Page 123 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

‘Fine, what is it that you want me to say?’ She lifted her arms, exasperated. ‘Yes, I have spent my life looking after my brother. I have pushed aside what I have wanted for him. But I am nobody. I am just a drakonian princess, which might sound important in most lands but in mine it translates to being married off to the highest bidder. Which I have been. But my brother has succumbed to the exact same fate. He has never wanted to be a king and yet, he is forced to become one. We have both been set upon paths we did not wish. That is life.

‘And it may seem easy for you and your wyverian ways to laugh at it, to brush it away and say, you can do whatever you want. Perhaps in your land you are free to do so, but here we are not. Here the crown comes first.’ Her voice dropped to a whisper, laced with something raw and cutting. ‘And for all your criticism, I remind you that when the festivities are over and I am flown off to a new kingdom to be married, you will be travelling back to your kingdom to fulfillyourduties as secondborn.’

She saw the way his jaw tightened, how his shoulders went rigid. He looked as though she had struck him.

She did not care.

Kai hadno right to judge her when he was just as much a prisoner to his fate.

‘Do not look at me like that, wyverian,’ she warned, but her breath caught as he took a step towards her. And another. Her pulse quickened. She stepped back, retreating as he advanced, until the rough bark of a tree pressed against her spine.

He leaned in, his breath warm against her lips.

‘You got one thing wrong, princess,’ he whispered, his voice a rasp of thunder before the storm. ‘You are not a nobody. You are the fucking sunshine, Alina Acheron.’

And then he kissed her.

Not a hesitant brush like before, not a fleeting moment stolen and regretted. This time, there was no restraint, no careful boundaries.

Kai’s mouth claimed hers with hunger, with fire, with something desperate and aching. His tongue teased past her lips, drawing a gasp from her throat. His hands tangled in her hair, grasping, pulling, pinning her against the tree as though he would never let go.

Alina burnt beneath him.

Her fingers fisted in his black shirt, pulling him closer, closer, until their bodies were flush, until the heat between them was unbearable.

His hands slid down, gripping the backs of her thighs, lifting her as though she weighed nothing. Alina moaned as her legs wrapped around his waist, her skirts pooling around them like golden fire.

And then—a rip.

She blinked, dazed, only to see that Kai had shredded her bodice in his impatience.

‘Too much fabric,’ he muttered, tearing it away entirely.

Alinagasped, her face burning, but he was already lowering his gaze, his black eyes devouring the sight of her bare skin.

‘So much better, princess,’ he purred.

Slowly, agonisingly, he tugged the last whisper of fabric away, baring her to the morning air.

His lips descended, tongue trailing, teasing, worshipping. Alina’s head fell back against the tree, a moan slipping past her lips. Her fingers twisted into his hair, anchoring him, wordlessly pleading for more.

‘What do you want me to do, princess?’ he asked against her skin, his voice wicked and soft, his breath searing where it touched her.

Alina trembled, unable to form words.

They both knew this was all they would ever have. A single moment carved out of time, stolen from a world that would never allow them to be together.

This moment, at least, was hers to claim.

She leaned in, her lips brushing his ear, her voice barely a whisper.

‘Make me burn, Kai.’

And so he did.

Alina burnt like the sun beneath his touch, beneath the press of his body, beneath the dark hunger in his eyes as he watched her come undone, moan after moan, his name a whispered prayer on her lips.

Sometimes loving someone else is so painful that you feel like you cannot breathe. Just looking at them and knowing that they are yours and you are theirs is the most beautiful feeling in the world. But when you do not know how they feel, it is suffocating. All you want is to confess your love, to feel their skin against yours and yet, the fear of their rejection is like a blade piercing through your heart. Love is torturous.

---