Page 29 of Court of Dragons and Ashes

Arty sinks to her knees next to Emrys and takes his hand. “I’d rather stay here and die with my friends if that is what fate wishes.”

Ares starts making a portal, nothing like I’ve ever seen before. Green spiralling magic in strange patterns bursts into the air, spitting green embers in every direction. They’re going to go to another world. They’re going to go and try to destroy another world. I run at them, knowing I can’t let them do that. I must stop them. Aphrodite slips in front of me, red magic exploding into the air, but my shadows cut through it as I pull my daggers out of the shadows and head straight for Ares. He’s the one that needs to die first. He took everything from me. My father…my court. Everything.

I run straight for him with the daggers, and the staff drops to the floor by the portal that is half open with a thud. He grabs my wrists, stopping me, knocking one of the daggers out of my hands, and it clangs onto the stone. Screaming, I push the other between us, and he uses all his magic in his hands to push against me and my shadows powering me. “You will die for this, princess. Do you think my wife will let you kill me? She’s going to kill this court and you, then we’ll leave this world. Youshould have died all those years ago. I should never have let you escape.”

“Youneverlet me escape. My father made sure I escaped. The Spirit Court made sure I’d escape so I’d come back and destroy you.” I see Aphrodite coming for us in the distance, bitter anger written all over her face. I have to kill him before she gets here. Pulling all the power I can, I push at the dagger between us, cutting through his hands. He slams power into my arms, and one of my wrists snaps. I scream, accidentally dropping the dagger, and he grabs my wrist, leeching my power. I literally feel my power draining from me to him. As his eyes brighten, he laughs and laughs as I fall in his grip, weakness hitting me like a wave.

“No…”

“You’re weak and alone, princess,” Ares sneers at me.

“She is not alone.” Suddenly, one of my daggers plunges straight through Ares chest, through his heart, and his blood sprays across my cheek. My eyes widen as Emrys steps up from behind Ares, weak but standing. He uses his air powers to make the dagger go through his chest. Another one of my daggers lifts out of the air and cuts through his chest on the other side, impaling him completely. I hear Ares choke as he lets me go.

I glare up at him. “Those daggers are blessed by the god of nightmares and horror. They are alive, and the souls in them are worse than any evil you’ve met. They’ll destroy anything they touch with the most unimaginable pain as they claw you apart. A present from my uncle. Now go to hell and beg Hades not to curse your soul.”

“This is for the Spirit Court. This is for all the courts,” Emrys whispers to him. “There will be peace in this world when you’ve gone, and no one will remember you.”

Aphrodite screams as Ares roars in pain and collapses, dead. Aphrodite runs through the portal that Ares opened, and itblinks out of existence right after her. I grin, wrapping my arms around Emrys’s neck, leaning back to kiss him. He looks pale as I hug him again, needing a moment to know he is okay, and I glance at Arty, who is pale and on her knees, looking at her hands. She saved him. I don’t know how, but she did, and Emrys then killed her father. Ares’s staff catches my eye where it lies on the ground behind his dead body. It might be over in this world, but my other dragon kings and Aphrodite are in another world of wolf shifters…and I have to go after them.

EPILOGUE

ELVI ILROTH, QUEEN OF THE SPIRIT COURT

The world is real, warm, and brighter than it’s been for so many years. The damp, dim dungeons I’ve called home for thousands of days, with only Ares as company, are gone. Instead, I can smell laundry, flowers, and embers of a fire. A soft, gentle hand strokes my cheek, and a woman is humming a familiar song I remember from my childhood. I’d know this small, cosy room anywhere. It was my home, from my childhood, a place I thought I’d never get to see again. The woman keeps singing, lulling me back from the spell, from the magic latched around my soul like a chain.

I sang the same song to my baby, but she always preferred the haunting music of the song of the fifth court, a song made of shadows and darkness. A song which the castle knew was made for her. I remember the day she was born, almost like it was only yesterday. It was such a long labour, over four days, and by the end, I thought time would end before she came into the world. Then she was there, pink and screaming her lungs off, telling the Spirit Court they had a new ruler. The castle played the song over and over as I touched her sweet face, gazed into her eyes, and watched her father fall in love in a heartbeat. It was the single greatest day of my entire life. It is the memory I sinkinto when I need strength, a comfort for me. I promised that day to protect her forever, to be her watcher, to be the hand on her shoulder, guiding her through her darkest days…but Ares stole that promise and crushed it.

I saw her. My Ellelin. She is so grown up, a woman now, and she is the image of her father. Her hair was once as black as ravens’ wings, but now it’s the deepest purple that reminds me of a twilight sunset in the Fire Court…but she was hurt. I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t stop him.

“Ellelin?” I gasp, my voice cracking with every word, like talking is forbidden to me now.

My husband is gone. Dead. The court is destroyed, and I’m…where am I?

“Oh, thank the skies and heavens. You’re awake. The spell worked. I thought I might have to sacrifice some humans or even the cursed cat to wake you,” my mother exclaims in relief, and a strange cat meows in protest, its bell ringing as it runs away.

My mother, Hera, is here. It feels like just yesterday I begged the castle to open a portal and send Ellelin to my mother. I knew she would keep her safe, bring her up with love, and teach her to fight. I kissed my husband goodbye for the last time and vowed to protect his child with every inch of magic I had left. We both gave up everything to stop Ares, protect our people, and give Ellelin a real chance at a life. “Where is she? Where is my daughter?”

“Calm down, Elvi. Breathe,” my mother commands, her voice sharp as a knife. I widen my eyes, pushing off the thin blanket, searching for my powers only to find nothing. Ares might not have me in his grasp, but he took my powers. He made sure I wouldn’t be able to escape. Locking him down there took everything from me.

Anger fuels me as I face my mother. “Where is my daughter?”

She sighs, picking up my thin hand and patting it. “Ellelin is strong, powerful, and able to fight her own battles. I trained her myself, loved her like my own. Phobos taught her to defend herself, and I taught her magic. She’s…okay.”

“My Ellelin will never be safe so long as there are gods in Ayiolyn,” I snap, and my mother winces. My shoulders drop. “I’m sorry, Mother. Thank you for loving her, for teaching her to fight… I just need to see my daughter.”

My mother cups my cheek. “I know the feeling. I thought you were lost to me… I could not sense your soul in this world or any.”

“I did what was needed,” I hoarsely whisper. “And paid for it. Ellelin…let’s go to her.”

“We can’t.” My mother shakes her head. “She’s gone after Ares and Aphrodite to save the other court kings. There is much I need…”

The rest of her words blur away as pure terror lances through my chest. “She can’t kill him! No one can! We have to stop her!” I scramble to my feet. “NOW!”

“Calm down,” my mother gently coaxes me, touching my hands.

“No, you don’t understand why I’ve been trapped for so many years with him. We didn’t kill him for a reason,” I all but shout at her, like she might be able to warn my daughter. “We found out something during our research on the gods. My king, he knew Ares would come for us, so he searched every court, every inch of our world for a way to kill him, and that’s when he found out the truth. He cannot be killed. It’s why we did everything back then, why I used the last of my magic to lock him in the castle with me. That’s why we trapped him.He can’t be killed. Ares can’t be killed, not by anybody. The person who kills Ares will become Ares, and he will take their power. He transports himself from body to body like that, absorbing power as he goes.” My mother’seyes widen, fear flashing in the depths. “If Ellelin kills him, she will become him, and he will get the power of the Spirit Court like he always wanted. There is nothing in this world that would be able to save her!”

My mother looks out the window, her tanned skin draining of colour. The night sky is bright with a thousand stars, but one is faded. I felt it too, the shake felt across all worlds as I woke and he died. A feeling the stars themselves share across the worlds. A god has been killed.

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