A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Chapter 40 | D(evil)

This Chapter has been split into two parts because it was too long. I will upload Chapter 41 (the second part) shortly. 

Enjoy the prelude to chaos 
Love Daisy xox

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Chapter 40 | D(evil)

*

You
are
so
b e a u t i f u l
to me.

- Elvis Presley

*

Zeus Gold stood silently in the middle of the cavern, the bodies of the fallen littered around him like broken dolls.
In one hand he held a collection of chains from which two fat jewels dripped, swaying gently in his grasp. Holding his hand up a little higher, he admired the way the gemstones caught the light, appearing impassive as he assessed each the blue and red stone in turn, before running his fingers delicately over the golden gemstone embedded in the skin of his chest. His equally luminescent eyes keenly noted the deep crack that ran jagged across the otherwise flawless surface and then, just for a moment, his hard gaze seemed to soften.

"Ophelia," he murmured, "My heart."

The confession that whispered from his lips was spoken too quietly for anyone else to hear and even as he spoke the last word, his face became expressionless once again.
There was movement in a corner of the cavern and his head snapped around to focus on the source. His hand dropped back to his side abruptly, the bloated gemstones dancing frantically on the ends of their chains.

It was only then that Aranel opened her eyes.
Her eyelids felt heavy, as though they were made from lead, and a bright light flaring in the immediate vicinity made her wilt in protest. Her ribs hurt. That was her first thought. But as she rolled over onto her back, she realised that actually, her whole body ached.

She groaned.

"Now do you understand the enormity of what you've done?"

The cool voice came from above her head and she was startled into alertness, rolling her protesting body over onto her knees where she lifted herself into a defensive crouch. A wave of nausea suddenly hit her, and she was forced to drop to one knee, her hand reaching to her forehead in a pointless attempt to relieve some of the pain.

The voice huffed once, before lapsing into silence.

"Uncle?" She guessed, her vision still wavering, "You're alive?"

"Yes, I'm alive," Zephyr answered frigidly, "somehow."

A dark chuckled emitted from the space in front of her and this time Aranel really did come to her senses, her head whipping around to find the source of the noise. Her gaze paused over Zephyr's incapacitated form, resting against the wall of the prison, before swooping in the direction of the light source.

Her view of the light was fragmented by shadow, and it was then she realised she was in a cage, Zephyrs cell, to be exact. Beyond the criss-crossed bars of the prison stood a figure, silhouetted by the glare behind him. Aranel felt her blood run cold as the person approached lazily, leaning against the bars with a clang, his predatory eyes observing her situation in amusement.

Zeus smirked cruelly. "Who's the one in a cage now Princess?"

Her hackles rose "let me out," she snarled, curling her fingers around the bars. They were made of diamond, just like the ones in her Palace dungeons, just as she had suspected them to be. Her air blade could cut through everything but diamond.