by Meg Xuemei X
I finally found my voice and rose to my feet. “I should return to my room to get ready if Ares is coming.”
“You look perfect, little Cass, so no, you won’t be excused. Besides, you haven’t finished your breakfast. I heard nothing could stop you from eating cakes.”
But for the first time, I had no appetite for another slice of cake.
5
“Your former barbarian lovers lack elegance,” Apollo started again. “I heard that you grew up in the wild, so I understand it’ll take time to shape you into a fine goddess and finer queen.”
“Oh, I like their barbaric ways,” I taunted.
“Your opinion will change, and I’ll make sure of it.”
If I punched him in the face, I’d only hurt my own fist without my power backing me up, so I flipped him the bird.
“With proper guidance and grooming, you’ll eventually be rid of your crudeness and immaturity.”
“Of course. After you shove all your maturity up your godly ass.”
Everyone—the sentinels and the servants—stared straight ahead, tense and nervous. None dared to look at our table, but the violin music suddenly changed its tune. A softer, romantic melody floated through the hall.
“Let’s dance,” Apollo said hoarsely as he stood suddenly, stretching a hand out to me.
Hadn’t he heard the barb I’d just thrown at him?
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I said, folding my arms before my chest.
“All of the goddesses are great at dancing. As a future queen, you’ll learn to live up to the standard, and your training starts now.”
“I’ve decided to pass on the role, so there’ll be no training for me.”
“Haven’t I told you to stop acting so immature?” he scolded. “You’re old enough to bear my offspring, behave as such.”
“Fuck you! I’m not your fucking breeder.”
“It wasn’t a request,” he said, his tone dangerous.
I snickered.
Apollo lashed out, grabbing me. I hugged the edge of the gold table and used it as my anchor as he pulled me toward him. I resisted, kicking him.
He waved a hand, and the table vanished, but I remained.
Before I fell to my face at the sudden absence of furniture, Apollo hauled me to the open dance floor, his arm wrapping around my waist in an iron grip.
Then we were on the move.
It wasn’t a dance. He was dragging me back and forth while I countered his every move as I stumbled along.
And this sun god called my mates barbaric. My males had never forced anything on me. They’d always respected my will, no matter how ridiculous and stubborn it had been at times. They spoiled me to no end.
I raised a foot to stomp on him, my high-heel aiming for his toe, but he lifted me, leaving my feet to dangle in the air. I managed to bend a knee, ready to drive it hard into his nuts.
“I’d caution you not to do that,” he said, pressing my body roughly against his. He was unbelievably strong, and his power was like that of a flaming star from deep space. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it dismayed me. “You can’t hurt me. I’m a god. You’ll only arouse me if you continue fighting. And I don’t think you’ll want that with everyone watching. Or do you?”
No one was watching. No one dared to watch.
I straightened my knee. “Put me down!”
“Will you behave?”
“If you let me off the fucking dance floor.”
“You’ll leave the dance floor only when you can dance properly. If you don’t know how, you can follow my lead, as you should always do. If you want the hard way, so be it. I’ve tamed the wildest horse in the universe and made it my personal ride. You’re no different than the wild beast.”
I swung my arm to punch his ear, hoping to make it ring, but he grabbed both my wrists, lightning fast. Before I could kick him again, his legs clamped around mine, trapping them completely.
“You really want to make a scene, little doll? I’m not like your pathetic lovers. Don’t think for a moment I’ll put up with your every whim and tantrum. And I have no issue tearing your gown off, right here, right now. You’ll never rein me in, but I’ll rule you. It’s time for you to learn your place.”
His large hand hurled my wrists over my head, his height of over seven feet playing to his favor. His free hand seizing my chin, he dipped his head to crush his lips toward me.
The vicious determination in his dark green eyes indicated that even his kiss would be a battle. It was a declaration of war, conquering and bruising. Before his lips could meet mine, I drove my forehead against his with all the strength I possessed.
Wrath ignited in his eyes, and he grabbed my hair, yanking my head backwards. His mouth slammed onto mine. I hissed and my jaw opened. Just before my fangs emerged, he bit my bottom lip, the scent of his arousal hitting my nostrils.
“Well, well.” A masculine voice boomed beside us. “What do we have here?”
Apollo jerked his head back, and my enraged eyes burned into a gorgeous god clad in black and white armor that hugged his powerful body like a second skin.
A white vulture perched on his broad shoulder, its predatory eyes locked on me. Then the creature half-unfolded its wings and took off.
“Ares,” Apollo hissed. “You should have announced yourself at the entrance. It’s a basic courtesy to me!”
Ares laughed, his golden eyes that held heavenly fire fixed on me, wicked delight swirling in them.
He was even taller and broader than Apollo. He didn’t carry a gold spear as the myth said. Despite his good-humored laughter, one could spot his nasty, hot temper lurking beneath it. Violence vibrated in his every fiber. Of course, the God of War was the incarnation of violence and carnage.
The son of King Zeus and Queen Hera was one of the most powerful gods in existence. That was why Apollo aligned himself with Ares. Without the support of the war god, he could never rebel against Zeus.
I wondered between these two punks who had recruited whom first. Alaric had once told me that Ares was an utter brute, vicious as hell, and Apollo was a sneaky, scheming pimp.
“Then I’d have missed out all the fun,” Are said, his full attention on me. “I’ve never seen a partner dancing like that, dragging the other back and forth, scratching the floor. Is that the newest move in town while I was away?”
While Apollo was distracted, I gathered my strength and wrenched my wrists in opposite directions, breaking his hold on me. At the same time, my fist struck out.
Score! I punched the sun god in the face, hitting right on the corner of his lips.
He threw his head backwards, a surprised look flitting across his face. He hadn’t expected my kind of strength. He should have. I was a goddess after all, but pain also exploded from my knuckles that had made contact with his teeth.
Ares doubled over, roaring with laughter.
Snarling, Apollo flung me across the floor before I could swing another punch toward his ear. At the same moment, Ares moved like a dark flash. Before I could lash out at him as well, his hands were at my throat.
“What the fuck are you doing, Ares?” Apollo shouted. “She can’t be unleashed. She’s too difficult to manage! That’s why she had to have four lovers. Even the four barbarians could barely handle her.”
My mates had never handled or controlled me. While they were overprotective, they also let me do my own shit.
I rolled across the hard, golden floor, and rose in a crouch, snarling. My power surged in me, buzzing on my skin.
Ares had torn the torque from my neck.
“Where’s the fun in leashing such a wild thing?” Ares scoffed. “I like fierce felines. The more savage, the better. The reward and joy are always greater when they finally succumb to me.”
The God of War was called the conqueror in the battlefield and in bedroom. He even made the Goddess of Love his long-term lover, and she bore him three children.
But tame me? The fuckers could try. I
didn’t bend, and I would never break.
“We’re lucky that she hasn’t come into her full power yet,” Apollo hissed, “but she’s still a hard nut to crack. Now the little bitch is your problem.”
Ares spun the torque in his fingers. “A little challenge is healthy for the appetite. We must show the fiery little goddess we are her men, without binding her power. That’s the only way to make a bitch comply.”
“I wish you the best of luck.” Apollo crossed his bulky arms over his chest and stood by to watch.
Ares’s eyes roved over me inch by inch.
“Done gawking, asshole?” I asked with my chin pointing at him.
Apollo hooted.
My target was the torque in Ares’s hand, but I couldn’t let him know my desperate intention. I held his golden gaze, as if he was the focus point of the universe.
Apollo hissed, obviously jealous, since I’d never looked at him with such intensity.
Ares smirked in predatory delight.
But I was no one’s prey.
“Cass, right?” Ares asked. “You’re the one who still gives my son nightmares.”
“He actually enjoyed his time with me,” I said, acting casual as I secretly worked my muscles. My power was back, eager to lash out. “Did he ask you to say hi to me? I’ve missed the sweet kid.”
“My son is an eon older than you.” Ares laughed. “I didn’t expect you to have such a sweetly cynical sense of humor at such a young age, but then, our kind usually reaches maturity at birth. But I heard you had a brief childhood.”
My flames, a blend of black and blue that had burned through the poison of the Devil’s Love and ripped apart Hephaestus’s gold net, shot a stream toward the torque in Ares’s hand.
The black fire was rumored to come from Hades’s realm. That was how Apollo and Phobos were sure that I descended from the God of Death. I’d discovered that I also possessed blue fire when I encountered Phobos the first time. Neither my mates nor I had unveiled its origin, but it came in useful, like now.
A golden shield materialized in Ares’s hand, blocking my flames. My black and blue fires spun around the edge of the shield, sizzling in rage as they failed to find a way in.
Ares chuckled. “I’ve invented more methods to distract, surprise, and kill than you could dream of, little girl. But I enjoy you throwing all that at me. My son debriefed me on your fires in great details. Any god who possesses godly fire has only one kind, but you possess two. So Aphrodite brought the case to her husband. Hephaestus is no fun, but he’s a diligent, brilliant researcher. He can’t stand an unsolved puzzle, and he can never fight the urge to create a device to counter any superpower. So he forged this shield to neutralize the combinations of fire from hell, Earth, and heavens.”
“And I bet your lovely lover Aphrodite stole the shield for you to get another unlawful bang from you,” I said.
This time, Apollo threw his head back and guffawed. “That was colorful.”
I mentioned the God of Love and Beauty to diffuse any idea Ares had on sharing me with Apollo. It would be easier to beat one rapist than two.
“Aphrodite and I are no longer together,” Ares said. “We’d been with each other for too long. Plus, gods don’t think like a mortal or a supernatural. We don’t have moral boundaries as the weaklings do. You’ll change your way of thinking as time passes. We’ll have a positive influence on you. Apollo and I have decided to co-invest in you, but you still need to pass a test.”
“What if I don’t pass the test?” I asked in a hiss.
“Then you’ll be no use to us,” Ares said. “My son insisted that you are the most powerful, meanest bitch he’s ever met. Apollo insisted that you could be our queen and our honed weapon against all sides, and finally against our father. He’s ruled for too long. We need a new regime.”
“Right, that’s you and your buddy Apollo.”
A rush of adrenaline shot through me.
Indeed, the gods were going to war with each other, and these two hooligans thought to use me as a pawn and a weapon in their revolt. They’d both revealed their ambitions and grand plan, because they were so sure I would never escape them.
They believed I was a permanent fly in their web.
“But if you’re useless to us, we’ll dispose of you,” Ares said. “Beautiful women are a dime a dozen, but one who can match both Apollo and me in power is rare. I’ve torn the torque off your neck to give you a fighting chance, to see what you really have.”
He twirled his shield like a pro and studied the fires. “The black fire comes from Hades. Only he and his descendants can wield dark fire from the Underworld. Like Apollo, I also sensed death essence in you. But you’re something more. I need the blue fire as a sample to test it, so we can find your other origin. Hephaestus is an expert in the identification of unknown powers.”
Before he could dismiss his shield and store my fires, which still danced along it, I summoned them back. I wouldn’t allow them to collect a sample of my power, to learn more about me and then figure out more ways to counter my magic.
Now, how was I going to overcome the two shielded, powerful major gods in front of me?
Fleeing was the best strategy.
Teleport. I centered my mind.
I imagined a swirl of colors and light around me, like what happened with Pyrder’s teleport, delivering me out of here. I pictured the feeling from Reys’s shift—stars and space and vertigo. I had once teleported Amber and myself to the middle of the pool that was reserved for elite students in the Academy, and I didn’t mind getting wet and cold again.
As long as I could get the fuck out of here.
I thought very hard of my destination—of my home, where my mates were.
Return to them! I commanded.
Vertigo came and joy filled me.
Shit! I was teleporting again. It was happening! I swirled up in the air, higher and higher, a blinding light flashing by my eyes as Apollo’s hall blurred around me.
“Bye-bye, assholes!” I shouted. “Too bad I can’t shove my fires up your asses sideways. Another day to look forward to, then!”
I stretched my hands high above my head, picturing myself falling into my mates’ arms. Whose arms did I want to fall into first? All of their arms.
They would be overjoyed at seeing me return. At that thought, tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t wait to stand before them, to proudly proclaim, “Hey dudes, look, I rescued myself!”
They would be so impressed I returned to them all by myself, and in no time at all! I remembered the looks in their eyes when I made my first grand public speech to call all the supernaturals and humans in the Academy to unite and fight against the gods—our common enemy.
It was intoxicating to be bathed in my mates’ pride of me.
They’d compete to dote on me. Their hot kisses would fall all over my face and my body. And then there would be more... My face flushed, and my heart pounded at the prospect of tangling with my mates under the sheets.
The wild wind ceased. Colors and light and dizziness faded.
“Welcome back, little Cass,” Apollo’s voice sounded wickedly giddy beside my ear as I landed in a stagger.
Ares joined his laughter. “How was the trip, doll?”
I snapped open my eyes. Cold dread drenched the joy and relief I’d felt mere seconds ago. I didn’t return home. I didn’t return to my mates.
I’d teleported from one side of the hall to the other, near the window.
I’d never left Apollo’s palace.
“What the actual fuck?” I cried in outrage.
“You can’t phase out of any god’s realm,” Apollo said. “This dimension lies atop Earth. To come or go one has to travel through the slipstream to my dominion. As you can see, I don’t even need spells to ward my palace. My realm is connected to my will. Everything here is bound to me and me alone.”
Except for me. I hadn’t surrendered to him.
How could my mates find me then?
How could I escape if the slipstream was the only way out of here? I might never see them again.
“You’ll be mine, too,” Apollo added in utter arrogance.
Fury burned within me, deep and bright.
“Then come and get me, assholes.”
I pulled all I had—my flames, the residual magic I’d once gathered from all the mages, the stirring Earth elements, and my mates’ power that had partly become mine after our mating bond ritual, and my rage—and tossed them toward the sun god and war god.
Ares raised his sentient gold shield. It could detect any threat as soon as it appeared and shelter its owner. If I had a chance, I’d take down this God of Blacksmiths first, so there’d be no one to create shielding weapons to protect the rest of the gods.
Apollo raised his legendary lyre to defend himself. For double safety, he also moved, ducking behind Ares’s shield, just as my flames melted his lyre.
He was incredibly fast, but he wasn’t left completely unscathed.
The mix of my complex powers scorched a patch of his red-golden hair, and his left toe seemed to be gone along with the shiny leather shoe.
He roared in pain and fury.
To my dismay, I noticed his missing body part and hair were already growing back. The chairs where Apollo and I had been sitting, and a wall that my flames had burned down, also returned to their former shape from ashes.
“What kind of fuckup is that?!” I demanded in desperation.
“You need to learn a lesson, you insolent little bitch,” Apollo hissed. “It’s not that easy to take down a major god.”
He dashed out from behind Ares’s shield and pulsed in blinding white light. The intense heat of a sunbeam blasted toward me. He was the God of Sun, and he wasn’t holding back now.
“You don’t want to kill her yet, Apollo!” Ares warned. “I’m not done with her!”
My eyes widened in fear. Now I was done. Now the heat would melt my bones. I hoped it would be a quick death. But then the image of my mates’ agonized, devastated look as I was taken flashed in my mind.
I wouldn’t leave them behind. I wouldn’t allow the gods to break their hearts and destroy them.
