Page 109 of The Queen & the King

The Anunnaki, the Mesopotamian Deities of Fate, watch me, their faces curled with annoyance. I know what they see. I’m a young god acting like I have control over my destiny, over my fate. All the gods older than my pantheon give me the same look before they vanish from my dream one by one, leaving only Atropos and me.

“You used to be so diplomatic.” Atropos hums. “You’ve changed.”

I laugh hoarsely. “You could say that.”

“They will not be happy with your willfulness.”

I nod. “I don’t care, so long as they need me for whatever reason, they’ll work on my terms.”

Atropos scans the lines etched into my face, searching for something. She won’t find whatever she’s looking for. I’ve set fire to the person I used to be and rebuilt myself from the ashes.

“You’ve made enemies of them,” Atropos adds. “They will lash out.”

“I…” My voice trails off, and I touch my throat. “I…”

“What is it?” Atropos frowns and steps closer.

My eyes shoot open, and I summon a weapon to my hand, but it’s too late. My father grabs me by the throat and squeezes, lifting me from the bed and off the ground. Persephone and Cerberus jolt awake. We were all too exhausted from the battle to be properly on guard, and he took advantage of that.

“Hades!” Persephone shouts.

I claw at my father’s hand on my throat, unable to breathe enough to focus my shadows. I feel my life slipping from me. Cerberus lunges at my father, but Kronos sweeps his arm out, throwing him against the wall. The three-headed dog hits with a bone-shattering crack and lands in a heap on the ground.

Kronos squeezes tighter, crushing my voice box before pulling me closer to his face. The madness rages in his eyes. He’s lost everything and has nothing left to lose.

He smirks maniacally before hurling me out the window. I sail over the balcony, careening to the stone patio below.

Sixty-Four

Persephone

IFEEL THROUGH MY BOND WITH HADES THAT HE ISunconscious but still alive. I watch as Kronos turns his back to me and walks toward the door.

Strike one was escaping his cell in the first place, and strike two was hurting Hades. Strike three is the utter disrespect of how openly he underestimates me. I narrow my eyes at his back, and my black vines shoot from the ground, wrapping around his ankles first, then his wrist. Sharp poisonous spikes penetrate his skin, holding him there.

“Where are you going, Kronos? You just got home,” I croon. “Tartarus is only a few hundred miles away, and we are both so happy to see you again.”

In the flash of a thought, I summon Thanatos to watch Hades. I briefly consider that I should conserve my power, but I have no other way of contacting him right now, and I don’t want to leave him defenseless.

Kronos scoffs, twisting his hand to touch the vines, trying to wilt them as he did before, but things are different now. I am back in my home, and my bond has been restored. I am no longer weakened. My vines do not wither under his touch butgrow stronger, tightening their hold on him. The spines grow inside his hands and ankles, more golden leaves growing as they absorb his power. He yanks on the vines angrily, losing patience with the silly little powers of the Goddess of Spring.

I slip from the bed and move around him to face him. My lips tilt into a smirk as I watch him struggle against my hold.

“You won’t be able to stop it. When I get to him, I’m going to make him scream.”

I slowly walk toward him, looking at his hate-filled face. My vines slither up his legs. “That wouldn’t be you threatening my king, would it?”

A spike pierces his knee, and while he holds back his grunt of pain, he stumbles a little.

“I’m your king. I am the only fucking king!” he snarls through clenched teeth, practically spitting his words at me.

I twist my hands, the spikes curling inside him. “I have one king,” I smile, moving closer, “and it’s certainly not you.”

“You can’t kill me. You are too weak and pathetic to hold this power,” Kronos hisses, his face contorted into an expression of rage and pain.

I laugh and tilt my head. “You got one thing wrong, Kronos.” My laughter dies. “I am not simply the Goddess of Spring.”

Kronos narrows his eyes at me, and my gaze hardens. I can practically feel my power flaring in my eyes.

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