Page 18 of Court of Dragons and Twilight

“Emrys,” I whisper. It’s him again. We are in the same place as before, this strange dream place that almost feels familiar to me. He’s standing on a boat in the sea that looks like fog. It’s so familiar, but I can’t put my finger on where I’ve seen it before. Pretty though. I watch it slowly float, even when there are no waves or current. The water doesn’t move. I walk through the fog-like water that just parts around my legs. Emrys offers me a hand and I step into the boat. We stare at each other, and he is smiling. Not as big as my smile, just before I throw myself into his arms, hugging him tightly. I can’t smell his scent here. It’s unnerving and I miss him. The real him. He holds me back, and he doesn’t let go. “You came back.”

He leans only slightly away from me to cup my face, his hands tucking my hair behind my ears. “There isn’t any place in any world that I wouldn’t come back for you, Elle. It’s time.”

My mouth parts. I want to kiss him, be with him, but he seems serious now. “What is time? If you’re telling me it’s time for you to die, we are going to have a big disagreement.” I’m so scared of that thought I can’t stop talking. “We are doing the tests. We are fighting for you, and I need you to hold on. Please, just please don’t go. Please, I’ll beg. I’ll do?—”

He kisses me, his lips pressing on mine before parting them. I melt into his touch, my eyes closing, and I let myself be lost in Emrys. “You need to go into the darkness below. It’s time.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. You’re not with us now. It could rip me apart and kill us all.”

“Do you really believe I need my body to be with you?” he questions, covering my heart with his palm. “Our souls are one and you can call me any place, any time. I will always be with you, and so will they. You don’t need your mates to go down to the darkness, and you do not need them to be crowned Queen of Ayiolyn. You were born to claim that title, and you already have your mates. It all waits for you in the darkness, and fearing it will end us all first.

“We are bonded to you. We always have been since our births. I can see it all now.” He looks around us, and I see nothing but fog in every direction. “You can call them from down in the darkness to complete the mating when you’re ready. You can call me too. I am yours now, to the end of our time, and even if there’s only an inch of my soul left in existence, I belong with you. I always will do. It is time, Ellelin, to be braver than you ever have been. To face what is coming. This is the only day you will get before you face the final test that she has planned for you. You must have all the powers, or you’ll die.”

He is scaring me. “How do you know this?”

He strokes my back with his hand. “When your soul is not fully connected to a body, you wander and watch.” He searches my eyes. “Don’t be scared. I haven’t let go yet.”

Yet. Yet. Yet. I hate that. “Emrys…”

“It’s going to be okay. Don’t look so heartbroken. But wake up and face it for us. Grayson will win his test; I am sure of it. In the meantime, you need to go down to the darkness alone. It is yours to face. It always has been. Without the others. They will stop you and they do not understand. I did not until now.Only you were born in the darkness and shadows. Only you can command them. I’ve seen it. I understand now.” He soothes me with more madness. “Trust me, Elle. Do as I ask.”

I can’t catch him as he steps away from me. It feels like he’s fading away with time, and no matter what I do, I won’t be able to grasp him back. I scream his name, but it’s too late. He is in the fog, and I can’t see him anymore.

I wake up in a cold sweat and there’s sunlight pouring through the windows, right into my face until everything is a bright yellow. “Gray?” I look around for him. We went to bed together last night. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him before the test. Arden went back to his court to deal with some business there. Lysander was with his brother and Arty, making preparations for their mating, or marriage. Gray kept me up all night, happily, until we both collapsed and fell asleep. “What the air king claimed was true. Are you ready?”

I sit up straight and blink a few times because this can’t be real. The matron is actually sitting in a chair by the fire, near the end of my bed. The flames of the fire are casting bright orange lights across her dark cloak. Her cloak covers her face, and her stick is resting over her legs. She looks at home and she hasn’t even bothered to glance my way. “What are you doing in here?”

“Waiting for you to receive Emrys’s message. It’s time to escort you to the darkness.” She finally looks at me. “And I’ve waited to bring you.”

Not at all creepy. “I need to talk to my mates about it first?—”

“They can stop you or demand to enter at your side. You were interrupted once before, and if you hadn’t been, the darkness would not have let them in either way. They do not understand. Their blood doesn’t run deep in the generations of fifth court royals. It is not their element. You are the princess of spirit. You are the princess of darkness and the very essence of it. If you do not go, then you die.”

She has thought this through, then. It feels wrong to not tell them where I’m going, and it’s not something I want to do. “I could die down there. It’s killed my ancestors.”

Her voice carries through the air. “That was because they were not chosen or invited. You are both.”

“Did they know that?” I lean forward. “Did my grandparents know, or did you lead them down there?”

“Yes, they knew, and I advised them not to enter. They were grabbing power that was not rightfully theirs. Everyone’s soul is tested in the darkness. Only someone who wants the best for this world, who deserves it and has been chosen, will be able to access his power.” She speaks with clarity, but I don’t understand this all, and something screams in my chest to tell the others. But if she is right, they won’t let me go in there, and I won’t be able to save my people. I won’t be able to save everyone. This castle has always looked after me and been kind. It sang songs to me and got me out when the court fell. It saved me over and over, and likely more times than I know. I might not trust her, but the castle? I trust this castle with my life.

I’ve been spooked since Terrin told me everything and we went to see the tsar and his sister. Neither one of them said a word, like they had discussed this all and knew. But I could tell the tsar was shocked and pissed off. I know he didn’t know about Terrin, even if he refused to show it.

I watch her. “You’ve been here, right? You saw my father go into that darkness. You saw him come out with that sword, which was from Cronus. He died.”

For once, I actually see some emotion on her face. “Your father was a great man and a good king. He ruled well, and I liked him. I liked him enough not to let the darkness kill him and to offer him help instead, saving you and your mother. That’s all he ever wanted. Did you know that? He just wanted you to live. A solution to his problems was what we gave him with that sword.”We both glance at it, resting on the wall. “It’s alive, as you well know, and it will aid you. It’s a magical sword that is bursting with life.”

I climb off the bed and walk over, stopping in front of her chair. I lean down so we are at eye level, noting how she smells like jasmine and winter nights. “You want me to trust you?”

“Did I not save your mate when he was only a boy from a life of cruelty that would have shaped him into a monster, a monster not even you could have saved? Did I not play the events to make sure that you were chosen and brought here? Chosen and brought here so that you could meet your other mates to free your mother to begin this quest. All of this hasn’t just played out but has been shaped by me. Trust that this castle and I have kept you alive, kept you on the right path for a very long time.” She offers me her hand, turning it over. In her palm is the Spirit Court crest. “I am bound to this court, and I would choose nothing different. I want not to rule but live in this castle in peace. To guide and watch the rulers of this world, but never be the ruler. I vow on my powers and immortal life.”

“But why me? Why am I this chosen person? I never asked for this. I never wanted it.”

“You were born to it, Ellelin, and the power in your veins is nothing short of the power that makes gods.” She sighs and rises to her feet. “I have seen four futures for you. Four different futures, and only one of them is a fate you will survive. Two of them depend on you coming with me.”

“Risk my life, not tell my mates, and believe you can see the future?” I question. “I do not keep secrets from them and risk everything!”

“You will soon be a queen of this world, and risking everything is a small price to pay. Yes, they are your kings and mates. That much is true, but you will be the queen of all elements. Only you will unite them. That does not come withoutrisk or trust. If you do not trust me, then I will leave. If you do, then I will wait here while you get dressed. We will go to the darkness.” She walks to the door. She pauses, never looking back at me. “The future I saw was happy. You were vacationing on Earth at Halloween, with your twin boys and mates. The twins were dressed up and collecting sweets as one more child brewed in your belly. There was peace in Ayiolyn under your rule, and a great elemental council presided over the courts, which were united for the first time. This future is waiting for you.”

---