Chapter 8
Eight
Hanna
Aservant girl burst into the courtyard, her face white with terror, stumbling over her own feet. “Monsters! In the gardens—monsters from the sea!”
Kaelan’s head snapped toward the outer walls.
And inside my head, the Shadow Weaver woke with sudden, vicious interest.
Finally. This has been so dull…
A guard’s shout echoed from somewhere beyond the courtyard walls. Then another. The clash of steel. A roar that didn’t sound human.
The table exploded into motion. Wine leaked across the table from overturned glasses as swords were drawn.
Branok and Lynx were already moving, fire magic crackling between their fingers. Zehr dissolved into shadows. Caldren’s form blurred and shifted, wolf replacing man in a heartbeat.
Kaelan drew his sword. “Stay close. No magic. We don’t know what the goddess will do.”
I nodded. I didn’t know yet how the goddess’s shadow magic and mine intertwined, and it seemed she’d been stronger after my magic flared during my argument with Honor.
The first creature flew over the garden wall.
It was serpentine, easily twenty feet long, with membranous wings that beat the air with wet, leathery sounds. Its scales were black and iridescent, catching the lantern light as it swooped low over the courtyard. Behind it, three more appeared, their bodies undulating through the air.
Sky serpents. The Snake Queen’s aerial hunters.
One dove toward a cluster of servants fleeing toward the castle. Thorne was already there, his massive black dragon form erupting from his human shape in a cascade of scales and muscle. He caught the serpent mid-dive, his jaws closing around its neck with a sickening crunch.
“Get the civilians inside!” Honor’s voice cut through the chaos. She was already moving, her own dragon form altering her voice into a growl as she shifted. “Protect the children!”
My heart lurched. The children. Kasia, Lysander, Briden, Masen, the twins, all of Honor’s little ones had been sitting around the table or running around in the garden.
Another serpent swept toward me, fangs bared. I threw fire at it, felt it connect and burn, but the creature just shrieked and kept coming.
Dare appeared from nowhere, his emerald dragon slamming into the serpent’s side and driving it into the ground. His claws raked across its underbelly, spilling dark blood across the courtyard stones.
The ground shuddered.
Something massive rose from the sea. A leviathan, its coiled body thick as a ship’s mast, covered in overlapping scales that looked like armor. It crashed against the docks with enough force to splinter wood, its roar vibrating through my bones.
Now this is interesting, the goddess purred. Let me—
“No,” I said through gritted teeth.
Kaelan shifted fully, his ice-blue dragon form launching skyward.
Frost spread from his claws as he intercepted two serpents at once, freezing one’s wing mid-beat and sending it spiraling into the ocean.
The other he caught with his teeth, shaking it like Finnias with a mouse before hurling it away.
Branok and Lynx were working in tandem, their fire magic weaving together into patterns that caught serpents mid-flight and burned them to ash. Zehr appeared and disappeared, his shadows dragging creatures into darkness they didn’t return from.
Talisyn, Damyn, and Arren had formed a defensive line and Honor was hustling the children toward the castle.
We were holding.
But barely.
On the ground, Jaik stumbled as a serpent’s tail whipped toward his legs, and Thorne’s massive head swung around to catch the creature before it could strike. Jaik’s fire blasted the serpent’s face a heartbeat later, covering Thorne’s blind spot.
“You look way too happy for a woman facing monsters,” Dare said as he came to my side, back in his mortal form.
“We’re always facing monsters.” I grabbed his arm, and the two of us ran together toward honor and the children.
More serpents kept coming, pouring over the walls like a flood. Down at the edge of the sea, the leviathan was pulling itself onto land, its massive body crushing garden paths and decorative fountains.
I reached Honor’s side. She had Inara on her hip, and Kasia was crying. I swept Kasia up, and her legs wrapped around my waist, her wet face pressing into my shoulder.
A serpent dove at us from above.
I felt Dare’s presence behind me, felt him moving to intercept—but he was too far away. Thorne was occupied with three serpents at once. Kaelan was in the sky, out of reach.
The creature’s fangs opened wide, dripping venom.
Let me, the Shadow Weaver whispered.
I had half a second to choose.
I let her.
The shadows exploded outward.
They moved with purpose and intelligence I couldn’t match, forming shapes that were almost but not quite human. The serpent froze mid-dive, its body going rigid. Then it simply…unraveled. Scales peeling away, flesh dissolving, bones turning to dust that scattered on the wind.
Three more serpents met the same fate in the space of a breath.
The goddess wasn’t possessing me—not quite. But her power was flowing through me like water through a broken dam, and for a moment, I saw through her eyes.
Saw the serpents not as creatures but as patterns of life force.
Saw how easy it would be to simply…stop them.
My shadows reached for the leviathan at the harbor. Found the beating heart beneath all that armor and muscle. Began to squeeze.
It popped.
“Hanna!”
Kaelan’s voice cut through the goddess’s focus. His eyes were wild as my shadows lashed around us all, stretching wide throughout the gardens.
Kasia had raised her face from my shoulder and she was wide-eyed with wonder. Honor reached for her, but Kasia clung to me.
I blinked, and the shadows retreated.
The leviathan was dead. The worms were strewn across the ground.
The battle was over.
Silence fell across the courtyard, broken only by ragged breathing and the crackle of dying fires. Slowly, everyone began to shift back to human form. To lower weapons. To stare.
I looked down at my outstretched hand. Both my hands, the one that gripped Kasia and the one I’d apparently flung out as I commanded the shadows, were shaking. The shadows were still there, coiling around my fingers like living things, and I couldn’t make them stop.
Well done, the goddess said, satisfaction thick. See how much easier it is when you don’t fight me?
“You saved us with your pretty shadows!” Kasia said happily.
Talisyn lifted her out of my arms, and gave me a nod that I couldn’t read. I felt numb, confused.
Dare put his arms around me, his body solid and warm and real. “Hanna. Look at me.”
I tried. Everything felt distant, like I was watching through glass.
“Breathe,” he said quietly. “You’re safe.”
But I wasn’t safe. None of us were.
Because Honor was staring at me with an expression I couldn’t read. Calculating. Measuring. Branok and Lynx flanked her, their faces grim. Even Jaik looked shaken.
There was awe in Kaelan’s expression. And fear. Both at once, warring for dominance.
“What was that?” Branok asked. His voice was carefully controlled.
“The Shadow Weaver,” I managed. “She…helped.”
“Helped.” Lynx’s tone was flat. “Hanna, you killed everything with those shadows.”
Thorne moved to my other side, his hand finding my shoulder. “She saved us.”
“Yes, she ended that battle.” Jaik’s eyes met mine. “But look at me and tell me you were in control.”
“She had control.” Kaelan stood beside me.
“Don’t lie to me, Kaelan,” Honor said. “I was just beginning to like you.”
Kaelan snorted. “No, you weren’t.”
The goddess shifted inside my mind, pleased by the discord. This was what she wanted. Division. Fear. All of them questioning whether I could be trusted.
They’re right to fear you, she whispered. You’re dangerous. Powerful. They’ll either cage you or use you, and neither option ends well unless you work with me, little queen.
“Think of what the Snake Queen did here.” I forced the words out through the goddess’s interference.
“The Snake Queen sent the monsters, but she didn’t commit.
These were creatures she could disavow—monsters she could claim escaped her control.
She’s testing us. Testing whether we’re weak enough to attack directly. ”
Kaelan’s expression sharpened. “She’s watching.”
“And if any of those monsters survived, now she knows exactly what Hanna can do,” Branok said.
Kaelan swore. “If they’re allied, she’ll report to Edric. He’ll know what to expect.”
Jaik leveled him a look that suggested he was getting far ahead of himself. “Hanna’s not your sword to defeat Edric.”
“If any of those monsters survived is a big if,” Dare pointed out.
Honor wasn’t looking at the destroyed courtyard or the serpent corpses. She was looking at me. “What if the combat that puts Kaelan on his throne steals your soul and makes you the possession of the goddess?”
For a moment, no one could answer her.
“You want to lock her up,” Dare said flatly.
“I want to keep everyone safe.” Honor met his glare without flinching. “Including my sister.”
Dare’s arms tightened around me. Not restraining. Supporting.
Kaelan looked like he wanted to argue, but I saw him war with himself.
He didn’t speak to claim me for his side. His silence felt like a slap.
“I’m not staying here.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “I’m going back to the Ice Kingdom. With my men. To fight Edric.”
“Hanna—” Honor started.
“I’m not asking permission.” I pulled away, standing on my own even though everything in me wanted to collapse. “I’m telling you what’s happening. You can accept it, or you can try to stop me, but either way, I’m leaving.”
The courtyard was silent except for the distant crash of waves.
Honor looked at me for a long moment. Then at Kaelan, Thorne, and Dare. Then back at me.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” she said finally. “When everyone’s calmer. When we’ve had time to think.”
“There’s nothing to think about. Kaelan needs to get back, to protect his people. I need to be at his side. I can’t stay here while you poke at the goddess.”
Honor was brilliant and strategic and deeply protective of those she loved. If she decided I was too dangerous to let leave, she’d find a way to keep me here. Gently. Rationally. With the best of intentions.
The walls were closing in again.
And this time, I wasn’t sure I could fight my way out.
“Tomorrow,” I agreed, because I didn’t have a choice.
See? she whispered. They’ll always try to control you. Always try to keep you safe and small and manageable. But you and I—we’re so much more than that.
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to tell her she was wrong.
But as I looked at Honor’s worried face, at Jaik’s grim expression, at the way Branok and Lynx were deep in conversation…
I wasn’t sure I could.