Prologue
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Prologue
About three years ago…
For Lady Willa of the Ice Dragons, there was nothing better than looking up at the dark night sky. There was something so soothing about staring outside her bedroom window, watching the stars twinkling in front of the vast curtain of the evening sky. And some months, she would be blessed with an even more glorious sight—the northern lights, swaying and waving high above, like a blessing down upon earth. Her people believed, after all, that the Goddess Herself lived up in the sky, watching over them from behind the clouds and the lights.
Once, when she was a child, she had tried to fly up there with in her dragon form. But as the air grew thinner and much too cold—even for her ice dragon— she returned to earth. It was much to high for her to reach or perhaps the Goddess didn’t want to be disturbed by silly little dragons like her. After all, She was busy running the world.
So, Willa continued to watch the northern lights from below. It was one of the few things that she was thankful for, living out in the vast bleakness of their homeland, located at the edge of the world.
Though she loved her clan and being an Ice Dragon, part of her wanted was to escape Fiorska. The weather was always freezing, being located high above the arctic circle. It made an ideal home for the Ice Dragons, but except for the northern lights, the seasons never changed.
Snow. Cold. Ice. Year round.
She longed to be somewhere she could experience the freshness of the spring air rolling into the heat of summer before cooling into the glorious shades of the fall.
But perhaps she should have heeded that sage old advice.
Be careful what you wish for.
Willa had been looking out of her window when she heard the loud crash and shouts from the lower floors of the Ice Dragons’ main compound. What in the world is going on?
A blood-curdling scream made every hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Instinct and her dragon told her something was amiss.
Father? She called out through the mind link that connected all dragons of the same kind. What’s going on?
Stay in your room, he replied, his voice strained. And hide.
Hide?
Willa, my treasure, he pleaded. Do this for—
The abrupt breaking of the mental link sent Willa reeling back, as if an invisible force pushed at her entire body.
Something was very wrong.
Gilla? Benjamini? Timoteus? If her father was in the compound usually at least one of his lieutenants were around. But her calls were met with silence.
Wrapping her robe tight around her, she didn’t even bother with her slippers as she dashed out of her bedrooms and made her way to the lower levels. The sight that greeted her as she took the last flight of steps made her her slam against her ribcage, freezing her to the spot.
Several figures—humans who worked in the compound, lay prone on the ground, as if they were dolls strewn about by a wayward child. Shock washed over her, as well as fear. They couldn’t all be …
“No,” she denied, but her enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up any heartbeats or breaths. Not a single one. Except—
Father!
At first she couldn’t believe it. Lord Lanz, Alpha of the Ice Dragons, lay crumpled on the ground in the middle of the room, a pool of blood around his body, the red liquid seeping from a wound on his side.
“Father!” She rushed to him, dropping to her knees. “Oh Goddess, no …”
The faint rising of his chest gave her hope. “Father …” She shook him gently. “Please … Why are you bleeding still?” His shifter healing should have sealed up such an injury. But no, the warm sticky blood continued to gush out.
His eyelids fluttered open. “M-my trea … sure …” He gasped. “Run. Run before they find you.”
“Run? From who?” she cried. “Father, tell me.”
“No time!” He gripped her arm, the burst of energy catching her by surprise. “Run, now! Or they will find you too!”
Willa saw the desperation in his eyes, but there was something else that was not quite right. Like there was something missing.
But what?
“Who—“ A sharp pain shot up her spine, growing and spreading across her body, like she was being ripped apart. She screamed.
“Vile, shifter scum!” A voice cackled. “You deserve this and more.”
Willa felt like she was being emptied, as if her very soul was being torn from her body. Then, a loud crack started her.
Where did that come from? It was so close her ears began to ring.
When she glanced down at her chest and saw the redness spreading across her white robe, she gasped.
The last thing she could remember was falling over her father’s body before the world went black.
The voices woke her up.
“How can we tell her …”
“… gone … all of them …”
“Monsters!”
It took all of Willa’s efforts to even blink. Weak … why am I so weak? At the same time, she felt like she was floating. It didn’t feel good, exactly. But it didn’t feel bad either. Like she was wrapped up in clouds. However, her brain too, was foggy, as if it was filled with cotton.
Where am I?
“She’s awake.”
“What?”
Three figures slowly came into focus as she blinked several times in an attempt to bring her vision back to normal. On her left was an older man with white hair and beside him was a younger man. When she turned to the figure on her left, she found herself staring up into blue eyes. They were dark at the edges but grew lighter around the irises. They reminded her of the midnight night sky lit up with stars.
“Lady Willa,” the younger man began. “I am Prince Aleksei of the Northern Isles. We met last year at the Dragon Council meeting in Corum.”
Prince Aleksei?
Ah yes. Her first trip abroad last year. Quite a trip for someone who’d spent her entire life living in the most isolated place on earth. What an amazing experiencing it had been, being in the desert headquarters of the Sand Dragons. She’d accompanied her father—
Father …
The memories flooded back into her mind.
Her father, on the floor. The pain …
“No!” she shrieked, then shot up like a rocket. “No …” Merciful Goddess, please, no. Let it have been a nightmare. But as she surveyed her unfamiliar surroundings and the expressions of the three men around her, she knew it had all been real.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” Prince Aleksei began. “We received the distress call, but as you know, The Northern Isles is a few hours away and by the time we arrived … I’m so sorry.”
Her father … all those people … gone …
“We brought you back here to recover,” the old man interjected. “The bullet missed your vital organs, thankfully.”
A sob escaped her throat. “Who else did you bring back?”
The prince’s lips pulled back. “Again, I am so, so sorry. There was no one else.”
“N-no one?” The numbness started in her limbs, then spread through her whole body. “Th-that cannot be. We have a hundred people living in Fiorsk with us. And twenty-six Ice Dragons.” Being shifters, they could heal fast and survive even the most life-threatening injuries to humans.
“They were already gone by the time we arrived.” It was the third man who spoke, the one with the midnight blue eyes. “I found you, underneath the others. They must have miss you—”
“No!” Rage replaced the numbness in her, coursing through her veins like wildfire. She leapt out of the bed, managing to take two steps, but the two younger men restrained her. Why did the Goddess let this happen to me?
“Please, Lady Willa,” Prince Aleksei’s grip tightened. “Your wounds—“
“Take your hands off me!” She struggled with all her strength and called on her dragon. “I will take my revenge and—” She gasped as she felt …
Nothing.
Only a vast, emptiness inside of her. Like a giant crater.
Her dragon. Just … gone.
“W-what’s happening to me?” Her gaze shifted between the three men, searching for answers. “I can’t … why can’t I feel my dragon?”
“My lady.” The older man guided her back to the bed. “The people who attacked you, they managed to take The Wand.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “No …”
The Wand of Aristaeum, that foul weapon of their greatest enemy, had been entrusted to the Ice Dragons for safekeeping for the last hundred years. Fiorsk was one of the most remote places on earth, after all, and the Dragon Council deemed it safe enough there. If those men had been able to steal it and use it, that means …
A deep wail rang in her ears, and it took a few seconds before it registered that it was coming from her own mouth.
Her dragon was gone.
She called to it, cried, screamed. Ordered it to appear. But only silence replied to her.
“I’m sorry, Lady Willa,” the old man covered her hand with his. Her first instinct was to yank her arm back, but her limbs were locked in place from the shock and grief. “I—“ He stopped, the lines on his brows deepening. “The council is here.”
“The Dragon Council.” As the Alpha’s only daughter, she knew of the council that ruled over collective dragon affairs. One day, she would join them after all. Or at least, that was before … “I don’t want to see anyone else,” she whispered. “Don’t make me.”
“We won’t.” It was midnight blue eyes who spoke. “You do not have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Prince Aleksei raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. Not out loud, anyway as they were likely communicating through their mind link.
Another thing she would never get to do again.
The old man cleared his throat. “Aleksei and I will meet with them. Come, my son.”
My son?
So, that was King Harald, ruler of the Water Dragons and the Northern Isles. She should have guessed, from the similarities in their appearance.
“We will be back as soon as we can,” Prince Aleksei said. “I promise you, we will do everything in our power to make things right.”
“Unless you can bring my father and my dragon back, nothing can make this right!” she spat bitterly. How dare he make sure promises? She was no child. She was Lady Willa of the Ice Dragons. Future Alpha—
She slumped back and closed her eyes. She was lady of nothing, Alpha of no one. Not anymore.
When she heard the door slam shut, she opened her eyes again. To her surprise, she was not alone.
Midnight blue eyes peered at her. She expected to see pity in them, like she’d seen in the prince and the king’s eyes, but to her surprise, there was none. Only curiosity.
“Why are you still here?” she snapped at him.
“I am not needed elsewhere.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And how long to you plan to stay here?”
“As long as it takes.”
Her mouth opened to ask what he meant by that, but she thought better of it and stopped herself.
Of course, she did want to know what he meant, but what did it matter? She had nothing now. She was nothing.
And no amount of time would ever change that.
Releases July 6, 2022
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