The Girl with the Dragon Heart Read online

And she was gone in a rustle of clothes in the darkness.

  The grown-ups were all arguing now, their voices loud and angry and frightened.

  It didn’t matter how pretty the lights were any more. I wanted to find our parents, but Dieter wouldn’t let me follow them. He was so bossy! I couldn’t get past him, no matter how hard I tried …

  And then the magic lights all flickered out at once, and the flames in each of the wagon’s torches vanished, too. In the sudden, shocked silence, a sweet, high laugh rang out in the pitch-black night. It sounded like the jingling of bells, and it came from every direction at once. Then the horses let out panicked whinnies, and our wagon suddenly hurtled forward again, while adults tumbled back into their places on every side in a panicked, noisy jumble in the dark.

  Everyone was confused. Everyone was shouting. I couldn’t spot my parents anywhere in the mass of shadows that surrounded me. No matter how loudly Dieter and I called for them, no one answered …

  And soon enough, we both realised the truth: they hadn’t come back at all.

  None of the other grown-ups would turn back the wagons, no matter how hard we begged over the next two weeks. They wouldn’t even let us go back on our own. They caught us every time we tried to run away, until we had finally travelled so far that even Dieter said it was hopeless. We would never find our way back to our parents, no matter where they’d been imprisoned … and the other grown-ups had simply abandoned them.

  Oh, they felt guilty about it, I could tell – that was why they gave us the market stall when we arrived on the riverbank, in honour of our parents’ memory, and why they protected it for us against the other adult traders.

  But they wouldn’t explain. They wouldn’t even argue.

  They just whispered the word like a curse: ‘Elfenwald.’

  I’d never told that story to anyone.

  I looked into the crown princess’s eyes, drowning.

  But I didn’t say a word.

  ‘Nothing?’ She arched one eyebrow, then shrugged gracefully. ‘Well, never mind. I can hardly blame you. Their royal family lives underground, along with all of their court and most of their people. They only leave a few sentinels in the forested land above ground to protect their borders from intrusion. Unfortunately, those sentinels are more powerful than any of our battle mages. No one ever gets in or out of those woods without their permission, not even the cleverest of our spies.’

  She didn’t know.

  She genuinely didn’t know about my parents and our desperate trip through Elfenwald. I could see it in her face.

  I drew a ragged breath, my shoulders starting to relax. But I couldn’t let myself wait any longer.

  Silke – that bright, confident girl without a past – wouldn’t go silent. Not for this. She would be wild with curiosity, eager to collect new information. She would be a heroine searching for a bold new adventure, not a terrified little girl haunted by memories of floating lights in the dark.

  Their sentinels …

  ‘They all live underground?’ I repeated. I was proud of how smoothly my voice came out. It really sounded as if I were interested instead of secretly falling apart. I even managed to wrinkle up my face as if I were thinking about the question, as if this were the first I’d ever even heard of them. ‘How do they make a living if they don’t trade with other countries? They can’t make everything they need without sunlight.’

  ‘Oh, they trade,’ said Princess Katrin. ‘Their silver exports are famous across the continent – and we would give a great deal to become their favoured trading partners. But their silver is always sent through mysterious go-betweens, and they’ve never been open to negotiation. The royals themselves haven’t even been glimpsed by outsiders for well over a century now.’

  At that, I finally did discover some curiosity inside myself. ‘What are they hiding from down there?’

  ‘A fascinating question,’ the crown princess told me, ‘because their magic is rumoured to be unstoppable. According to history and legend, they have nothing to fear from any of us. But they’ve stayed locked within their hidden kingdom for over a hundred years … which makes it all the more interesting,’ she finished, ‘that I’ve just received a personal letter from their royal family for the first time ever.’

  She tapped one long brown finger gently on her skirt as her face hardened. ‘It is,’ she said, ‘customary for royal invitations to be issued by a ruler’s privy council, after months of deliberation and diplomacy, but the rulers of Elfenwald have announced their own imminent arrival at our court without waiting for any invitation from us.’

  ‘Wait …’ My eyes widened. ‘They’re coming here?’

  Her head inclined in a graceful nod. ‘In five days, the royal family of Elfenwald will be visiting us for the first time in nearly two centuries “to re-establish our kingdoms’ ancient friendship” – which is the first I’ve ever heard of any such relationship. And I’ve read a great deal of our kingdom’s history. But you, Silke …’ Princess Katrin pinned me with her gaze. ‘You are going to help me find out what it is they actually want from us – and why they’re suddenly so determined to insert themselves into our court.’

  ‘Me?’ I managed.

  It was hardly even a word. It was a rasp from my throat, which had tightened until I could barely breathe through it.

  I’d shut away my parents’ story so many years ago.

  I’d been so certain that I could never, ever change that ending.

  ‘You,’ the crown princess repeated. ‘Didn’t you tell all those traders why you’d make the perfect spy? You’re too young to look dangerous. You’re excellent at blending into your surroundings when you wish to. And, most importantly …’ her lips curled into a half-smile, ‘… you talk your way out of trouble and into other people’s confidence in the most remarkable manner, as you proved to me yet again yesterday. Even the dragons trust you – and they have never trusted any human beings before! So …’

  She dropped her voice as she took a step closer, until not even the guards waiting outside could have overheard us. ‘What I want,’ she whispered, ‘is for you to use that dangerously clever tongue of yours to talk the fairies into trusting you, too, so you can find out what they’re truly after in my palace. If you can do it – if you can prove that you really are as good as you claim at blending into any group and bringing me back the secrets that I need – then you’ll find a home in my palace, and a position in my service, for the rest of your life. No matter how long you live, you will never have to sleep on a riverbank again.’

  A home in the palace and a position there forever? An hour ago, that promise would have been so far beyond my wildest dreams, I would have danced with joy at the very thought of it.

  Nothing could ever break or burn those massive golden walls. Unlike the Chocolate Heart, Drachenburg’s royal palace would never face the risk of closure. It was the one home in the world guaranteed not to blow away in the worst of storms.

  But right now, that wasn’t even what mattered most as my lips stretched into a dragon-fierce smile, my heart bursting with sudden, agonising hope.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ I said. ‘No matter what it takes!’

  It was time to write a new ending to my family’s story.

  CHAPTER 6

  ‘So you’re going to be a princess?’ Marina said two hours later. For once, her big hands stopped moving in the middle of her chocolate-making as she stared at me across the bright white kitchen of the Chocolate Heart.

  Working at a nearby counter, Aventurine didn’t even pause in her endless grinding of the cocoa nibs. Back and forth, back and forth … It would have driven me wild with boredom after the first ten minutes, but when it came to chocolate, Aventurine never lost her patience. Still, she snorted at Marina’s words. ‘What’s the point of being a princess?’ she asked. ‘I’ve seen the royals around here. They don’t even have real crowns!’

  ‘Oh yes, they do.’ I cupped my hot chocolate in my hands as I sprawled
back in my usual chair. ‘Just because they don’t choose to wear them everywhere they go …’

  ‘If you say so.’ Aventurine shrugged. ‘I’ve never seen them. Ever.’

  Her disbelief hung in the air between us like a thick fog of dragonsmoke.

  I rolled my eyes at her and took a long sip of fiery hot chocolate. The rich, dark taste of chocolate came first, and then a second burst of warmth from the chilli, lighting me up inside like a torch. I could do anything, powered with hot chocolate like this – but only if my best friend would stop being so awkward about it!

  ‘It’s called good taste,’ I told her, ‘and discretion. Dragons don’t carry their hoards everywhere they go, do they?’

  Aventurine looked at me sceptically over her grinding board. ‘Are you telling me that princesses sleep on top of their crowns, too?’

  ‘We-e-ell …’ An irresistible vision landed in my head: the elegant crown princess sleeping curled up like a dragon on a sharp bed of crowns, breathing out smoke through her perfect nose. I swallowed a laugh as I took another sip of my hot chocolate. ‘I’m not saying it’s impossible, but –’

  ‘But we’re wandering off the point.’ Marina’s hands were moving again, stirring her pot of chocolate cream with brisk efficiency, but there were tight white lines around the corner of her mouth that I had never seen before. ‘Tell us exactly what that woman’s talked you into doing.’

  I should have known that Marina would be grumpy about my big adventure. She’d never thought much of royalty before. But I didn’t let her bad mood dim the glow inside me as I crossed one booted ankle over the other and grinned at them both, willing them to enter into the fun of the story we were building.

  I had to convince them before I faced Dieter. I had to know that someone was on my side.

  ‘I’m not going to pretend to be a princess myself,’ I told them. ‘Just a country cousin and lady-in-waiting to the younger princess, Sofia.’

  ‘Oh, her.’ Aventurine folded the chocolate paste and re-rolled it. ‘She writes letters back and forth with my brother about philosophy.’

  ‘Really?’ I blinked. ‘I suppose we’ll have plenty to talk about then, since we have friends in common.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Aventurine said calmly. ‘She doesn’t like me at all.’

  ‘No!’ I made my mouth into a big ‘O’ of astonishment, clapping one hand to my face. ‘I can’t believe it!’ Then I dropped the ruse and grinned at her, letting my hand fall back to my lap. ‘Did you forget to tell her that you don’t eat humans any more? Because you know that always reassures people so much.’

  Aventurine didn’t reply. But her golden eyes glinted as her lips curved into a smirk over her chocolate paste.

  There was nothing that my best friend cared more about than chocolate … and nothing she cared less about than being liked by anyone else.

  Oddly enough, it was one of the things that I liked best about her.

  ‘Anyway,’ I said, ‘I won’t really be there to keep her company. I’ll be there to make friends with her visitors and their ladies-in-waiting, so I can figure out what they all really want under the social niceties.’

  I would do it, too. By the end of the royal visit, I would know everything there was to know about the mysterious royals of Elfenwald. It was what I’d been training for all my life, even if I hadn’t realised it until now. I would be the perfect spy! I would blend in seamlessly and find out their secret purpose; I would reveal it to the crown princess and win myself a real home that could never be taken away from me …

  And I would finally find out, once and for all, what the fairies did with human intruders in their kingdom.

  But I wasn’t ready yet to share that part of my plan with anyone – not even the friends I trusted most in the entire world.

  Marina and Aventurine would never want to hurt me, and nor would Horst; I knew that with every one of the instincts I’d developed over the years of surviving in this city. That was why, whenever I stepped into the kitchen of the Chocolate Heart, I could let myself relax and be myself for once, instead of shaping myself into something better for my audience.

  It was why I’d fallen into the habit of spending far too much time at the Chocolate Heart in the first place.

  But as much as I loved them, I also knew them, which meant that I knew exactly how hard-headed they could all be when it came to wispy emotional matters.

  If Marina heard my plan … I winced at the thought of it.

  ‘Do you really think … ?’ she would begin in a tone that implied exactly how idiotic she thought I was being.

  And Aventurine, of course, would just say it outright: ‘You do know, by now, that your parents are probably –’

  No! I yanked my cup of hot chocolate up to hide my expression, sucking down a long, soothing gulp and squeezing my eyes tightly shut.

  I wouldn’t give anyone the chance to say that to me.

  My parents were alive. They had to be!

  They were locked up underground in Elfenwald, that was all, just waiting for someone to finally rescue them. For the first time in six years, it was actually possible – even a little bit likely – that that person might be me.

  I wouldn’t let anyone take that fragile new hope away from me.

  So I lowered my hot chocolate cup and said brightly to my friends, ‘You’ll be there to see me do it!’

  ‘We will?’ Aventurine frowned. ‘Are they coming here?’

  ‘Don’t be absurd.’ I shook my head at her, sinking back into my chair and crossing one trousered leg over the other. ‘You really don’t understand the concept of royalty, do you? The Elfenwald delegation will be hosted in a wing of the palace itself. They’ll be feasted and feted every day of their visit … and …’ I spread out my hands in a generous arc, ‘… who better to make all the treats for the royal visitors than our own royals’ favoured chocolatier?’

  Marina groaned. ‘Oh no.’

  ‘Oh yes!’ I told her with relish. ‘The crown princess thought it was a marvellous idea! I’ve arranged everything for you already. You’ll be given a chocolate kitchen in the palace for the entire week of the Elfenwald royals’ visit. This is the highest honour any chocolatier in this city has ever been granted!’

  ‘Lucky us,’ Marina muttered into her chocolate pot.

  ‘It is lucky,’ I said firmly. ‘Horst will tell you that. He’ll be thrilled when he finds out!’

  ‘I’m sure he will be,’ she said sourly. ‘And this all looks like a great favour the crown princess is doing us now, doesn’t it?’

  Something in her voice made me frown and look harder at her.

  Marina was often grumpy, of course. That was just part of her personality, along with all of the softer parts inside that weren’t so obvious to any new observer … like the part that had led her to take as her apprentice a wild, half feral dragon-girl who’d been turned away by every other chocolate house in town … and then had her welcoming me, a ragtag girl from the riverbank, with a kind of brusque, steadfast acceptance that I’d never known before.

  In this city, only the wealthiest elite ever tasted chocolate – except in Marina’s kitchen. Here, I’d been eating and drinking every fresh, chocolatey miracle she’d given me ever since the first day we’d met, and she had never once let me leave the shop hungry. Everyone else in this city sniffed and muttered about the untrustworthy ‘ruffians on the riverbank,’ but Marina had shown me her trust by offering me a position in her shop. I might not have had a real home or family to vouch for me, but I was Aventurine’s friend, and that had been good enough for her from the very beginning.

  I would never stop feeling grateful for that.

  So I couldn’t dismiss her words, or the scowl on her face, as quickly as I would have liked. ‘What are you talking about?’ I said. ‘This is going to spread the fame of the Chocolate Heart all the way out of Drachenburg. That’s why I suggested it in the first place.’

  It was the best gift I could thi
nk of to thank them for everything that they had done for me: the chance to become so famous that their business would be safe, at least for a while, after I left.

  ‘Once newspapers all round the continent report that we catered the visit – I mean –’ I winced – ‘that you catered it – then for the next two years every tourist who arrives will want to visit the Chocolate Heart and make your chocolate a vital part of their Drachenburg experience.’

  ‘That’s not the part I’m worried about.’ Marina’s dark eyes pierced right through my shield of breezy confidence. ‘How about your role in this little visit?’ she asked. ‘Sending a thirteen-year-old girl to spy on a set of visitors who frighten the life out of any adults with common sense …’ She shook her head, her face tight. ‘I’ve heard horror stories about Elfenwald ever since I first moved to this continent. People who cross those borders don’t come back. Don’t tell me the crown princess is doing you any favours with this job! If I’d been in the room when she tried talking you into this kind of reckless, foolish danger –’

  ‘I’m not afraid of them.’ I made myself give a light, dismissive laugh.

  Floating lights in the darkness …

  No. That was a different world, in a different story, and we were safe in my city now. This was my story to control.

  ‘It’s a royal visit, not an invasion,’ I said firmly. ‘And besides, what could they possibly do to us? We have dragons protecting our city now.’

  ‘Much use dragonfire against fairy magic,’ Marina muttered.

  Aventurine’s mouth dropped open in outrage. ‘My family would eat any fairies who tried to attack them with magic!’

  ‘Like that food mage who turned you human?’ Marina asked drily. ‘What exactly happened to him? Remind me?’

  ‘That was different.’ Aventurine scowled. ‘He tricked me into drinking his magic, and anyway, I wasn’t fully grown. Magic just bounces off grown-up dragon scales when it’s cast at them. That’s why those stupid battle mages have never managed to hurt us.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Marina. ‘Fairies aren’t like battle mages. According to the stories, they won’t do you the favour of attacking in a nice straight line out there in public with great sheets of noisy spells for everyone else to see. No, they’re clever and they’re tricky, and they work up close.’ She looked at us both, her expression hard. ‘Exactly how many dragons do you expect to squeeze inside that palace next week for protection?’