Page 78 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

More dragons came, young ones the size of warhorses, their scales shimmering as they approached, sniffing the air, curious. Kai and Alina mounted them with ease, the creatures accepting their presencewithout hesitation.

‘They respond naturally to you,’ Kai observed.

Alina smiled. ‘I know. I come up here often, ever since I was a teenager. They know me by now.’ Something about that admission stirred something in him. ‘It was hard growing up in a male land where I was not permitted to do everything my brother was. He would go dragon riding with Hagan, and I was always left behind. So I’d come up here.’

Kai frowned. ‘You walked the entire way?’

Alina rolled her eyes. ‘You know, for a warrior prince, you sound rather lazy.’

Kai laughed. ‘I prefer to exercise in a different way.’

Her gaze shifted. It was so fast, so brief, but he saw it. Saw the way her eyes darkened, how her body stilled with lust, hot and blazing.

Kai smirked.

‘I can show you these ways, princess.’

Alina scoffed.

‘Must you poke fun at everything?’

Ah. Sothatwas the problem. She thought he was teasing her.

Kai’s smile faded. ‘I was not making fun, princess.’

But she had already turned away, clearly not believing him.

Something in him snapped.

She waswrong.

And in that moment, nothing else mattered. He had to prove it. Had to make her see. Had to make herfeel.

Kai grabbed her arm, spinning her towards him.

Alina gasped, startled. Her hands slammed against his chest in protest, but he held firm.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ she spat, her voice sharp, furious. But she did not pull away when his hands rose to her face, cupping her cheeks, forcing her to look at him. The air between them crackled.

The volcano beneath them was nothing compared to the inferno swelling in his chest. His voice was a murmur, a warning, a promise.

‘I’m proving a point.’

And then—

He kissed her.

And it wasfire.

The moment his lips met hers, a scorching heat surged through him, licking up his spine, racing through his veins.

She was fire.

And he—he wasburning.

He wantedmore.More of her, more of the warmth that seared through him, more of the way her lips trembled, parting slightly beneath his.

But he needed to know. Needed to be sure. So he pulled away—just barely. And he waited. Waited to see if she would burn with him.

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