and I’ve kept that motto in my heart. “There won’t be anything left of you to go to hell when we’re done.”

I see a flicker of fear in her eyes, and she purposely looks away from Grayson to me. “I do like games. It would be easier than attempting to kill you all. I want the world to worship me before I take on another, and this ultimate game, the last test, will be a warning to anyone that tries to revolt after I win. A legacy of the last royal dragons.” She taps her fingers on the chair as the angry, stiff wind blows around my legs.

My mother suddenly disappears and my hand grabs for the empty space. “Where the fuck did you take her?” I scream, my shadows rising like pillars into the sky.

“Calm down,” Aphrodite laughs. “I sent her down to the dungeons to keep that crying girl company and to add to the stakes.”

I grit my teeth and look at Grayson, Arden and Lysander. One word and we fight until the death. My eyes drift back to Emrys, and the thought sinks in my chest. Even if we did win against Aphrodite, the last thing Ares would do is kill Emrys to spite me. Aphrodite carries on when I look back at her. “Here is my deal. Four tests, one for each of you to complete and win. You need to win three out of four, and if we draw, I win. One of you will have to come back each day. If you win, then I will leave this world. I will take Ares’s soul with me and leave Emrys’s body here for you to sort out. Alive, of course. I will not hurt anyone, and I will leave the princess and your mother here, too. Unharmed.”

“You leave this world with no powers. You lose everything, including your magic,” I add in before she can continue. “If I’m risking everything, so are you. Unless you’re frightened.”

Taunting her is easy. She laughs, but Ares isn’t impressed. “Fucking hell, do not make that deal for a stupid game. It isn’t worth?—”

“Deal,” Aphrodite interrupts Ares, who slumps back in his seat, looking pale. Emrys looks sick and I hope it’s because Emrys’s soul is fighting in there, making it hell for Ares. “But if you lose, I’m going to take over with four dragon kings at my side, the four elements, and they will be tasked with killing you in front of everyone.” My mates blanch and my heart races. I stare at my mates, wishing that we could talk in our minds to each other. But I don’t need to do that to know that we can’t go back now. Our decision was set before we came here.

“You have a deal.”

“Good. Water king, your test is first. Come tomorrow, at dawn, alone. Anyone that comes with you is dead,” Aphrodite demands. “And I vow to abide by the rules set today and promise safety in and out of the tests. I vow it on my blood.” She touchesher neck, running a nail across it. Her blood freely flows down her pale neck.

“I make the vow too.” Lysander unclips a blue shimmering dagger from inside his cloak and quickly cuts his hand. Each of my kings makes the deal until I am left. The blood of my mates drips off the dagger like a warning as I slide it across my own palm. I vow to any gods that are listening. Let this be a warning of what happens when gods come to our world. I twist the dagger around and point it right at Aphrodite. “You are going to be a warning that haunts all the gods that are scattered across the worlds. This is what happens when you come to a world that is not yours and you try to mess with the rulers. When you’re dead, this final game is going to be our legacy. Not yours.”

Her eyes flicker with something, something I can’t read, but I look one more time at Emrys with my heart, feeling like it’s in his hands, being crushed, before nodding to Gray. Grayson opens a portal right behind us, and I take his hand as we walk back through. When it closes, my heart doesn’t feel like it came through, and it will be lost with Emrys and my mother in the Air Court until this game is over.

“Granddaughter.” I spin around to see my grandmother and Cronus standing in the centre of the room.

“How?” I splutter, unable to get any other words out, but my grandmother opens her arms.

“Your family is here and you’re not fighting for this world alone. Now tell me, where is my daughter?”

CHAPTER 3

ARTEMIS

“Did you hear what Elle and the kings did with your mother?” Kian questions before letting out a sigh. “It’s chaos down there, with her grandmother just appearing along with a dead army. I was happy to escape up here even before you found me.”

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