Page 46 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

‘You look almost happy,’ the wyverian prince observed, his dragon edging closer. It was a female, smaller than Alina’s but far more dangerous. Under certain lights, her scales gleamed a shade of deep, untamed green—so unlike Alina’s red-gold beast. She had never been assigned a dragon of her own; such things were reserved for men. Women rode only when it was expected of them, only when their presence was a decoration, a spectacle for the eyes. And so she had been given a tamer creature, one deemed unremarkable enough for her to borrow for a day and then return, forgotten.

‘Almost?’

‘I know how to fix such a tragedy.’

Before she could demand an explanation, he tilted his dragon sharply, and suddenly, he was plummeting.

Alina’s heart leapt into her throat as she watched him fall—watched the ground rise to meet him in a blur of darkness and impending disaster. A thrill of panic seized her chest, but instinct took over before reason could intervene. She dove.

The wind roared around her, a deafening, all-encompassing force. The world rushed towards her with terrifying speed, the city of Spark becoming clearer and clearer with every passing second. Her grip on the reins tightened as though they were her last tether to life, her stomach twisting violently.

And then, just as she was certain the wyverian prince had lost his mind—that they would both meet a swift and merciless end—his dragon snapped upward, slicing through the air with impossible grace.

Alina barely had time to react before she did the same, her dragon pulling up mere moments before they would have been swallowed by the city below. The bay stretched out before them, a glistening mirror beneath the water’s silver touch.

The castle, carved from the very bones of the mountain itself, loomed over the water, its balconies suspended above the yawning abyss. High above, where the land twisted and rose into jagged peaks, volcanoes sat in silent vigil, their breath curling into the sky in lazy tendrils of smoke. It was there, amidst the molten heat of summer, that wild dragons made their nests, guarding their eggs in the heart of fire itself.

The two dragons glided over the water, their shadows dancing over the waves. To their right, white sands stretched in an unbroken ribbon, soft and untouched, while to their left, the endless sea whispered secrets to the wind.

‘I've never seen a place quite like it before,’ Kai admitted, his gaze drinking in the castle’s grandeur. It was a marvel, sculpted by time and sweat, its crimson spires reaching towards the heavens like the claws of some ancient beast. Smoke curledfrom the distant volcanoes, their warmth ever-present, wrapping the city in an eternal embrace.

‘It is beautiful,’ Alina said, pride curling through her voice like embers in the dark.

With a final sweep over the sea, they guided their dragons downward, touching down upon the shore with practiced ease. The sand was soft beneath Alina’s slippers, but as soon as she stepped onto it, her body went rigid. Any moment now, the guards would come. She could already feel the weight of their hands dragging her away, already hear the disappointed murmurs of her parents—the whispers of shame at her reckless disobedience. But she would not regret this.

Not now. Not ever.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ the princess asked, her voice edged with wary curiosity as she caught the wyverian prince staring at her, a smirk of satisfaction carved into the sharp lines of his face.

‘Are you so afraid of breaking the rules, princess?’

‘Rules are not meant to be broken. So yes, of course I am.’

Kai’s hand drifted over the scaled neck of his dragon, fingers idly tracing patterns along its ridges as the beast lay resting, its chest rising and falling in slow, measured breaths. His dark eyes, however, were not on his dragon but on the sea, gleaming with the reflection of moonlight and something far more dangerous—something calculated. Alina recognised that look. The prince was plotting something. Something reckless. Something she was certain she wanted no part of.

Then, without warning, Kai began to undress.

Alina whirled around, her cheeks burning with an immediate and terrible heat.

‘What are you doing?’ she squeaked, barely managing to keep her voice steady.

‘We should bathe.’

‘No, we should not. What would my father say if he caught us in the water together?’

‘I’d hope he’d ask if the water was any good.’ He chuckled, the sound rich with amusement. ‘Are you coming or not, princess? You are probably sweaty after the ride.’

‘I am notsweaty. It is the middle of the night, and there is a cool breeze. It is bad enough I ran off with you in the middle of a feast, stole two dragons, and rode when it is forbidden.’

‘You didn’t really steal them, they are your dragons. You are the princess. Or are you not?’

Alina risked a glance over her shoulder—just a brief one—and then gasped, whipping her head back so fast it nearly made her dizzy. How could he stand there without a care in the world, naked like the day his mother birthed him? What if someonesaw? Did he not care?Wild things!The stories had always whispered that the wyverians were untamed, but until now, she had never truly believed them.

A part of her longed to walk away, to pretend none of this had happened. ButHoly Fire, it had felt extraordinary to break the rules, even if only for a fleeting moment. And if she had already done the unthinkable… well, what was one more sin in the eyes of her god?

Before her mind could caution her otherwise, her fingers moved to the laces of her gown, loosening them with a quiet determination. The silk cascaded down her frame, pooling at her feet like liquid moonlight. She left her undergarments in place—she was reckless, but notthatreckless. Turning away from the shore, she stepped into the water, following the prince into the depths of the sea.

‘Are you not hot with so many layers on?’ Kai mused, his voice smooth, almost lazy.

---