Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Making the choice to trust a backstabbing liar is one of the worst decisions I could knowingly make. Or at least, that’s what Hope keeps repeating to me, and I don’t think she is wrong. Arty watches me from the living room, her locks of blonde hair covering her left cheek where it’s bruised—and not from my attack earlier. My clothes are dry now, the truth is out, and I should feel more in control, but I don’t. I feel like I’m spiralling into another world, another person, and there isn’t anyone here to stop me from drowning, because the men I love decided to sacrifice themselves and abandon me.

My shoulders drop slightly. They didn’t abandon me; I know that, but the bitter sting is something I’m not sure I can push aside. I chose to be with them, for us to face our battles together, and each one of them decided to leave me on Earth and take on an insane goddess on their own.

My grandmother’s soft voice echoes. “Are you ready, Elle?”

Am I?

Turning to my grandmother, Hera, I can’t help but be silenced by the memories that are still flooding back to me. Hera is my grandmother. I’m the granddaughter of a goddess, and I have powers, strong powers that have been honed by gods. I was never much good at the mind control aspect of my powers I inherited from her and my mother, but shadows? They breathed for me, and they still do.

My grandmother is the goddess of marriage, of family and rebirth…and she brought me up to be stronger than I feel right at this moment. My mum and dad brought me up to be a princess of the fifth court, with all the power of an heir of darkness and shadows…and I don’t know what my mother is going to say when she sees me. That is, if she’s really still alive.

Hope and Livia watch me from the kitchen door, both of them worried, but they haven’t told anyone what happened to me. I close my eyes for a moment, a flashback smacking into my mind of him, and suddenly I can’t breathe. I step away from them all, facing the back wall of the kitchen and sucking in a deep breath as the memory fades away. When it does, I notice it’s silent and shadows flood the floor, like a carpet made of my magic. They don’t touch my family or friends, who shouldn’t need to fear the darkness. My father’s lessons come back to me, how he took me to the pits of darkness in the base of the castle, of our home, and taught me their ways. “Elle?”

I let the shadows retreat and sink into the cracks in the tiles, waiting for my call. “I’m ready to leave. We should go into the garden.”

My grandmother steps in front of me, cupping my face, her eyes softly glowing in the dim light of dawn as it casts a yellow haze through the windows. Even with light flooding the small room and glowing all around her, I can see nothing but the darkness in every corner, whispering to me, promising me revenge if I seek it. My father once warned me that spirit, the magic of darkness and shadow, is fed by our emotions. It reacts to them, breathes them, and right now I’m not in control. “You’ve grown stronger since you left, but there is a darkness, something you’re not telling me, and it’s hovering over your mind now.”

“I need to get to them and see if Arty isn’t lying about mum,” I answer, stepping out of her grip. I can’t talk to her about what happened, not yet. I reach again for Lysander, for Terrin and the small bonds I can feel with the others now, but nothing. I can’t feel them.

Her troubled eyes stay with me as she opens a drawer in the kitchen side and pulls out a small magical box. The box looks like a normal flatware holder. I’ve passed it a dozen times, but with my memories back, I remember it. She hands it to me, and I place it on the counter. I wave my hand over the box, a gift from my uncle. Several locks click inside before the top slides open. Inside are two daggers, ancient and ornate, possessing their own magic and souls. Uncle Phobos taught me of the legends of these daggers, how they once were people who used too much magic and ended up transforming themselves into these weapons. One blade is black, the other white, and they are diamond encrusted except for the black leather hilts. I pull them out of the box and hide them in the shadows so I can get to them whenever I want.

Livia walks over, looking around like she can see the daggers in the darkness. “I’m never going to get used to you using magic so easily.” Jinks runs into the room, jumping right into Livia’s arms. The white cat with glowing red eyes purrs innocently. “He’s such a sweet cat.”

My grandmother flashes me a grin for a second. We both know he isn’t just a cat, and he isn’t sweet at all. Livia would drop him in a second if she knew. I almost smile.

Hope steps forward. “We shouldn’t waste any more time.” She looks right into my eyes. “They will need us, now more than they ever have. I don’t care if this is what they wanted for you. We all know you won’t leave them there, right?”

“I’m furious with them for making a choice I didn’t ask for or want, but I would never leave them to the fate they have woven to protect me.” My statement lingers in the air. “I haven’t met Aphrodite, but she has them. I wish they had told me about the deal.”

Arty clears her throat. “I believe the deal was to be your mate, all four of them, before the time was up. I believe they wanted you to make the decision yourself, not feel forced.”

I feel as uncomfortable as I can possibly get when everyone looks right at me, like I’m meant to have all of the answers and know everything to do now I remember. My grandmother watches me with interest. “Are you dating one of them? How could she expect you to mate all four kings when…” Her gaze drifts off. “Ah, fate has been interesting.”

“They belong to her.” Hope waves her hand at me when I can’t answer. “All four of them, and they are fools for not being honest.”

My grandmother’s face creases. “In all my time, in all my immortal life, I have not met one person who isn’t a fool in the name of love. It is not a sin, not a mistake, and they wished to protect you. I like these kings already.”

“I want you to meet them,” I softly reply.

She smiles brightly. “Then you best go back to your world and get them. You are a princess of the Spirit Court, granddaughter to the goddess Hera, and more powerful than anyone I’ve known. Never forget it, never let anyone try to steal your power and light.” My heart races. It’s almost like she knows what almost happened to me, what is haunting my every step. “Just come back alive. I’ve already lost nearly my entire family in that world. A world I can’t even step in to help.”

I can’t promise her anything, but I nod once, and she kisses my cheek. Hope leans on the counter next to us. “Why is that? Why can’t you go into Ayiolyn but Aphrodite and Ares are there? And trapped?”

My grandmother sighs. “Ares entered Ayiolyn first, pulling along Aphrodite after a few hundred years of destruction and pain. The people in Ayiolyn had their own magic, and they blocked anyone else after Aphrodite because they knew their world couldn’t handle another god. They couldn’t get rid of them, but they did their best to make sure no gods could enter the world again. As for being trapped there, I believe Ares and Aphrodite are lacking in their magic, and once they are strong enough, they won’t be trapped in one world for long.”

I shiver, thinking over that horrible thought. Hope still has more questions. “And were you originally from Earth? Born here?”

My grandmother picks up a teacup, her tea lukewarm now. She sips some before she talks. “No. We’re from another world. A world where gods originated from. A few of us left and came to this world hundreds of years ago. We were searching for another, and many left. I decided to stay on Earth. So did many of the gods. But others, like Ares and Aphrodite, decided they needed a world they could conquer much more easily than Earth. People here don’t believe so much in magic anymore, and our power is weak here. Ayiolyn is a world of magic, soaked rich in its land and people.”

Hope continues, “Do you miss it? The world you’re from?”

She smiles at her. I think she likes Hope, mostly because Hope is respectful to her, and it’s the first time I’ve seen Hope be nice. “It’s not much different to Ayiolyn. There are wolf shifters there, angels who feed off blood. There were a few gods there when we left, causing their own problems.”

Livia smiles brightly. “Angels are real?”

“Yes. They have massive wings. The people of Lapetus believe in gods, the old ways and fated mates. Things that are not here on Earth any longer.” My grandmother turns to me again. “Just come back, my granddaughter.” She looks over her shoulder at Arty. “If the daughter of Aphrodite is lying about your mother, kill her. If she is not, tell your mother how much I love her and miss her.”

Arty’s eyes nervously flash but she stays silent with Kian at her side.

“I will.”

She kisses my cheek once more, touching my shoulder. I straighten my back and lift my head. It’s time. “Are you coming, Arty?”

Arty whispers something to Kian, who holds her hand a little too long before letting her walk to the garden door.

“I’m not coming with you.” We all turn to Livia, who shifts awkwardly, with Jinks by her feet, brushing his head against her leg, and I glare at him for a second. He looks right up at me, and I raise an eyebrow. He innocently meows. “I’m going to stay on Earth. I’m no use against the gods. I can’t really fight, and I don’t know the courts. There is nothing for me to do in that world to help you; I’d just be a liability. I wanted to get back to Earth, and now I’m back. I’m sorry, I just want to go back to my family.”

I walk over and hug her tightly. “Thank you for being at my side for so long. It’s not wrong for you to want to go home. Don’t apologise to me. You’re my friend.”

“What about your dragon?” Hope snaps. “Do you think your dragon will be cool with you being a coward and running?”

Livia steps away from me. “I’m no coward, and my dragon would only be in danger trying to help me. This is how it’s got to be,” she says firmly. “I hope to see you again soon,” she adds.

Hope huffs and turns away from her, her shoulders pulled tight.

“I’ll help her find her family,” my grandmother claims, placing her hand on Livia’s arm.

“I should come with you,” Kian states to Arty, a hint of possessiveness in his tone. He wants to keep her safe, even when he knows everything she has done. I don’t know what to make of the strange thing going on between them.

“No,” the queen all but shouts, stepping in front of her son. “Without Lysander, you are all that is left of the Water Court. They locked you up last time; they might use you against Lysander if they catch you again. Worse, they might kill you.”

I meet his eyes, eyes so much like his brother’s. Something cuts deep within my chest when I look at him. Something I’m not ready to admit. “She’s right. I will find Lysander.”

He looks at me suspiciously. “You hate him.”

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 together and 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 and joy, 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 and sinking 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 trust him 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.

Hope comes over, kneeling and looking at me. “She’s still breathing, and that’s all that matters. Your mum’s alive.” I don’t know how she knew I needed to hear that, but I did.

“Alive,” I breathe the word out as I rise to my feet. With Hope’s help, we carry my mum through the portal and lay her down on the grass in the garden, sending my shadows to lead grandmother outside to her in a second. I lean down to my mum. “I’m going to save our court and free our people. I’m going to save Ayiolyn, just like you taught me to.” I shakily kiss her cheek before going back into the portal with Hope and letting it close behind me, leaving my family in another world. They are safe, I remind myself.

Terrin’s relief floods my mind as he senses me back in this world. “You’re alive,” he whispers to me, his voice broken. “You should not be in this world. It is falling, my rider.”

“And you should not make a choice for me to leave without asking me if I wanted to or not. I’m furious at you and them, but right now, I need you to fly to me.”

“On my way,” he simply replies, sounding like he wants to say more. I cut him off, knowing I can’t argue with him about it all right now.

I look at Hope and Arty, the only ones I have to trust in this castle for everything to work out. “Now, we get our courts back and save the kings.”