Page 139 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

It stirred from the depths where she had buried it for years, where she had hidden it beneath layers of fear and restraint, terrified of what it might mean. But now, there was no more hiding, no more pretending to be something she was not.

Her power shook free of its chains.

It roared through her blood, unfurling like a storm, ready to consume the world in darkness, to tear flesh from bone, to burn her enemies to cinders.

Mal’s body shattered into nothingness. She was no longer flesh, no longer bound by mortal limitations—she was shadow, the stuff of nightmares, an echo of darkness that slipped unseen through the chaos.

She was the storm on the horizon. The death lurking in the dark.

She reformed beside Nyx, her fallen beast, though her body remained insubstantial—a specter draped in grief. Smoke in the shape of a girl, her hand, formless and shifting, rested upon the wyvern’s lifeless wing.

Nyx was still.

The mighty creature’s soul had already fled to the Forest of Silent Cries, where all the lost ones went to rest beneath its ghostly trees.

Mal could not weep. Not in this form. But she would make the world scream for her instead.

Above, Ash’s dragon had abandoned warnings. No longer did it hold back, no longer did it hesitate—its fury blazed acrossthe battlefield, leaving nothing but fire and ruin in its wake.

But the witches had already turned their attention to it, lifting their hands once more.

Mal followed their gaze, her hollow, shadowed eyes flickering upward—the dragon was too slow, too large. Too easy a target.

They would strike it down.

They would take him from her too.

Mal did not hesitate. She moved faster than the wind, faster than thought, a living darkness streaking across the battlefield, her form twisting through the air as the witches unleashed their power.

The dragon barely avoided the attack, rolling mid-air, but the magic still grazed its belly.

And Ash—

Ash fell.

No.

The world fractured around Mal.

The sky vanished.

The battlefield blurred.

All that existed was him,plummeting.

She lunged and became the wind.

But the witches had seen her move.

A bolt of green fire shot through the sky.

It struck him in midair.

Ash cried out, the sound wrenched from his throat like something torn apart. His body twisted, spiraling down, and Mal dove after him, her form encircling him, cradling him in her shadows as they fell together.

She landed with him gently, her power shielding him from the impact.

But his golden eyes were closed.

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