Page 55 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

Mal nodded as if the request were the most natural thing in the world.

‘I… am sure we can arrange that,’Vera managed, though she fought to suppress the unease pooling in her stomach. ‘Any other food you’d wish for us to prepare?’

Mal shrugged. ‘We eat everything. Fruit, meats, vegetables… As long as it is rotten, we can eat it.’

‘All of it, your highness?’ Realising that she had stopped brushing, Vera resumed, her fingers gliding through the long midnight strands with practiced ease. ‘I shall let the kitchen maidsknow.’ She had just finished when she reached for the tray to take it away, only for Mal’s voice to still her in place.

‘Did you enjoy the Opening Feast?’

The question was innocent enough. But something in the princess’s tone sent a warning down Vera’s spine. Was this simple conversation? Or a calculated test? Vera was almost certain Mal had seen her brief exchange with the queen the night before. But perhaps she had dismissed it as nothing more than a formality, an expected behaviour between a queen and a maid.

‘It was very pleasant, your highness,’ Vera answered, her smile practiced and pleasant. ‘Did you enjoy it? I saw you dancing with the prince.’

Mal scoffed, reclining onto her bed with two effortless strides. ‘He’s rather odd.’

‘Odd, your highness?’

‘I don’t think he particularly likes me.’ Mal draped herself over the pillows, her expression unreadable. ‘I can’t blame him either. I’d hate me too if I were forced to marry me.’ A smile spread across her lips—one that sent an involuntary shudder down Vera’s spine. ‘His mother likes me even less.’

The words, though lightly spoken, carried an unmistakable weight.

Vera inhaled slowly. ‘The queen, your highness? I doubt that very much. I think it just takes time to grow accustomed to others that are…’ She hesitated.Different.

Mal’s smile deepened. Turned wicked.

‘Perhaps so…’ she mused, her gaze drifting to her long, sharp nails before flicking back to Vera with unsettling focus. ‘However, I get the feeling she disliked me even before I arrived. I wondered why.’

Wondered. Not wonder.

As if she alreadyknew the answer.

Vera curtsied quickly, murmuring her farewells before excusing herself. She ignored the weight of those purple eyes on her back, ignoring the way her skin prickled as she fled to fetch the princess her meal. Even as she walked away, she could feel it—the sensation of being watched, of being studied.

Mal knew something. And that, more than anything, was dangerous.

…

‘They are rather magnificent, I must admit,’ Mal said.

The morning had slipped away, and in its quiet retreat, Mal had found herself wandering, allowing her feet to follow a restless longing for movement. That wandering had led her astray, far from the castle grounds, into the wild embrace of the kingdom’s untamed lands. She had not meant to lose her way, but there was something almost peaceful about being unmoored from expectation, if only for a little while.

The distant roar of dragons had guided her through the dense thicket of trees, their deep, rumbling voices breaking through the oppressive silence of the woodland. Following the sound, she eventually came upon them—three great beasts sprawled beneath the shade, their wings tucked neatly against their scaled bodies as they sought respite from the kingdom’s relentless heat.

Mal could hardly blame them. The air in the Kingdom of Fire was thick, suffocating, pressing down like a great unseen weight.

In the centre of the clearing, Alina Acheron stood amongst her dragons, her small form overshadowed by their towering, majestic presence. She moved with a quiet ease, feeding one of them with effortless precision, tossing a bird into the air and watching as the beast snapped it up in a single gulp. Mal studiedthe interaction with detached amusement. Dragons were smaller than wyverns—considerably so. She could not imagine attempting such a thing with one of her own creatures. If she wished to feed a wyvern in this manner, she would have to throw a whole horse.

A flicker of longing stirred within her.

Where were her wyverns? They were wild things, untamed and proud, and had likely scattered to the farthest reaches of the kingdom the moment they were freed. The unbearable heat must have driven them into the deep, shadowed caves beneath the mountains, where the air would be cool, the stone cold against their thick scales. She would need Nyx today.

‘Not as terrifying as wyverns,’ Alina said. She meant it as a compliment but there was something there that Mal did not quite like.

‘Shall we ride?’ Mal asked, excited at the thought of mounting a dragon.

‘We are not permitted.’

‘Excuse me? Not permitted? By whom?’

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