Page 43 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

‘You ought to not look so spooked in your own home, princess,’ a voice whispered in the darkness.

Alina jumped at the proximity of the voice and searched eagerly for where Kai was. It was too dark down there, impossible to see. He appeared suddenly, leaning against the rocky wall, one of the lanterns on the wall set alight.

‘You cannot be down here.’ Alina’s voice rang sharp against the damp walls of the underground caverns, though she arched her back in an attempt to appear taller, more imposing.

Kai chuckled, a sound that might have been warm on a drakonian tongue but, from him, it was something else entirely—low and menacing, like the growl of a beast before the strike.

‘I cannot? Orshouldnot?’ He glanced around the dim cavern, eyes gleaming with amusement. ‘I do not see a sign prohibiting such an action.’

Alina crossed her arms, fingers pressing into her sleeves. ‘Our dragons are kept here. If someone were to find you lurking, they could assume you were plotting to harm them.’

Kai tilted his head, considering her. ‘And why would I do that, princess?’

‘Because you’re a…’ The words nearly tumbled out before she snapped her lips shut.Because you’re a wyverian.The accusation dangled between them, unspoken yet fully understood. The smirk that curled his lips told her he had caught it, even if she had swallowed it whole.

‘I heard,’ Kai mused, voice dripping with casual arrogance, ‘that you attempted to force our wyverns into this place as well. But they refused, didn’t they? They don’t belong in cages, princess. They’ve flown to their own nesting grounds, waiting for our call.’ He sighed dramatically. ‘Which is a shame, because I ache to fly. And I was curious to see a dragon up close.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘So you intend to steal one of our dragons?’

Kai clicked his tongue, shaking his head. ‘Not steal, princess. Borrow.’

‘And what makes you think you are capable of riding one ofourdragons? We are trained since childhood for such a task,’ Alina challenged, though even as she spoke, a traitorous thought whispered through her mind—he can.

Because Kai Blackburn was the most fearsome thing she had ever encountered, and something told her no beast, no matter how untamable, would dare deny him.

He stepped closer, the space between them shrinking to nothing, his presence a smoldering force that sent a tremor through her limbs.

‘Would you like to ride with me, princess?’ His voice was rough, the kind of sound that had the power to shake men to their knees. And yet, for reasons she could not fathom, he did not frighten her. Not entirely.

Alina swallowed, forcing steel into her spine. ‘Women are not allowed to ride dragons,’ she clarified. ‘Only female royals may fly, andonlyduring ceremonial events, under strict supervision.’

Kai hummed, unconvinced. ‘That sounds like a rather ridiculous rule.’

‘It is not a rule, it is acustom.’

‘Customs,’ he murmured, as if tasting the word, ‘are meant to be broken.’

Alina took a deliberate step back, needing space, needing distance from the way his dark gaze unraveled something inside her. ‘No, they are not. If customs changed, they wouldn’t be customs at all.’

Kai cocked his head, an infuriating smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. ‘Interesting, isn’t it? People change. Their minds change. But they refuse to let traditions change, even if it would serve them better.’

‘Drakonian women are not meant to fly.’

But even as the words left her lips, they felt… hollow.

Kai’s smirk deepened. ‘If you say so, princess.’

With that, he turned and strode into the cavern’s depths, disappearing into the darkness.

Alina hesitated only for a moment before following, the sound of distant roars sending a shiver down her spine. The caves beneath the castle had always unsettled her—vast and endless, the walls lined with ancient runes, the scent of dragon hide thick in the air.

The first beast emerged from the gloom, a smaller dragon with shimmering yellow scales and eyes like molten fire. Its massive form prowled towards the iron-barred gates separating it from the castle corridors, its talons clicking against the stone.

‘Don’t get too close,’ Alina warned, voice edged with something she did not wish to name. She imagined having to explain to her parents how she had followed the wyverian prince into the dragons’ den, only to watch him be reduced to ash.

‘They say dragons and wyverns are cousins,’ he mused, stepping forward.

The dragon’s fiery gaze fixed on him, unblinking. Alina’s breath caught as Kai lifted his hand and reached through the bars.

---