Page 9 of Court of Dragons and Twilight

We roar loud enough for the stars to hear, knocking off the Dartles who sink their teeth into us over and over. Icy fire bursts out of my dragon’s mouth and in a path, freezing and destroying the enemies around us for the most part. It’s an endless fight. Freezing and ripping them apart is painful and tiring. My dragon roars and snarls, using its claws and teeth to devour them. Time seems like it never ends until only silence and the decay of bodies is left and my dragon bleeding into the water.

My dragon, tired and done, whines as it lies down in the sand. I force him to shift back, panicking as red fills the water around me, as I look at the dozens of bite marks on my body and noting I’ve lost enough blood to feel dizzy and sick. I slap my cheek. “Wake the fuck up. Elle needs us.”

Just saying her name out loud is enough to make my legs move and for my mind to block out the pain. With her on my mind, I keep moving towards the button, so close. Just as I reach my hand out, something slams into me hard enough to send me spinning across the water, and pain blinds me as I thump into the sand. The Dartle’s mouth wraps around my stomach and legs, pushing me into the sand as its teeth rip through my body, and I’m fucking powerless. I’m dead. I’m dying. No, fucking NO! Pain forces me to shout and scream as I slam my fists onto itsface to get it the fuck off me, but it digs in more. It’s ripping me apart.

Time seems to freeze just for a moment. The water stills in an unnatural way and so does the Dartle. I look up to see a man floating in the water, and he is something more than a man. A ghost. He looks ethereal, hovering with a crown in his hands, a blue sparkling crown, with a water symbol dead in the centre. “Who are you?”

The water swirls around his glowing body like it’s part of him. “My name is Poseidon, and my brother allowed me this one trip to stop your death in honour of the queen of death. You are my descendant, King Lysander, as are all the kings of the Water Court.” Behind him, hundreds of ghost outlines hover like a wave. I can’t quite see all of them, but I know every royal that’s ever existed, including my father, is here to help me. My family came.

My eyes lock on Poseidon as he comes down, floating next to me as he places a crown on my head. Power floods through my system and I feel everything. I feel every wave of the sea, every creature in the waves, and every storm hovering on the horizon. I feel the water like I am a part of it in a way I never have before. My entire body glows dark blue when I open my eyes, and flames made of ice float around me in the water. “This is a crown made for you by your father, kept in the court of spirit until the time was right. The sea answers to you, as do all its creatures. It cannot kill its king. Command it and change the future, King Lysander.”

He fades away, and time begins again. But everything has changed. I punch the Dartle with a hand full of icy fire, and it splits right down the middle before blasting into blue flames that disappear as soon as they appeared. The water stills for me, and I look around, seeing dozens of surviving Dartles watching fromthe edges. “Don’t fucking try it. I am your king, and if you live in my sea, you bow to me.”

They listen. The sea itself listens, moving around me as I walk straight to the button and slam my hand on it. The water drains away, leaving the last of the Dartles flopping on the ground as they slowly die. A portal appears right in front of me, Aphrodite’s voice filling my head. “Well done.” She doesn’t mean it and I fucking love that she isn’t happy. “Tell the fire king it’s his day tomorrow and to bring the princess too.”

I want to tell her to fuck off, but I know I can’t. I look up, like I can see her, hoping she can see. “Get the fuck out of my court before I drown you, goddess. You are not welcome.” I walk through the portal, right out into the bedroom where Elle is pacing up and down at the end of the bed.

I instantly smile when I see her. She has that effect on me, the ability to make everything seem fine in the world by just being in the same room. She’s gnawing on one of her nails, and she doesn’t notice me straight away. When she looks up, her eyes widen. “Lysander!” she shouts my name before running my way. She crashes into me as the portal snaps shut at my back. “God, you’re bleeding! You’re bleeding everywhere!”

“I’m fine.” I pick her up and kiss her. I can heal, and I do. It doesn’t take much water, just the water around me to heal everything. It feels effortless as I send the water around to fix my body. Elle’s eyes flicker to my crown, and she frowns.

“How did you—” I don’t stop kissing her as I lead her back to the bed, and I don’t give her time to ask anything yet.

“I won and the rest I can tell you later,” I explain between kisses, moving down to her neck until she moans when I kiss a spot that she loves. “I want what was promised.” Her eyes darken. Fuck, I need to taste her first. I pick her up and carry her to our bed, watching as she lies down before me like a fucking treat I want to sink my teeth into and fuck until we are bothhoarse. I run my hand down her jaw, past her parted lips, and to her neck. I’m holding that neck as I fuck her.

But for now, I bite my own lip as I run my hand over her breast, her pebbled nipple touching my palm, and she gasps loudly. I grin to myself, gripping her leggings and dragging them down her thighs and legs until I chuck them away. I rip her top off until her perky tits are mine to see, and I take my time rubbing my thumbs across the hard peeks until she is wriggling her ass for more. The sweet smell between her legs calls to me, and I kneel, pulling her ass to the edge of the bed before sinking my face in between her legs. Learning what sets Elle off has been my greatest learning experience, and making her come is fucking art work to me.

Her moan is music to my ears, and her back arches off the bed. Fuck. My cock presses against my trousers painfully, begging me to let him out to fuck her. But my cock can wait. I’m tasting her and enjoying myself. I’m making her come with my tongue first. I flick her clit with my tongue until she is begging me, digging her nails into the sheets, and shadows dip the room into silence. I kiss her thigh before pushing her legs down so she can’t move. “Come for me, witch.”

I slide two fingers into her just as I suck on her clit, and she screams my name. “Lysander!” Male satisfaction spreads through me as she comes on my face, on my fingers, and fuck does she feel tight. I can’t wait. I need to feel her around my cock. I stand up, pushing down my trousers. My witch is quick, leaning forward and wrapping her lips around the tip of my cock, all the while looking up at me with a taunting gaze. I grip her hair and force her to slide her lips down, my cock slipping deeper into her hot mouth, and I drop my head back as my balls feel ready to burst. One suck, one fucking slip into my mate’s mouth, and I’m fucking ready to come.

The witch damn well knows it, increasing her speed and driving me crazy. I lift her up off the bed, parting her legs and slamming my cock inside her as my hand finds her neck. She moans as she takes me, and I fuck her like a man possessed. She moans and tightens around me already, and I want this to last. I know it won’t, as my balls argue with all logic. She moans louder as I rub my thumb across her clit, thrusting my cock in and out of her. She cries out my name as she comes and tightens around my cock, making it impossible to do anything but let myself come. I roar as I come, intense pleasure slamming down my spine, and I nearly fucking pass out with how good she feels. I’m obsessed and I don’t care if she knows it.

Fucking my mate is like an out-of-body experience, and I won’t ever tire of this. We collapse together on the bed, and she wraps her legs around my waist, tempting me for round two. I’ll convince her in a minute. “I love you but tell me everything.”

I bury my face in her hair, enjoying her scent. Especially now she smells like my seed, too. “I won. I don’t mean the test, but I did also win that. You’re mine.”

She doesn’t disagree.

CHAPTER 6

LIVIA

“You look serious and it’s ruining our romantic meeting place.”

Jinks makes me jump, and I know the sneaky bastard came up here as a cat so I wouldn’t hear them and then shifted back. They are in their female form now, all long white curly hair and pretty eyes. I’m not sure which gender I like the most, but I know I’m deeply attached to everything Jinks.

Jinks has a way of appearing any time that I’m upset, or just appearing in general when I leave my room. They bump my shoulder as they stop at my side, looking over the Spirit Court. It’s dark out, the sun long past set. “I didn’t tell you about Florence yet, and I want to. She was beautiful and brave, and I liked her from the moment she told me she didn’t want to be a queen and she wasn’t marrying any man.”

They softly smile at me. “Sounds like a woman who knew her mind. I take it she is in the afterlife now?”

I nod. “She died in the earth test, while I was thrown to the West to be protected by the castle. I don’t blame the castle, but I wish it took her too.” I look at the stone under my hands. “Arty killed her, and sometimes when I see her, I want to get revenge.”

“Say the word and I’ll do it for you,” they offer. They aren’t joking, and it makes me smile that they would murder for me.

I shake my head at them. “It’s complicated and I know Arty…well, I think Florence would tell me to forgive her. It’s just hard.”

“Forgiveness is an easy word but an uneasy emotion to accept,” Jinks adds, covering my hand with theirs. We stare at each other for a long moment, and my eyes drop to their lips, which are painted red and remind me of exactly what Jinks is. A demon. Maybe it’s normal to be this insanely attracted to an ancient seduction demon who looks at me like they want to eat me literally all of the time. I find myself searching for them in every room, at every meal, and I barely stay in my room anymore because there is more chance of finding Jinks outside it. “Are you concerned about tomorrow?”

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