Page 148 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

I’m just not entirely sure on what side they will be when our world is torn in half.

Tabitha Wysteria

Kai had no idea how the drakonian princess had found him. Their departure had been shrouded in secrecy, but there she was, storming towards him with the fury of an impending tempest, her brown eyes blazing hot enough to set the volcanic peaks ablaze. A few paces away, Haven stood atop the windswept hill, beckoning her wyvern, her expression a carefully veiled mix of urgency and restraint. Kai exhaled slowly, bracing himself. The journey home was already promising to be a tiresome one.

‘Alina, I—’

The slap came hard and fast, snapping his head to the side. His first reaction was to chuckle—so she slapped him again.

‘You are leaving?’ she screamed, her voice raw, a cry of wind through fire.

His cheek stung, buthe felt nothing beyond the molten anger in her gaze. Good. He could handle her rage—fury was manageable, a wildfire contained. It was sorrow that would unmake him. ‘Yes, my sister must return immediately for personal reasons.’ He ignored the way Haven’s black eyes drilled into the back of his skull. She had always seen through him. The ride back was going to be interesting.

‘And you were not going to say anything?’

‘I did not think you particularly cared, princess.’

She parted her lips, then shut them just as quickly. He knew her too well now. He could see her mind working, flipping through possibilities like Kage sorting through his endless books. She was at war with herself—one half wanting to run, to leap onto his wyvern and follow him across the sky, and the other forcing herself to stand her ground. Kai wanted to reach for her, to tell her she could come, that he would let her. But she had been right. She had spent her life living for others, chained to the will of a kingdom that had carved her destiny in stone before she could even speak.

She had to break through the barriers herself.

With quiet reverence, Kai took her hand, lifting it to his lips in a gesture he had seen drakonians use. Her fingers trembled slightly, but when he pressed a kiss against her golden skin, she smiled.

‘I don’t want you to go,’ she admitted, voice small, full of an ache she refused to let spill over.

‘I know.’ He reached up, brushing away the single tear that traced down her cheek. ‘I don’t want to go either, princess.’

‘Then don’t.’

He leaned down with the intention of something fleeting, a whisper of lips before farewell, but the moment he tasted her, he lost himself. His hands gripped her waist, drawing her closer as her mouth openedbeneath his, as his tongue swept against hers and the world cracked apart, set aflame by the fire that burnt between them.

He thought to have known hunger. But this—this was something else entirely. She was like a drug, a fever in his blood, and if he was not careful, he would drown in her.

With sheer will, he tore himself away, breath ragged, hands shaking. Haven was waiting. And if he kept kissing the drakonian princess, he would not leave. He would drag her back to the castle, press her against the warm stone walls, and learn every single inch of her body by memory. What they had done in the woods had only been an ember compared to the inferno that threatened to consume him now.

‘You were right, princess,’ he said, his voice low and rough.

‘About what?’ She blinked up at him, still dazed.

‘You should choose you.’

Her face flickered, breaking for the briefest of moments before hardening into something resolute. Determined. It was the same look she had worn when she had told him she would not be caged, that she would carve her own future, no matter the cost.

A roar split the sky, and the two black wyverns descended, their massive bodies shaking the ground as they landed mere feet away. The scent of scorched earth filled the air, but it was nothing compared to the invisible scent of loss, thick and suffocating. Nyx’s absence bled into the world like a wound that would never heal.

Kai turned away from the drakonian princess, following his sister towards their beasts. He did not look back. He would not say goodbye. He couldn’t. If he saw her standing there, wind-touched and radiant, it would destroy him.

But Alina Acheron had never been one to let things goso easily.

She ran after him, and before he could stop her, she threw herself into his arms, clutching him with such desperate ferocity that he barely managed to remain standing. Her face buried into his chest, and deadly gods, he nearly shattered right then and there.

He curled his arms around her, one last time.

‘Remember one thing, princess,’ he murmured into her hair, his voice barely a whisper. ‘You are the fiercest woman I have ever met. And I shall never forget you for that alone.’

Before she could reply, before she could break him, he kissed her forehead, lingering longer than he should have. Then he turned and climbed onto his wyvern.

He did not look back.

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