Without so much as a whiff of warning, King James threw a dagger at Tina’s heart. The thin sliver of metal glistened as if cut through the air. Flynn couldn’t move fast enough to reach it. He tried anyway, his arm sluggish as he fought to intercept the weapon.
Mercifully, Anthony got there first. Fast as lightning, he snatched the blade out of the air and threw it against the ground. The metal clattered over the stone, the sound deafening in the suddenly silent space.
“If you attack her, you’ll answer to us,” Anthony said with a snarl.
For a painful moment, none of the kings spoke. Their eyes widened in unison, and Flynn tensed as he waited for them to understand what had happened. Slowly, comprehension passed across each of the kings’ faces, and Flynn’s father narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
King James was the first to break the silence. “Come to your senses, Killian. She’s controlling you with sex and getting you drunk on power, manipulating you into threatening your own family.”
Killian shook his head. “Quite the opposite. You’ll notice this time around, you lot are the only ones bickering, not us. She brought us together, and she can bring the kingdoms together if you will just listen. If you just let us, you can all have peace.”
“Never,” the eagle king said, glaring at Tina.
With a somber shake of his head, Flynn’s father pinched the bridge of his nose. “You seem to care about her, son, but I have to do this. You’ll thank me, one day. You all will.”
Throwing stars appeared in his father’s hands, almost from nowhere, and the only reason Flynn could see them materialize from the hidden pockets of his father’s suit was that he had known to look. Few could match Flynn’s father when it came to blades, but Flynn had something better.
“Killian, now!” Flynn shouted.
Killian shielded Tina with his body, the shuriken tearing at his clothes but bouncing off his indestructible body. One by one, they clattered harmlessly to the floor.
Without waiting for his father to react, Flynn dove off the platform and summoned the mightiest bolt of lightning he could muster. It sizzled and snapped in his hands, the hair on his arm standing on end with the building power. When it had fully formed, he hurled the bolt at his father.
Flynn’s father was a demigod, a descendant of Odin and a powerful king known for his sheer body count in battle. One strike wouldn’t kill him, but it would hurt like hell.
The bolt hit him square in the chest, launching him backward. He rolled over the floor and skidded along the ground. A flicker of pride briefly crossed his father’s face, but utter disdain soon followed.
No one disarmed the mighty King Frederick, not even his sons. Flynn knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a battle that would shake the earth.
56
Tina
In a matter of seconds, Tina’s throne room became a battlefield. Four of her princes jumped from the platform, and only Zane remained by her side. He would guard her while the other princes did their best to get their fathers to back down. This was the plan, but she didn’t like it one bit.
Her body hummed with energy as she called upon what amount of Damara’s magic she could control. Her princes might have wanted her to let them fight this battle for her, but she refused to sit idly by while they risked their lives.
With his super speed, Anthony blocked his father from charging the platform and shoved the king against the wall. On the other side of the room, Killian continued to block the daggers his father aimed at Tina’s heart. Zane pulled her behind him, guarding her from his father with his own body. In the middle of it all, Draven and his father circled each other, speaking in hushed tones Tina couldn’t hear.
Flynn and his father faced off nearby, King Frederick scowling as his fingers twitched by his side. He was probably going for another blade, one possibly meant for Flynn instead of her.
Tina stretched her hand toward the king of the demigods, summoning as much of her power as she could. She connected only to the king, hearing his heartbeat as it thudded in her ears. As she had with Flynn in Olympus, she could feel the king’s magic. It swirled within him like a tempest, furious and raging, fueling him forward like an angry sea. As Tina dipped into her magic, she ensnared him and made his heart race faster, threatening to make it explode.
The king wavered and fell to his knees, gasping as he stared at her with wide eyes, utterly enraptured.
Flynn tensed and shot her a look of pleading, his eyebrows twisting upward as he silently asked her to back down.
Her jaw tensed. This was his father, after all. Though the kings had attacked her, they were family about whom her princes cared deeply. She had to walk a fine line, and she didn’t want to kill anyone. Still, Tina refused to rein in her powers when she could help. Before, Tina and Damara both had been too weak, too disconnected to help her men, to wield the power inside her. Now, though, she had the power, and as long as she could make a difference in this fight, she would give it everything she had.
King Frederick recovered, stumbling to his feet as he held his chest. He positioned himself so that Flynn blocked her view of the king, and she grimaced in annoyance at his cowardice.
Anger flared within her, hot and feral. With it came the first glimmer of familiar magic pulsating just out of reach, stronger than any she had used before. It simmered and boiled deep within her, morphing each time she tried to summon it, as though it were taunting her.
Her intuition flared in warning. There was no other choice. No other option. Deep in Tina’s core, her goddess believed their plan would fail, and the princes would never make their fathers see reason. Tina had to access her true potential, her true magic, and she had to do it now. Anything less, and they would all die.
57
Killian
Every time Killian’s father tried to throw another knife, Killian intercepted it, deflecting it off his invulnerable body before it could harm anyone.
A war raged within him. He had gone his entire life doing what he was told, doing everything in his power to impress his father and make the man proud. Now, Killian had to fight the very person who had raised him to save the woman he loved.
Though the throne room was massive, the five separate battles quickly consumed every ounce of free space. Anthony and Flynn dueled their fathers nearby, while Zane stood on the raised platform with Tina as his own father slowly marched up the steps. By the door, Draven slowly inched toward the outside hall, following their plan and doing his best to lead the man outside to avoid the terrible destruction that would follow a dragon shifting indoors.
Killian deflected another blade, still not able to bring himself to land a blow against his father’s chest. “Why won’t you see reason?”
“She will destroy everything and everyone,” the old man seethed.
The old man suddenly faltered, his daggers tumbling to the ground, and he did a double take at something behind Killian as his shoulders relaxed. It was as if a spell had come over him, and he did his best to fight it. His eyes shifted to the platform, and Killian nervously followed his gaze to find Tina, with one arm stretched toward the Killian’s father. Her eyes glowed white, and her veins shimmered with magic. She looked for all the world like a vengeful siren, ready to destroy anyone who harmed what she loved.
She had enthralled the old man, used her magic to distract the king, and this was Killian’s chance to make him see reason.
“Tina won’t destroy anything!” Killian pleaded. “This is your chance to bring the kingdoms together, not rip them apart. To create lasting peace.”