Page 8 of Court of Dragons and Twilight

My heart races. “I’m not letting go either. Fight for me. Come back. I would like it if you left my other mates alive with us if you decide to drown the world. I’m kind of partial to them.”

He shrugs. “I don’t give a fuck.”

I hit his shoulder, but he catches my hand, twisting and pinning it behind my back before crushing his lips down on mine, kissing me deeply and branding me as his. He doesn’t need to, I’m hopelessly his already. Time fades into just numbers with Lysander, like there is no beginning or end to the clock. Soon, I’m breathless and panting. Only then does he let me go. “I’ll come back; I’ll win and then sink my cock into you for my prize.”

Heat trickles down my spine as he lets me go, and I want to grab him, lock him away so there isn’t a chance of losing one of my mates. Is this how they felt as I did dangerous things over and over to save them? The darkness behind me seems to whisper in my ear as he walks up the steps, clicking his fingers and a portal opening. The song of the fifth court plays for Lysander, and if that isn’t welcoming him as a future king consort to me, I don’t know what is. Lysander looks over his shoulder once, right before plunging into the court of our enemies.

CHAPTER 5

KING LYSANDER

Thank fuck I can swim, because the love goddess bitch has flooded the portal. I step straight into a current fast enough to take any air left in my body and rip it straight out. The current sends me in a spiral, down what feels like a spinning tunnel of seawater, the salt stinging my eyes before I manage to swim towards the edge, grappling on to a stone ledge. I pull myself up with sheer strength and manage to stand, glaring at the blinking of the bright yellow light that hangs right above me.

The river I just climbed out of is laced with the smell of the Water Court, and as I lean down, dipping my fingers into the current, I feel my home. I’m in my court, deep below the violent oceans where no king has ventured. I didn’t make a portal to come here, yet somehow she has twisted even that. Getting my eyes on Emrys was my first plan so I could look my mate in the eye and tell her he is still alive. She needs to hear that and, fuck it, I want to see him too. I’d never admit it to his face, but he is my brother in every way but blood, and fuck am I going to let him die. The clear water is spinning round in a circle going deep, likely to where the test begins, gathering by the lights down at the bottom that look like a threat.

“Back to it.” Reluctantly, I dive straight back in, sucking in air before letting the water take me. I can hold my breath longer than anybody else in this world. The water itself bends to me, to my control, making the pull of it easier on my body, not like it’s ripping me apart as it would anyone else. Fuck her. Bringing me to my court and playing games? The bitch is going to die.

I casually allow the water to glide me all the way down until eventually I fall straight out through a waterfall and dive straight down into a massive, deep pond. I swim to the top and walk forward, using the water to propel me with little effort. It’s not too deep, easy enough for me to stand on and walk out after a minute of swimming. I’m soaking wet with the cold water, but the water is relaxing for me, the only place I feel like I can be myself. It’s my power. It’s my soul and what echoes through my blood.

Aphrodite stands at the edge of the lake, in a mocking blue princess gown with Water Court symbols all over the skirt. She has a crown on her head, crystal blue spikes stretching higher than the size of her head, and it looks similar to the one my mother wears for formal occasions. I want to rip it straight off her head, along with half of her stupid hair, and stab it into her heart until she bleeds. “Welcome, water king. I thought an entrance like this would be suitable for you.”

I growl. “You spelled the portal I made.”

“Of course I did. This is your court. Part of it that is on the outskirts. I don’t want to get you too close to your own home.” She looks like I should thank her.

“I’m aware of what my lands are, you fucking bitch. I don’t want small talk, so let’s get fucking on with it before I get bored and murder you for sport. Fuck what your deranged husband does,” I snarl at her. I’m bluffing. I wouldn’t risk Emrys, Elle’s mother, and Grayson’s sister by losing my temper. I’m playing this game for my mate and the dream of fucking her every day ofthe week and not having enemies looming over our heads, other worlds to get lost in, or any other shit that interrupts me being inside my mate.

“Straight to the point, and a brute about this all. It’s why I picked you first. You’re not the fun one to play with now you’re not being the villain anymore.”

I bare my teeth at her. “Come near my mate again, bitch, and I’ll happily slip back into the man who doesn’t give a fuck about destroying the world.”

“I might be the goddess of it, but love like you feel makes you weak.” She rolls her eyes at me. “I won’t tell you much, as you’ve been so rude. All the tests your kind has done with the humans over the years. There’s plenty to look through to find ideas for my last games. It was easy to find something you might not survive so easily. Your father’s test for your mother, for example, was interesting.”

A maze, just like Artemis warned Elle about. My father’s water test was particularly brutal, and no one, unless they are favoured by water, would win it. My mother is loved by the water element, and she often told me the story of how when I was born, the water rose a high tide to flood her birthing chamber and be the first thing to greet me in this world. I was born in water, and in it, nothing can stop me. I struggle to remember what happened in the maze my mother faced, only that it was underwater with tiny pockets of air here and there. The aim of it was to press a series of buttons before getting to the middle.

I grit my teeth as she points to the wall, ordering me like a dog with a pointed command. I’m not interested in being in her company more than I have to, so I take it. Winning this is all that matters. I don’t bother looking back at her either. “Oh, water king.” I stop. “I won’t let you die in there, maybe come close to it. But you have twenty-five minutes to the dot to find the middle of the maze. If in twenty-five minutes, you are not there, you don’treturn to your queen and you are thoroughly under my spell forever.”

I look at her, the dead goddess still walking but not for long, as I make a vow. “So, in exactly twenty-four minutes and fifty-nine seconds, I’ll make sure I’m dead long before you get to touch me.”

She looks pissed off, just like I wanted before leaving her to go straight through the door. It slams shut behind me. Just as I expected, water rushes at me, but I hold my hand up, calming the waves until they smother my body but at my pace. The walls themselves are shimmery, veils of controlled water, with balls of light inside that look like tiny creatures, making everything glow in a soft green haze. I swim forward, searching for the first air pocket, letting the water direct me on my path. First right, then the left, before I come up in the water pocket just above. I swim up and suck in a breath of fresh air before rolling my shoulders of any tension. This will be easy.

I dive back down, only to come face to face with a Dartle. I barely miss the snap of its jaws, but one of its sharp teeth drags down my arm, leaving a wide-open cut, and my blood pools into the water, leaving a sickly metallic taste in my mouth. I groan in pain, only making me inhale water into my lungs and it fucking burns. I turn the water to ice in my hands, making a spear, and spin round to face the Dartle. It slams at me again, this time smashing me against the wall. My spear snaps against its skin, doing nothing to touch it and the wrap of red magic protecting it. Fucking Aphrodite. I reach for my daggers on my belt and find them all gone. Fucking Aphrodite again.

The Dartle turns around. The big lugging creature takes a while to make the corner. It looks like an eel, except its mouth makes up pretty much all of its body. It’s got rows of glittering silver teeth and huge scaled eyes to match. The disgusting creatures, which have pretty much been wiped out of the seas ofthe Water Court due to the fact they have no brains, don’t listen to my family’s command, and they eat everything like they are starving beasts twenty-four seven. Some surviving Dartles have been buried deep down below in the dark waters of the north where no one wishes to go. I should have hunted them years ago. They’re deadly. These ones seem impenetrable, but everything can die, especially in my element.

My dragon roars in my mind, wanting to come out, but it’s too big in this maze and we’d get trapped. I hope there’s only fucking one down here, but I doubt it. Everything got a lot more dangerous real fucking quick. I think of Elle. I think of my beautiful, sexy and smart mate. This is for her, and there is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I’d die for her without questioning why. She was never my enemy. That was a joke. A joke because I was once told to keep your enemies closer than your friends. I knew if I called her my enemy, I’d be able to keep her as close as I fucking wanted without admitting I was in love with her from the first moment I met her. I’m not dying in this. I’m not going to die. I’m going back. I’m going to prove to Elle, prove to everyone, I am the water king. There’s nothing in the water, the seas, that can stop me.

I let my power flood through my veins. I let the core of the sea demand my soul as I stare at this creature that I know damn well will not listen to its king. It doesn’t have the brain power to understand my command, to understand what it is facing. I swim fast, using the water to propel me as I search for the switch and leave the Dartle to chase me. I come across so many dead ends, feeling eyes on me, but the Dartle is soon lost behind in the tight spaces in the walls. My lungs start to burn, and I realise it must have been ten minutes at least. I think I can hold my breath for about twenty minutes, which gives me a good indication of how much time I have left.

I finally find the first switch on the wall. It’s hidden around a corner I hadn’t seen. I slam my hand through the wall, pressing the red glowing button, and the wall behind me disappears. Beautiful little green creatures swim around my body like a wave. This time, I expect it when one more of those things comes flying at me through the creatures, eating them as it goes. The big Dartle nearly takes my entire arm off. But I grab its mouth, using all the force I have to fling it as I fly through the gap and go quickly into the new area.

I spin around and by sheer damn luck—maybe there’s a god watching me—I find another button straight away down the first corridor I check. I press it, and the wall disappears to the right. This time, there’s no monster behind it to eat the creatures and me. For at least three minutes, I keep getting trapped by several dead ends before I finally find an air pocket and swim up. I suck in the air, only allowing myself a second of my head above the water because I don’t trust what’s underneath it, before diving back down.

Elle. Elle. Elle. I think of her; I think of my spirit witch. Like she’s right here next to me, but I’m so fucking glad she’s not. Her long, divinely soft lavender hair and her piercing blue eyes that look like the colour of the sea outside my throne room, which I’ve stared at for so many hours on end I’ve lost track. Elle, with her curves and skin so soft, I could kiss her forever and still be desperate for one more kiss. Elle, who is my soulmate and forgave me when I never deserved it. I will deserve her now.

I dive around the corner, and I finally spot the centre of the maze. In the centre, there’s a giant red button to press, but around it, there’s at least thirty giant Dartles, and each one of them turns towards me. Fear slams into my chest as I realise that this is a lot of them to take on. I pull all the power I can to control the water like a barrier and stop them. They slam into it like a wave, pushing against my power with all their force. I grit myteeth, digging my feet into the sandy ground to hold them back, holding my arms out in front of me.

I roar under the water, knowing I’m not going to die this way, as I can’t hold them back and I can’t kill the fuckers. I’m going back to my mate. I’m going back to the Spirit Court, to my home, which is her. It’s always been her. I grab onto power, pushing past the limits that I’ve always had in place. Pushing past everything. My dragon snarls from inside me, tearing at the edges to get out and to trust it. I let my dragon take over. Let it transform out of my body in a burst of blue scales and icy fire. He slams onto the sandy floor just as the Dartles all slam into us.

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