Page 16 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

Mal smiled, despite herself. He was magnificent, this brother of hers. Fierce, protective, willing to fight the world for her. She took his hands in hers, squeezing them softly.

‘I love you, Kai. But if my marriage can help our kingdoms… maybe this is what the gods have chosen for me.’ Kai clenched his jaw, but she continued. ‘The Kingdom of Fire and the Kingdom of Darkness have never fought as one. Not truly. If they are to trust each other, then they must see a royal willing to step forward, to bridge the divide.’

‘And what if they never trust you? What if they see you as the enemy instead?’

Mal turned away. She already knew how the people of her own kingdom looked at her—the way their eyes lingered too long, the hushed words that drifted behind her like ghosts. She was fourthborn, an anomaly, a child with cursed eyes who had never truly belonged.

Maybe this was why she had been born at all.

Maybe this was her purpose.

‘So that’s it?’ Kai exhaled, his voice quiet now. ‘You believe you were born just to be a wife? To behiswife?’

Mal turned back to him, something new in her gaze—something fierce.

‘No, Kai. Not a wife.’

The temple fire cast a halo of blue light against her silhouette, the shadow of her horns stretching long across the stone.

‘A queen.’

For a long time, Kai simply stared. Then, after a long exhale, he whispered, ‘So you’ve made up your mind.’

Mal parted her lips to reply, but the wind—soft yet insistent—shifted, carrying with it the quiet rustle of robes glidingover stone. She knew before she turned. The priestesses had arrived.

Kai stiffened beside her, his body taut with unease. He had never been able to hide his discomfort in their presence, and though Mal understood why—their sightless gazes, their ghost-like steps, the weight of the divine pressing down upon them—she had never feared them. Here, beneath the unblinking eyes of the gods, she had always felt at home.

The priestesses moved like mist, their long grey robes folding around them like second skins, obscuring even the whisper of their footfalls. They wore no silver nor jewels, no embellishments save for the sacred cloth bound over their eyes— a strip of fabric cut from their very robes by the holy blade upon their initiation.

Toseewas to stray from faith.

By day, they wandered blind, their hands forever outstretched to the unseen, waiting for the gods to answer. But at night, when the moon bled crimson and painted the sky in scarlet streaks, the fabric was lifted, and their unveiled eyes—terrible and wise—became the only light within the darkness of the temple.

The High Priestess stepped forward, her voice smooth as water, yet layered with something deeper, something ancient that came from the very bones of the mountain itself.

‘Princess.’

Mal dipped her head in respect, letting her gaze rake over the priestess’s figure—tall, draped in shadow, as if woven from twilight itself. They were terrifying in their way, untouched by mortal desires, tethered only to the whispers of gods.

Once, Mal had dreamt of becoming one of them.

Then she had learnt the cost.

To become a priestess was to forsake the skies.

‘We listen to the gods, but we may not reach them,’the High Priestess had told her long ago. ‘Our duty is bound to the earth, to guide those who wish to listen but cannot hear. That is why we may not ride wyverns.’

And Mal had known then that she could never be one of them.

‘High Priestess,’ she said in greeting. ‘I have come for my daily prayer.’

‘Come, child.’ The High Priestess turned, already drifting towards the temple, her dismissal of Kai as natural as breathing. ‘Your father came to us this morning. He has spoken of your decision. There is much to discuss before you journey beyond our borders—before you step into the Kingdom of Fire.’

Behind her, Kai stirred, his voice thick with something raw.

‘Mal.’

The plea in her name cut deeper than any blade.

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