Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

KING LYSANDER

T hank 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 of the 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't return 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 of the 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 my teeth, 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.

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 its face 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 from the 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 both hoarse. 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.