Chapter 2

As I wiped my tears, I looked up at my mother who peacefully stared at the water, I was aching to ask her what was going on and as if she read my mind, she turned to me and smiled again.

“Get up Astra, let’s go”

She led me to the shabby room we shared at the end of the staff quarters, it was evidence of how much she had fallen out of favour with the king who was constantly accusing her of bewitching him when they had first met.

As we walked into the room, she locked the door behind us and knelt down to drag out an old box from under the bed, she blew the dust off the box and brought out various items. One of them which caught my eye was an amethyst necklace that glistened. I picked it up and stared at it for a while.

“Astra, focus” my mother’s voice called, bringing me back to reality, we had more pressing issues at hand.

“I’ll be gone soon and as my daughter, you share the blood of the moon goddess as well as the powerful founding sages that once ruled the continent,”

She held my shoulder.

“You’re stronger than you think, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise”

Just then we heard a large explosion coming from outside the palace.

The dragons, they were here, they weren’t supposed to be here until the next fortnight. Why were they here now? I still have so much to say to my mother.

Just then, we heard a knock on the door, the knock turned into a bang and then we heard men shouting at the door and calling my mother to come out or they’d break the door. Without saying a word, she packed the dusty box back and shoved it in my hands before grabbing my forehead against hers and chanting a protection spell.

“I love you Astra, you’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me and I will always be watching over you, I’m sorry,” she said as she placed a kiss on my head with tears falling down her cheeks before she turned to walk to the door that was about to be broken down in order to open it.

As she opened the door, the men grabbed her immediately and dragged her off, I knew they were going to take her to the dragon King and at that moment, a surge of fire rushed through my system and I followed them stealthily because I felt that I could protect my mother.

As I walked behind them, I saw them stop in front of the queen’s bedroom where Queen Dorian and my half-sister Kaelara appeared dressed as lowly maids in order to make their escape. As I hid behind the curtains, I caught a glimpse of the Queen scoffing at the sight of my mother and telling the maids to make sure she looked good enough to be considered a queen. Before she left, she slapped my mother and spat in her face.

“This is what happens when you decide to seduce the king, you harlot! What did you think would happen? You’d rise to the ranks and become a consort?! Hahaha! Even my husband isn’t silly enough to make the likes of you a consort, especially not with that filth thing you call a child”

“Don’t speak about Astra like that! It’s not her fault this-“

Queen Dorian placed another slap on my mother’s face shutting her up as she ordered them to take her into the room as she waited for the dragon king to take her.

I snuck into the room and watched from a distance as they put my mother in regal clothes and bathed her before making her sit at the edge of the bed waiting for her doom. At that moment I wanted to scream but my voice had disappeared.

Just then, I heard a large boom from the other side of the palace followed by steps that seemed to be getting closer. Finally, the doors burst open and there he was. King Morgoth. He was in the form of a human, his clothes soaked with blood and his eyes red with fury.

“So your king didn’t value you enough to at least protect you, you humans are so disloyal to the ones you love…”

He slowly approached my mother as he began to change his form into a hybrid of a hula and a dragon, he brought out his fangs and immediately grabbed my mother by the neck lifting her up with a smile on his face.

Then… his smile dropped.

“You’re not the Queen… who are you?”

My mother didn’t speak.

“Answer me!”

She still didn’t speak.

In his anger, he flung her across the room as she screamed in pain. I was frozen, I couldn’t move, and the only movement coming from my body was the tear that fell from my eye at that moment.

“Not only do they defy me, they choose to send me an unidentified lowly maid as the queen and they think I’d take this lightly?! Where is the queen?! Tell me!”

My mother struggled to speak and she coughed in between words.

“I- I don’t.. know, I’m just doing as I- as I was asked”

“Poor girl, fulfilling your duties to your King has cost you your life”

He said nothing after this, what followed was the sight of his hands piercing my mother’s neck as her blood poured out on the floor.

The dragon king sighed as he threw her lifeless body to the side. Using the blood on his hands, he wrote a message on the wall of the room.

“I shall return in the span of a decade and two years, if by that time, you have not produced your princess to be mated to my son as his bride for this trick you played on me, I shall repeat this, but this time, I will not spare the queen or anyone in this kingdom”

After this, he brought out his wings and flew out through the window with his other dragon folk flying behind him.

I ran to my mother’s lifeless body crying as I promised myself I would have my revenge, on the dragon king, my father the king, and the queen.