Prologue

PROLOGUE

FALKEN ILROTH, KING OF THE SPIRIT COURT

My life has been marked by the decisions I’ve made. To be a king. To love my mate and wife. To have a child. Life isn’t usually marked by dreams…but this is no ordinary dream, and I know it will haunt me for years to come.

There have been several dreams in my life that I knew were filled with magic, filled with a warning that must be listened to. When I was ten years old, I dreamt of the most beautiful young woman I’d ever seen in my life. She had long black hair, bright blue eyes, and she was stunning. She was standing on a stone pier, watching out over a stormy sea, in a world that was not one that I’d grown up in. A mortal world. I was aware of Earth, and I had always been called to it, never understanding why. I knew, without an inch of doubt in my mind, that I had to find this woman in my lifetime. I had to meet her, because she would be mine.

Of course, I was only a child, so when I woke up, fitfully talking about this strange woman that I’d seen, my parents thought I was completely insane and had lost my mind. But years later, I met her on that exact pier. The same thing happened in the dream, but I was in the shadow, watching her from a distance. This time, I was there when she turned around and looked at me with the same shock, awe, and instant attraction I felt. I knew she was my mate. I knew without any doubt in my heart that this woman was the love of my life and that there would be no one before or after her that would make me feel this way.

Naturally, she was stubborn and more powerful than I could’ve possibly imagined. She was the daughter of a goddess, and her powers met my own, perfectly matched. I convinced her to come to my world, to my castle, to be my queen. It came with a cost. She didn’t want to leave Earth, a world her mother was trapped in. But she loved me, and together we paid any price for our love.

But this current dream, it doesn’t fill me with hope. It fills me with dread, with a dread that turns my stomach into a pit of ashes. I look across my lands from the top of my castle, tasting the death and despair thick in the air. The land around the castle—filled with houses, temples, structures, and beauty—is burning. Everything’s being destroyed, blown up with magic, and dragons are falling from the skies.

I’m not alone. A cloaked enemy, who I can barely see, stands before me. He holds a staff that calls to me. “Your time is over, King. The Spirit Court has fallen. Your wife, your daughter, they are both dead, as will your people soon be. There’ll be no one here to remember the Spirit Court, and when I’m done, every court will fall to me. I will be the only ruler left.”

I gasp as this man rips me apart with magic until only my soul is there to watch as my world is completely destroyed by a god who will never stop. Words fill my mind, powerful and old, full of warning. “A princess of spirit, bound to each element, will be born to the night, promised with hope. In her blood lies the secrets of Ayiolyn, and she needs only call. In the sacred elements, bonds will be forged. She will find her destined mates in the courts of shadow, fire, water, air, and earth.”

Waking up in my room, I listen only to my heart racing as sweat pours down my brow. My shadows flood the room, coming to protect me, but I send them away. Even they are no comfort now. I need my queen. I pat the empty space next to me and frown. “She is fine, your majesty.”

I turn, facing the matron, who is standing over the end of my bed. “What are you doing in here?” The matron never comes into our rooms. “Where’s my wife?”

“She’s in labour, my king. Congratulations.” The matron bows her head. Joy fills my senses, and even the darkness seems to lighten. “It’s only the start, and the queen didn’t want to wake you. She’s gone to walk round the castle with her friends. She sent me to inform you that you should be ringing the castle bells, making the court aware that the new prince or princess will be here soon. It is your honour to do so, after all.”

The bells haven’t rung since I was born. “I must see her…” I stop. I can’t tell her about this dream, not now, not when she needs to concentrate on labouring our child. I sit up, frowning.

The matron is too smart. I’ve always known that about her. “You had a dream?” She pauses. “No, a dream of the future, and it has frightened you.”

Lifting my head, I look at the matron. She isn’t mortal, dragon, goddess, or anything I can label, and for a time, I wanted to know what she is and why she stays here. I remember my father telling me she had been there since he was a boy, and his grandfather talked about the matron to him once, suggesting she has lived a very long time. She is a being who’s lived in this castle longer than I could know, full of secrets that no one possibly could guess. But she’s loyal to the castle, first and foremost, and she’s loyal to my family.

I don’t even know how old she is. She looks like a harmless old lady, aged and withered. But I’ve seen her fight, moving quicker than any wind could blow. There are a lot of secrets about her, and I doubt she is here on a whim. My queen could have sent anyone with the news. She turns from me, looking out past the balcony. “I was awoken by the magic haunting you, calling to me like a song. I feel you must tell me about your dreams, my king, as they might speak to my own foretellings of the future.”

“It was less a dream than a nightmare,” I answer. I’ve spent my entire life being wary around people in this court, as all kings have enemies. Our court, we have plenty. But I trust her with my life. So did my father and his father before him.

“A prophecy, a forecasting of what’s to come,” she guesses, her voice like ice.

“I’ve had them since I was a child.” My answer lingers between us as I decide to trust her with this. I cannot tell my queen right at this moment, but I will. When she is stronger, when our child is here and safe. I climb out of the bed, walking over to the window where there’s a small table. I pour myself a glass of wine and down it, wincing at the bitter taste, before I tell the matron what the dream was about.

Afterwards, silence rings between us, thick and heavy. The matron walks over to my side, watching out across the kingdom. It won’t be long until the sun rises, flooding the dark kingdom with light, but with the way I feel, I almost sense the morning will never come. The sun will never rise the same way, not now I know death is on its way for me. “I have had dreams like this, too. The fall of the Spirit Court. I do not see this enemy’s true face, as you put him. Just a danger, coming for us all.”

“I have to stop it,” I bite, clutching the glass tightly in my hand. “My child is being born soon, and they cannot come into a world where that is the future.”

“The future can be changed; all dreams can be,” she remarks. “I highly doubt the two things are not coincidental.”

“The monster said that he killed my daughter. I am to have a daughter,” I whisper. Pride fills my chest and longing. We’ve wanted a child since the early days of our relationship, and she was our miracle, made on our mating day. Our princess.

“I know of magic so dangerous and powerful that your grandfather forbade it,” the matron begins.

I know of this magic. My father warned me of it so I might warn the future generations. Death magic. My parents are gone from this world. They cast themselves into shadows years ago when I was only a teenager. I never knew why they decided to leave. Maybe they were done with life. They were always different from how I am. They were colder, empty. The Spirit Court did not thrive under their ruling. My mother always was looking for something else. Looking for a life outside of this castle. My father only cared about the magic that lay deep within the shadows.

“To protect your people, you will need this magic. You will need to pull all the magic of every ancestor before you out of the shadows with death magic, through your body and soul.”

My mouth goes dry. To use that magic…it would curse my soul. Destroy it. I would never find my mate or child in the afterlife; I would be lost. Forever.

“You were born a king, and it is your choice, but you have seen what happens if you do nothing. Save them. The children. The babies. The women. The men. Give them a chance to live, as many as you can. Some will stay to fight, but⁠—”

“Are you insane? That kind of magic…” I whisper, but I can’t finish the sentence, as the nightmare haunts me. So many dead, so many lost. Is the price of my own life worth all of theirs if I’m destined to die either way?

“It looks like you are going to lead yourself to death either way and take your court, wife, and child with you.”

I pause at that. She’s right, of course. Death is what my dreams showed me, and my dreams have always come true. Every single one. But this one felt different, more powerful, more of a warning than I’ve ever had before. There is much to be said about a king who dies protecting everyone. I swore to protect my people when I took my crown, promised to be a better ruler than my parents.

“When your child grows, she will need her people. She will need an army to fight for her, and she will have nothing if this court falls and is destroyed. You know who he is.”

Tears fill my eyes. “So will you.” Though, we do not speak his name, not here, not in my home. I barely even want to think of his name. Time will reveal him to her, to every court. “But if that evil is returning to us, I must inform the other kings, call them to fight.”

“You can do that. At the end. I always foresee the courts being united, but I do not think it’s your generation that will unite them,” she answers, her eyes glazed over with magic.

“My daughter?” I ask, desperate to know she will have a future. Dying for her…I will do it. I will save my people, my wife and child. The Spirit Court must live on, even if there is nothing of me left. We have time, I hope we do. My dream will not come true yet, but when it is time…

The door’s knocked once and we both turn. “Come in!”

A young boy toddles in. The matron’s four-year-old ward. No one knows where he and his baby sister came from, but this young little boy isn’t her son. She just turned up with him as a baby, claimed that he was family to her, and he must be brought up in the castle. His sister turned up a few months ago and is sleeping in the nursery, another mystery. We asked Matron if any more were planning on turning up, but she claimed no, that these two are the last. My wife loves him, always buying him gifts, and he has a room a few down from our own.

I sense great untouched magic within his soul, and the dark shadows crawl out of the corners to see the child. To communicate with him. I push them away, not wanting them to scare the child. They can wait until he is older.

“Terrin,” the matron softly speaks, and the boy grins, missing one little tooth he lost when he climbed the castle and fell off, despite all our warnings not to climb alone. His black hair is short, his eyes bright with childhood innocence. “Thank you for coming, my little boy. We have something to tell you about a prophecy.”

I swing my head to the matron. “We can’t tell this boy anything. This must be kept a secret.”

“Agreed,” the matron tells me. “But, my king, the prophecy you heard speaks of my ward.” She cups the boy’s face, who looks warily at me. “Terrin, these are words you must remember as you grow older and guide the army of the Spirit Court.”

“This boy cannot be left to lead,” I say to the matron.

“He can because he will be the mate of your daughter. Shadow, as foretold, is he,” the matron informs me, and I look at the boy. It’s hard to imagine a future where he will be at the side of my daughter, who I have not even met. “He must remember the prophecy as he grows. He must fly the dragons to the west, where I believe they will be able to hide. One day, he will be at your daughter’s side, and he should come with the knowledge of how to help her. I foresee that I will not be able to help, or even recognise your daughter when the time comes. You tell him the prophecy, my king.”

“Whose child is he?” I demand, well aware the boy is watching, taking everything in.

Matron smiles at him. “He was born within shadows, created in darkness just like me, and that is all the truth I can tell you. The answer is for him to find when he is older, when he comes asking, hopefully with his princess at his side.”

I look at the boy who will be the mate of my unborn daughter, and nod. I kneel down at his level, something a king should not do. He is family, and I will protect him as best I can. “I’m going to transform you into a dragon to protect you in the years to come, and I need you to remember something for me. A story, a very important story.” He bows his head. Even this young, he is older than his time. “I’m going to tell you a prophecy about a baby who’s not even born yet, and then, one day in the future, please save my daughter.”