The King of Hearts (The Dark Kings Book 9) Read online

  The King of Hearts

  Jovee Winters

  Contents

  The King of Hearts

  1. Aphrodite (alternate timeline)

  2. Hephaestus

  3. Psyche

  4. Eros

  5. Eros

  6. Eros

  7. Eros

  8. Psyche

  9. Psyche

  10. Eros

  11. Eros

  Epilogue

  Untitled

  Kingdom Books written as Marie Hall

  UPCOMING Titles in no particular order

  Other books by Jovee: Blue Moon Bay cozy pnr mystery romance

  The King of Hearts

  You might think you know the story of Eros and Psyche…but you’re wrong.

  * * *

  The day Aphrodite learned of her pregnancy she received a prophecy from the Three Fates, that she would lose the love of her offspring to another. A woman. A mortal woman at that. Determined that fate would never befall her Aphrodite will stop at nothing to make certain she ruins any chance of happiness for that vile human. There’s only one problem, she’s not quite sure yet who that woman is. But it’s only a matter of time before she discovers her.

  * * *

  Eros. The most beautiful winged male in all of Olympus. Loyal. Brave. And dim. At least that’s how all of Olympus sees him. A mindless puppet who serves his mother’s every whim, no questions asked. But that’s not how Eros views himself. He believes that love is loving despite someone’s flaws. And that if his mother demands something of him, he must faithfully execute her wishes. But lately, his mother’s behavior has grown increasingly wild and erratic. Her demands of him are beginning to make him uneasy. She’s gotten colder through the years, crueler even. And now her sights are set on a princess from the land of men. She tells Eros to go and curse the female. And though he goes, this time her demands just don’t sit well in his gut. When he finally spies the woman, he begins to question all that he believed. And starts to wonder if maybe there is more to his mother’s madness than meets the eye.

  The King of Hearts

  Copyright Jun, 2020 Jovee Winters

  Cover Art by PhatPuppy

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  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Jovee Winters, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in the context of reviews.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Jovee Winters. Unauthorized or restricted use in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patent Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2020 by Jovee Winters, Colorado Springs, CO United

  Created with Vellum

  Aphrodite (alternate timeline)

  The rumors floated to me. Of a woman, a mortal no less, with beauty that could rival even my own.

  I clenched my fists, staring out at the night sky dotted with sickle shaped starlight. Not really staring at anything.

  For weeks now I’d heard of this breathtaking beauty, a woman so perfectly made that she must have been blessed by the gods.

  Well, if I ever found out which god had done that, I would kill them.

  I clenched my teeth, baring my incisors.

  Helen of Troy was her name, what a stupid name at that. It was said that Hera was also taking an active interest in the lass. Hm.

  I inhaled deeply, watching as Nyx glided gracefully across the sky, turning day to night. Perhaps I was thinking about this all wrong. If Hera was already taking an interest that meant Helen was protected. I couldn’t out and out kill her, but I could come as a wolf in lamb’s clothing. Make her think I was on her side, only to turn around and force her death by other more devious means.

  I smirked. Now wouldn’t that be fun.

  “Tell me who to kill, Aphrodite, and your wish will be my command.”

  I twirled, glaring angrily at an insolent looking Ares. He was tall and dressed in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. My lust instantly rose, and my nipples hardened to fine points. I lifted a brow, temporarily forgetting about the stupid mortal and my halfcocked plan to start a war.

  “Ares. How dare you trespass in a married woman’s room?” I said with a lazy drawl, leaning heavily against the ivory column behind me as I slowly drew a finger down the vee of my breasts.

  His dark, hot eyes instantly zoomed into the movement. He wanted sex. And now, so did I.

  He snorted. “Since when has that fact bothered you?” he teased me, referring, of course, to my hasty nuptials just three months past to his boorish brother, Hephaestus.

  We’d had to cover up my pregnancy and since the idiot and I hadn’t yet fucked (because I wanted to be a good little girl and wait until I was his in truth…*snort*) it was the only way to make sure none ever knew.

  So now Hephaestus and I had fucked plenty, but fucking him was like fucking a hairy blanket. I rocked back and forth, had pretend orgasms, and now I was “pregnant.” Yay. Oh, and no more fucking for him. Disgusting troll had gotten more than he’d deserved in the first place.

  I rolled my eyes as my hands drew down to the loose sash tied low on my hips. I still wasn’t showing, but I felt the life stirring within me. If this child had been the trolls, I’d have gotten rid of it. But call me a sentimental fool, I wanted to bear Ares’ babies. As many as I could. Imagine the power they’d have with a mother like a me and a father like him.

  “Good point,” I said with a smirk and let the robe puddle at my feet. He sucked in a sharp breath, causing his impressive abs to concave and making my own hunger roar like a lioness on the prowl.

  I wet my lips as I gently began tweaking my own nipple.

  He scrubbed a hand down his face, his eyes were wide and they were hungry.

  I grinned. “You want this, Ares? You want to sink your hot, heavy cock deep inside of my wet, warm—”

  I didn’t get a chance to finish. He pounced on me, taking me to the ground. I laughed even as he cradled my head in his hands and twisted so that now I rested upon him as he took the brunt of the fall.

  We’d barely even landed on the marble floor before I lifted up on my knees and sank down hard on his extremely well-endowed penis.

  Our coupling was violent and animalistic. He bit down on my breasts, leaving marks all over me. I, in turn, scored the flesh of his steely hard biceps and abs. Leaving thin ribbons of blood streaked flesh in my wake.

  By the time we’d finished we were coated in sweat and panting heavily.

  “Can my brother fuck you like that?” Ares asked a moment later.

  I lifted a brow and leaned up, staring at him. “Jealousy does not become you, War. And he probably could, if I ever bothered to teach him how to fuck me properly.”

  He snorted, slapped his palm down on my naked rear and jiggled a goodly amount of flesh in his palm. “This is mine. And you are mine. Forever. I agreed to let you marry him for the sake of your reputation, but don’t think to screw me, Aphrodite. You won’t win. No one ever bests me.”

  I shivered, loving the dark edge to his tone. The gristle and raw fire in it. I liked knowing th
at Ares was always on a knife’s edge of violence. Hephaestus looked like the tougher brother, but he was all sunshine and unicorn farts by comparison. Ares was the true power and power was what called to me. Always had.

  But I wouldn’t let him know it. So, I snorted and shook my head, then I stood. Staring down at his still sticky, wet, but now limp cock. “You should clean up. You’re disgusting you’re so filthy.”

  He growled.

  My heart fluttered but I forced myself to turn away and snapping my fingers, I summoned my robe to me. Covering myself up once more. The buffet was now closed. I was tired and needed a rest.

  “And shut the door behind you, Ares.”

  “Don’t you dare leave me now.”

  But I did, I left him. I flashed out of my own palace and toward Gnósi, I had a visit planned for many months now. Ever since learning of my pregnancy. I wanted to see what the Fates had in store for my little one.

  I could just wait like any normal mortal mother would and learn as I went, but what was the fun in that? If I knew my child’s future, I could plan accordingly.

  Would she be powerful? More beautiful than I?

  I frowned. No, not that. But power would be good. Would she make the masses kneel to her in worship?

  I straightened my shoulders. Imagining the glory and honor my daughter would bring to me.

  All the worlds would worship me then. They’d have no choice.

  When I entered the lair of the three homely sisters, I looked around. Of all the deities upon Olympus, the sisters were the only one I dared show no disrespect to. They had more power in their one pinky nail than even Zeus did.

  And they were one of the few among us who could actually kill us. So yes, I was rather fond of my neck.

  I absently ran a finger over it.

  “Oh, sisters,” I called out, meekly. “I am here. ‘Tis I, Aphrodite, Goddess of—”

  “Love, yes, how could we forget.”

  I turned and gasped. They’d not been there just a second ago, but suddenly all three were there in their crone forms. Shriveled breasts bared. Rheumy eyes drilling holes into my own. Barely any hairs covered their liver spotted heads. Brown, black, and white, even as elders there was something mesmerizing about the three of them when they stood together.

  I swallowed, feeling the faint stirring of fear in my belly.

  But I tried to hide it behind an affable smile even as I clutched at my belly protectively. “Sisters, it is good to see—”

  “She lies. She is not happy to see us.” This said by Lachesis, seer of the present.

  Clotho (seer of the past) and Atropos (the future) both nodded.

  Atropos, pale as cream in the moonlight, closed her eyes. The skin covering them was so fine I could see each and every blue vein. “You wish to know about your son.”

  “Son?” I mouthed, frowning and rubbing my stomach. A bit bothered that I was to have a son, I’d so wished for a daughter. But the feeling soon faded when I felt my child stir within. I nodded slowly. “Yes, will he be—”

  “He will take after you in most all ways,” she said, voice reed thin and wispy as the hairs on her head. “Rules by his heart, he will be passionate in all ways.”

  I smiled. That wasn’t so bad. Plus, if he didn’t take after Ares, I could hide the fact that he didn’t belong to the troll. Eventually I’d tell the whole Pantheon the truth, when the time suited me. But for now, I needed Hera to believe I was actually in love with her beast of a son.

  “But beware, goddess of love. One will come along who will challenge all that you are. She will win away the heart of your child if you’re not careful. Your power rests in his hands. Choose wisely.”

  Bloody hell, the Fates were always so vague. What Atropos had said could mean any number of things. But I could tell by the way they were staring at one another in silent communication that they had no more to share with me.

  Oh, I could push the issue. But it would get me nowhere with them and they were enemies I could not afford to make.

  I dipped my head. “Thank you, sisters.”

  Then I turned and fled to my palace, chewing over what I’d learned.

  So, my son would be much like me. But a woman would vie for his heart? And if I chose wrong, she’d not only take him from me, but take my power with it? Gods. I rubbed at the base of my neck as nerves wormed through my belly. There was just one way to make sure that never happened then.

  My child could never, ever, under any circumstances fall in love with a woman. If he did, I would simply have to kill her.

  I smirked.

  Too simple.

  Aphrodite (current timeline)

  * * *

  Glancing at Hephy’s sleeping form, I felt a soft smile grace my lips. We hadn’t made love last night, but we’d held tight to each other. I was plagued by worries, worries that I’d hoped would lessen now that I was taking more of a backseat and letting Caly take the reins with the happily ever afters.

  Scooting off the bed as quietly as I could, I grabbed my golden robe that I’d slung over the footboard last night and quietly walked toward the wall of windows that made up one entire section of our bedroom.

  Nyx and I had a deal that she kept this section of my home always bathed in twilight. Not quite dark, but none of Apollo’s rays to spoil the beauty of its tranquility either.

  I enjoyed studying the stars, looking out at the vastness of space. Knowing how large a world it was that I actually lived in. It had always helped me to put my personal problems into perspective.

  I slid my palm up the glass, gazing mournfully up at the ever dueling ursa major and minor, as bears were often wont to do, they slapped and roared at each other, each vying for predominance of the night sky. But it was a battle they would never win. The gods had seen to that. It was a pointless battle, but one they were doomed to repeat over and over and over.

  Their longstanding war made me think of my own.

  Eros despised me. No matter how much I tried to show him that I wasn’t the awful mother of the other time he simply wasn’t interested in hearing it. I’d tried so many times in so many ways to show him that I was different. That I could be trusted, but when he deigned to come, he always seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

  Large, warm hands suddenly slid around my waist. And my husband’s overwhelmingly huge body hugged mine from behind. I sighed, leaning the entirety of my weight on his chest. He’d put on his prosthetic legs, as he was currently towering over me.

  “Drachma for your thoughts,” he murmured, before laying a tender kiss on the outer shell of my ear.

  I sighed, wrapping my hands over his arms and pinning him fast to me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I simply allowed myself to breathe and be in the moment. The simple act soon began to quiet my nerves enough to allow me to speak.

  “Hephy, when I was cast into this new world, and you did not know me. The real me. I thought my life would end. I thought everything I’d ever known as truth was over. And that I was doomed to walk this new world alone. Forever.”

  He gently turned me, so that I was facing him. And he himself shifted so that he was now leaning against the window. His thighs were spread wide, I was being cradled in my husband’s arms and I felt like a treasure. I smiled softly.

  “I almost let the best thing walk out of my life and I will forever regret those dark days. But eventually I saw you, Dite. The real you. So, will he.”

  I hadn’t had to say a word and he’d already known why my thoughts were so heavy. I shook my head. “It’s been well over a year now, Hephy. At some point I thought that circumstances between us might improve.

  Tipping my chin up so that our eyes locked, he took a deep breath, prompting me to take my own. He didn’t need to tell me to follow his lead, because he’d known without fail that I always would. The quiet that grew between us was a comforting sort of mystery. I didn’t understand how it was that he could always so easily calm me, but I was grateful he had that ability with me. All
the nerves and tension, the stress of months of worrying began to slowly ease out of my body with each exhalation, until finally I could smile a genuine smile at him.

  “How do you do that? Every time?” I asked, a tinge of awe in my tone, not bothering to conceal how very much he meant to me.

  His smile was soft, small. “I can’t seem to do it with anyone but you. Though, if I could only share my calm with one person, I am glad it is you.”

  Then he pulled me into his body and kissed the top of my head. A feeling of being cherished and loved came over me like a warm blanket. Closing my eyes, I felt my heart beat align to his own, in moments I’d gone from being a tensed and crazed being to one full of peace.

  Snuggling my nose into his chest I felt a tiny stab of guilt that I got to be home with him again. For a while at least. Because Caly was still fighting the good fight. It hadn’t dawned on me just how stretched thin I’d really been, as a goddess of love I not only gave love, but I probably needed to feel love more than any other being on Olympus. It was what fed me. Probably why no one person could satisfy me before Hephy, it would have taken a being so much more than most to give me what I needed.

  Thinking of that, I wondered about Eros again. He was my son. My blood ran through his veins. So did Ares’, but I didn’t detect Ares’ warring nature in him. His powers were much more closely aligned to my own.

  If he was like me in the obvious ways, was it possible that he was also like me when it came to needing love?