Page 179 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

Hessa ignored her. ‘We are going to lift you up now.’

On the count of three, the sisters hauled Alina to her feet. Her legs wobbled, unsteady as a newborn fawn, but she managed to remain upright. The remnants of her dress lay in a heap at her feet, and she swallowed hard against the growing nausea at the sight of so much red.

A terrible thought clawed its way through her mind. With trembling hands, she lifted them towards her head.

‘Do not,’ Hessa warned sharply.

‘I need to know.’ Her fingers pressed into her hair, sticky and damp with something warm. Her breath hitched as she reached further, up, up, until—

Nothing.

No curve of polished gold, no familiar weight of the horns she had carried her entire life.

Only jagged stumps.

Alina screamed.

It was a raw, wretched sound, torn from the very marrow of her bones. She staggered back, her vision spinning in wild spirals, bile rising in her throat. Then she was vomiting, her body rejecting the horror of what had been done to her.

Her horns were gone. Hagan had taken them from her.

A sob broke free, but Sahira's voice cut through her grieflike a blade. ‘We need to leave before he returns.’

Alina turned, her limbs still sluggish, her mind still trapped in the fog of agony.

‘He’s looking for your brother,’ Sahira explained. ‘The castle is in chaos—this is our chance to escape.’

Alina barely registered her words, her thoughts lingering on him. Hagan. She tried not to look at the bodies scattered across the room, at the lifeless servants who had suffered at his hands after he was finished with her. If she thought about it—about any of it—she would collapse beneath the weight of it all.

Her sword. The one Kai had given her. It was in her room. She had been a fool not to keep it at her side. Now, it would be lost forever.

Sahira moved first, stepping into the open hallway—

And immediately crumpled.

Alina gasped as a figure shoved Sahira backward, her body colliding into her sister’s arms. Purple eyes. A twisted, cruel smile.

Hagan.

Alina barely breathed as her gaze dropped, horrified.

A dagger jutted from Sahira’s stomach.

‘No,’ Alina moaned, her voice hoarse, her body frozen in place as Sahira’s trembling hands pressed against the wound, trying, failing, to stop the blood.

No one moved. No one spoke.

Sahira’s breath came in short, ragged bursts, her chest rising and falling in shallow gasps. Her sister whispered soft reassurances, hands trembling as she cradled Sahira against her, as if she could keep her anchored in this world.

But it was not enough.

Sahira exhaled one final breath.

Then, nothing.

Alina did notmove. Could not move.

Hagan exhaled, a bored sigh. ‘I’d ask for the knife back, but…’

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