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P rince Lukas was barely six years old when his mother tried to drown him in the bath.

He didn’t see her at first. Too busy carving quarries into the mountains of bubbles to notice the Queen’s hunched shoulders by the fireplace. Even as the servants scrubbed dirt from his hair, he watched his toy soldiers bobbing like ships in the water instead of the way her long fingers gripped her skirts.

Until a shadow fell over him. His mother had stepped forward just as a bubble popped by his ear.

“Mama!” the boy squealed, clapping his soapy hands together.

“Your Majesty!” a few of the servants gasped. Hisses of panic shot between them.

The Queen frowned at the servants. “Leave us,” she barked.

A few looked as though they wanted to protest, but another sharp look from the Queen sent them all scurrying from the young prince’s bedchamber. The heavy door clicked shut behind them.

Lukas giggled. He liked his servants, but his mama was better. And it’d been so long since he’d been allowed to see her.

“Mama look!” Lukas beamed. Heart racing, he scrambled to grab his toy soldiers and present them to her. “Look what Father bought for me. Look at their swords!”

The Queen grunted, barely glancing at them.

“Father says that when I am big, I’ll have real soldiers to play with,” he babbled. “I hope I have lots. Then we can all play games together, like goblin tag!” His grey eyes sparkled, while his mother’s only darkened.

“Mama?” Lukas continued. “Father said you’re sick. Are you better now? Have you come to stay with me?” He grinned. “Can we play outside together? Can we—”

“Stop smiling like that.”

His smile fell, sinking deep into the bathwater.

“You look like a fool when you smile,” she grumbled. “Fools don’t make good kings.”

Lukas swallowed. He was so happy she was here. But he wouldn’t show it on his face. He’d hide every smile behind a wave of cool if that was what she wanted.

“Are you better now, Mama?” he asked as calmly as he could.

The Queen lowered herself to kneel beside the tin bath. “No,” she rasped, her fingertips skimming the water.

“Do you need medicine?” Lukas tilted his head.

“No.”

The Queen lifted her hand from the bath, and Lukas bit down another smile as she cupped his cheek.

“But I do need you to lie very still for me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You be a good boy now, and don’t splash too much. Just let it happen.”

“Yes, Mama.” He nodded, not quite sure what he was agreeing to. But her softened gaze made his chest feel warm, so he allowed her to push his head back into the water.

“Every day you look more and more like your father,” she said, bringing up her other hand to his shoulder.

Lukas couldn’t help but smile at that comment.

“I hate that almost as much as I hate him.” Her voice quivered.

Lukas’s grin dropped. “Why, Ma—” But water rushed into his throat before he could finish.

Darkness overwhelmed him. With his eyes screwed shut, he couldn’t see. Water filled his ears and all he could feel were two firm hands keeping him below the surface. Panic clawed up his chest. The young prince squirmed against her hold.

But then, he stopped.

This was alright. This was a game. Or maybe a test. She’d told him to lie still, let it happen. He was a good boy. He could listen.

His muscles relaxed as he exhaled the remaining air from his nose. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open to reveal a trail of bubbles and his mother’s face shimmering above the water. Perhaps after this, he could show her around his room. Maybe she could even talk to the guards in the gardens so that the noble children would be allowed to play with him.

Yes. He ignored the burning in his chest as he pictured it all – an afternoon of goblin tag with his new friends, then dinner with Mother and Father in the dining room. Lukas clasped a hand over his mouth to hide his grin. How wonderful this day would be!

His throat seized as his body squirmed involuntarily. The two hands keeping him down tightened their grip on his skin.

“Mama?” Lukas whimpered, but any sound was drowned out by a thousand bubbles. “Mama!” he squealed again, his whole body shaking. “Mama!”

He gasped. Water filled his chest. It burned and felt completely wrong, but there was a strange relief there too. His hands turned to fists. Desperately, he beat them against his mother’s arms. But when he was forced to breathe again, something strange happened.

The soapy water became crystal clear. His mother’s face faded above the surface. And his burning chest calmed, as if the water had smothered the fire in his lungs.

“Mama?” he called again, but now his voice swam around him as if part of the water. He relaxed against her hold. Dark brown hair haloed around his face, the strands tickling him as he giggled. This was even more wonderful than playing in the garden. He could hide under the water for hours and bring as many friends as he wanted. The guards would never see him! He—

Two hands yanked him from the bath.

The young prince yelped as water crashed around him. For a brief moment, the air felt wrong and murky – until all the water poured out from his lungs and he could breathe normally again. As the fogginess cleared from his eyes, he blinked to see his mother’s pale face glaring back at him.

She was furious – for a few heartbeats. Then the anger gave way to horror, and she dropped her son as if he’d burned her.

“How?” she stammered, tears bubbling in her eyes. “You’re a boy. It shouldn’t be possible.”

“Did you see me, Mama?” Lukas righted himself in the bath and gripped the edge with his small hands. “It’s so fun under the water! We should play there together! We can be fishes!”

The Queen’s lower lip trembled. “How could the Oceans be so cruel?”

“What’s wrong, Mama? Did I do something bad?” Lukas dipped his chin into the water, leaning his face against his knuckles.

Her icy gaze dropped to him, and she scowled. “Don’t call me that,” she spat. “I’m not your mother anymore.”

Then she rose from the floor and rushed out of the room, taking all the warmth with her.

Later that night, the Queen r eturned to his bedchamber with a stack of blue books in her arms.

“Wake up,” she hissed, nudging his shoulder.

Reluctantly, the young prince opened his tired eyes and rolled over to face her.

Moonlight poured in from the window, making her face appear even more skeletal. But despite her hollow cheeks, her eyes were just as puffy as his. Perhaps she had been crying too? Though judging by her bored expression, she wasn’t there to seek comfort.

“Can you read yet, boy?” she asked impatiently.

Lukas chewed his lip. “Yes.”

The Queen scowled before dropping the books into his lap. “You’ll want to read these so you can understand exactly what you are.”

Lukas glanced at them. The heavy leather binding was already cutting into his legs, and there were strange words on the covers. Strange, scary words that made his tummy churn.

“What did I do wrong, Mama?” he asked, not realising he’d spoken.

The Queen scoffed. “When you are big enough to have real soldiers, you should ask your father,” she snarled, before turning away and retreating into the shadows.

After Lukas heard the door shut, he rose from the bed and scooped the books into his arms. Whatever was in those books – inside him too – was clearly hurting his mother. So, he wouldn’t read them. Not even if she told him to.

With a determined scowl, he marched over to the fireplace and tossed the books into the flames. The intense heat dried his tears before they could fall to the stone floor.

“I’m so sorry for being bad, Mama.”

And he hoped that one day she might forgive him.