Page 4 of Court of Dragons and Ashes

I wish it were that simple. “It’s complicated, but no goddess gets to kill him.”

It seems to quieten him, even as the queen steps closer to me. “What about the courts? The people? They are suffering.”

Ayiolyn will always fight for you, but not yet. Live, and save our people one day. Remember, Ayiolyn is yours if you claim it. I blink, pushing back against my mother’s words to me. “Those gods aren’t meant to be in our world, and they’ve destroyed too much of it. My parents, my court, my people. I was a child the last time I was a Spirit Court princess, but I’m not anymore. I’m going to get it back, all of it, and make the gods regret coming into our world.”

I walk past them into the garden, knowing I’m going to need a lot of space to pull in darkness to make a portal. I’ve never made one, but I understand the dynamics of it. I remember my father’s lessons well. My father. I miss him so much. I hope, by using my Spirit Court power, I’m keeping a little of him alive. The proud, brilliant king I remember. All shadows can lead to all places, all worlds. I can connect through the darkness and shadows to worlds and places I know. I can weave them togetherand make a portal. I know I can. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to open the portal for, so no messing about.”

Hope and Arty stop at my side in the garden. “Are you going to think of your mother?” Arty suggests. “We need to go to the dungeons of the Water Court castle and nowhere else, otherwise it’s too much of a risk of someone seeing us.”

I grit my teeth. “I’ve never been there, so it’s going to be difficult to aim for the right place. My father always said, when you weave to places, you should only weave to the places you’ve been or you might end up in a wall or underwater. I was never taken to the Water Court as a child, let alone the dungeons.”

Hope smirks. “I have. I’ve been there for years and know it very well. Can you see it in my mind? Hera obviously has power over minds, so you must have some of that power. You can look into my mind and see the Water Court. You can see the dungeons. You’ll know exactly where to go that way.”

Her plan would work, but… “I’m not very good at looking into minds. It’ll hurt you. You will feel my powers invading your mind. My grandmother tried to teach me, but she said it takes hundreds of years to do it without causing a lot of pain.”

Hope uncomfortably rubs her arm and blows out a breath. “Lysander, Arden, Grayson, and Emrys are the only family I have. I was brought up in the Water Court. There are people there who I care about. Just like in the other courts, too. A bit of pain for them, for the courts, I can do.”

“It will be more than a bit.” I frown.

She nervously laughs. “Let’s admit it, you’ve always wanted to hurt me, you crazy bitch.”

I almost laugh as I reach for her. “Still, I’m sorry.” I touch the side of her face, and she screams. Images flash in my mind as the Water Court flashes through to me. I focus on the places, not her memories within them, and block her out. The throne room of the Water Court is clear first, a place of laughter andjoy, and then she thinks of the entire castle. It’s a massive greyish blue towering building above the sea. Sandy beaches are spread around one side, and the other is layered with stormy seas blowing harsh waves onto the cliffside. Two parts of the sea, vicious and calm, and it’s all beautiful. All around the castle island are dozens, if not hundreds, of islands that probably make up the entire court. I watch in a haze as her memories slip through various rooms in the court in seconds until I see it, the dungeons, stretching out in front of me.

I lower my hand and she falls, collapsing to her knees with her long dark hair covering her face as I suck in a deep, shaky breath. I didn’t just see her past, I felt some of her emotions, too. The lonesomeness, the desperation for family, the seeking of her past. It was intense, just like she is.

Arty catches her, but Hope pushes her away. “Don’t touch me. I never want your help.”

She throws her arms up. “I was just trying to help you up.”

“I don’t want help from someone like you,” Hope snarls in return, and pain flashes across Arty’s eyes. For a moment, I almost feel sorry for her, but then I remember the people she killed in the Dragon Crown Race. I remember her unlocking her father’s cage and letting him free to murder hundreds of thousands. I remember her doing nothing as I was injured and thrown into a desert to die. I remember her betraying me at every chance she got. I offer Hope my hand, and she pulls herself up.

“Since when do you two get along?” Arty questions. “I thought Lysander?—”

We both narrow our eyes on Arty, and she stops, and neither of us answers her. Hope looks at me, rubbing her forehead. “Did you see it? I have a headache now.”

“Saw it. Everyone needs to be quiet and don’t move.” I close my eyes and reach for every bit of darkness, embracing it andsinking into the power like the feeling of coming home after a long day. Darkness spreads across the ground, all the way up around us, like a curtain, taking out every light, every star. I pull the darkness from the shadows under the trees, the pitch-black pits in the soil of the earth and anything I can feel. I pull sharply, weaving it like it’s a tapestry and pulling hundreds of the strands together with only one thought in my mind. One place. I weave them repeatedly, pushing and pulling, the pit of my power spreading. I focus on the Water Court, on the prisons, as I force my shadows to spread all the way there, through the worlds.

I open my eyes, praying this worked. A shimmering veil is in front of me, covered in water shadows. The water is pitch dark, different to portals I’ve seen before, but on the other side are the Water Court prisons. Relief floods me as I turn to Hope and nod once. Hope jumps through, with Arty following her, looking back at me once. I pray to every god out there, to the mighty dragon gods that I’ve never prayed to once before, that she’s not going to betray me again.

I jump through the portal last, landing in soft water that climbs up to my knees. I leave the portal open for a while, just in case we need a fast escape, but it’s quiet and empty. Deserted. The dungeons are dark and reek of damp, mould, and fish. There are a few glowing blue spheres lining the walls, and within them are glowing white fish, swimming round in circles.

Arty nods to her left, and I see a lump of someone lying on a watery bed, moss growing all around her long black hair. My heart is in my throat as I recognise my mother, and I stumble a step. I’ve not seen her in so long, and I thought she was dead. I never let myself hope, not even for a second, that I’d see her again. She’s so pale, so thin and tiny. Her long hair spreads down her back, falling off the bed, and water drips off it into the puddles. She looks nothing like the healthy woman that the sorcerer made me see again and again, trying to get me to trusthim all those months ago. It feels like a lifetime ago. No, this is my real mother, who’s apparently been trapped down here.

I use my shadows to blast the prison door open as I run to her side. I push her onto her back, but her eyes stay closed, and she is floppy. “Mum!” I shake her shoulder, but she doesn’t react. I turn to Arty. My eyes narrowed. “She’s not waking up. What’s wrong with her?!”

Arty holds her hands up, nervously looking at the snakes of shadows lacing around the corners of the room. “I d-don’t know. She never wakes anymore. I think it must be a spell of some kind. My nanny, Tara, a spelled human, comes down to care for her and makes sure she is having some food and water. But she told me she doesn’t eat or drink anymore, the last few weeks.”

I look at the portal, making a new plan. “We send her back to Earth, to my grandmother.”

Hope nods at me before turning to Arty. “Watch the door and make sure no one comes in.”

“No one will come down here. There are no other prisoners,” she whispers. “Father kills or spells anybody who fights him. He doesn’t keep them prisoners anymore. Prince Kian was kept down here, but Father’s not even noticed he’s missing yet. Or he definitely would have been searching for him.”

“Still, watch the door,” Hope snaps.

I touch my mother’s hand, running my fingers over the silver dragon bracelet on her wrist. The memories of when I played with it all the time rush back to me, and I remember hoping one day she would let me wear it. I gulp down the emotions running to the surface, knowing I can’t lose it here. I have to be strong. “Thank you for coming to me, for telling me about my mother. Artemis, I might never trust you again as my friend, but I am thankful for this.”

“I will keep earning your trust. I’m done being a slave to my parents when I know they don’t love me.” She lifts her head with every word. Arty walks to the door, her back to us.

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