Page 22 of Blood of Olympus

You’re leaving now.

If you— she started but her voice cut off mid-sentence as I slammed the mental barrier closed between us, exhaling heavily.

“Alright?” Caelus asked with a sly grin.

I scowled, but it was an impossible expression to maintain when his smiles were my own Achilles heel. “Yes, I’m just enjoying the view.”

At least I was, until an enormous purple menace dropped into view. Vel swooped in from above, from where she’d apparently been surveilling us. Her membranous, lilac-coloured wings flapped in slow, steady beats — like an ancient drum pounding in time to the heartbeat of Olympus itself — as she hovered in the air before us just off the edge of the mountain. Her gold serpentine eyes blinked at me knowingly, teasingly, before flitting to my left.

The side of her mouth curved upward as she stared at Aros, then snorted — a plume of violet-tinged smoke exiting her nostrils as loud as a roaring bonfire. Her hot breath rushed by, buffeting us like a desert storm, scattering loose stones across the flawless steps. Tiny scratching sounds echoed long after her breath passed — sounds caused by a freshly disturbed nest.

I shrieked as fifty — at least, maybe more, it definitely looked like more — mountain dragons darted in every direction, most notably, and disgustingly, across the tops of my boots. My feet fled the ground before I’d even consciously realised I’d jumped, and thankfully, did not return to it.

Caelus was ready, scooping me into his arms like he’d only been waiting for the precise moment to do so, even as he desperately quashed the mirth that was skirting down our bond.

Aros grinned, flicking an errant lizard off my ankle, and Vel chortled, scattering the grounded wretches anew. Her amusement grew — loud and playful — emanating from deep within her throat as she rolled through the air, as close to a cackle as I’d ever heard her make.

“Who’d have thought,” Aros drawled. “That our most esteemed, fearless leader was not so fearless after all?” He laughed heartily as I scowled in his direction. “That all it took to sweep you off your feet was a tiny reptile skittering across them?”

“Fifty, actually,” I grumbled.

He bellowed a deep guffaw, clutching his stomach — the sound echoed fifty metres to our right in the form of a gleeful dragon. “Twenty, maybe,” he offered between laughs.

I pouted, turning to my storm-wielder for help. Unsurprisingly, Caelus was already peering down at me when I dared to look up, biting his lip in a courageous attempt not to smile. His silver eyes swirled, dancing inside that ring of black, conveying a message he didn’t need to voice — they darted to Aros, to Velira, to the stone door of the mountain, then back to me, before his eyebrows waggled suggestively.

“You can go now, wretched dragon.”

Vel snorted, blowing a smoke-filled kiss out her ophidian snout, then darted into the clouds and disappeared from view.

“You as well, Aros. Go give your sister a five minute warning.”

“Good idea,” he agreed, eyes wide, his amusement immediately diminishing. “She’d have my balls for batting practice if you just waltzed in before she’d had a chance to fix her hair or prepare her speech.”

Caelus winced at the mention of balls and bats.

“Speech?” I frowned.

“Unfortunately, yes. You’re her new favourite person,” Aros groaned.

“Me?” My head snapped around to his. “Why?”

“You’re the first being to land a hit on Kronos in eons.” He shrugged. “Not to mention, you beat a bunch of older and more experienced gods in the Rite — including me — and took out that prissy pin-dick junior, throwing your power in our father’s face at the same time.” He raised a ginger brow, daring me to refute. “You should have seen her gushing about it afterwards,” he moaned, shooting an exasperated look behind me.

Caelus chuckled, his breath teasing the loose strands at the nape of my neck. I fought to suppress a shiver, but ultimately, desire won. The cloying scent of raspberries and vanilla permeated the air in the light morning breeze.

I flushed copper as Aros grinned ruefully.

“Oh, I see how it is,” he teased. “Five minutes is a pittance, Caelus. You’ll need to work on your stamina, lest our Queenie find her satisfaction elsewhere.”

“Believe me, she’s plenty satisfied, you lustful bastard,” he retorted through gritted teeth.

Aros barked a laugh as he wrenched the ancient door open.

“See to it that she is!” He strutted into the darkened alcove tossing one last parting remark over his shoulder, before disappearing into the blackness. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

“What exactly wouldn’t Aros do?”

“Well, he draws the line at dryads. He tried once but succeeded only in collecting splinters with his cock and vowed never again,” he replied with a grin.