Page 59

Hadrian has been my first in absolutely everything.

I want him to be my last too.

Tabitha Wysteria

Alina wove through the moss-laden ground, each step drawing her deeper into the shadow-draped woods. The hush of the trees loomed over her like a watchful sentinel, the rustling leaves whispering secrets she could not understand. An owl hooted in the distance, a haunting warning lost to the wind.

She had seen the dragon keepers that morning, guiding the great scaled beasts through the forest, their wings casting elongated shadows across the castle walls before vanishing into the canopy.

Soon, the creatures would be locked away in their cavernous dens beneath the castle, awaiting the day the wyverns returned to their own skies once more.

Alina had watched it all unfold from the solitude of her chamber window, her fingers pressed lightly against the glass.

Now, alone in the thick of the trees, she pulled her golden cloak tighter around her form.

The fabric shimmered even in the muted light, a regal beacon in a place meant for shadows.

Her hood had been tailored with careful slits to accommodate her horns, but the sheer brilliance of the garment defeated any hope of stealth.

She was an ember in the darkness, impossible to ignore.

‘The golden cloak makes you stick out like a sore thumb, princess.’

Alina twisted sharply at the sound of Kai’s voice, her pulse quickening, but she could not see him. ‘Where are you?’ she demanded, her nerves taut like a bowstring. The woods unnerved her—too many places for an enemy to hide, too many blind spots she could not control.

‘Come and find me.’

Alina grunted. ‘I have no time for your silly games, Kai Blackburn. You are meant to be teaching me how to fight! Not on how to play hide and seek as if we were five.’

A chuckle, low and teasing, drifted through the trees.

‘Now, now, princess. That is not the attitude I was expecting from my student.’ His voice clucked in mock disapproval.

‘This is an important lesson. Sometimes even the mightiest of warriors must learn how to hide. And on other occasions, on how to find their enemies.’

Alina exhaled sharply, her breath curling in the cool air.

She longed for steel in her hand, for the satisfying weight of a blade, not whatever this cryptic exercise was.

With a resigned sigh, she loosened the cloak from her shoulders, letting it slip onto the gnarled roots of a nearby tree. ‘How am I meant to find you?’

‘Listen.’

So Alina listened.

She listened to the world in a way she never had before.

To the hushed scurry of unseen creatures darting between the underbrush, the whisper of rabbits rustling in their endless search for food.

She listened to the wind threading through the leaves, shaping invisible patterns in the air.

To the trees, groaning with the wisdom of centuries, their boughs creaking as if in quiet conversation.

The rhythmic pulse of wings beating the sky.

And then—beneath it all—she heard it.

Footsteps. Soft. Careful. But present.

She spun just as Kai emerged behind her, his grin sharp, catching her before she could stumble over the uneven earth.

‘You are an excellent student, princess.’

‘Thank you.’

A flicker of pride warmed her, but before she could reply, he added with a smirk, ‘Though it is mainly due to you having the very best teacher.’

Alina rolled her eyes, shaking her head. ‘You really are incapable of giving someone a compliment without ruining it, aren’t you?’

Kai merely shrugged, an infuriating gleam in his dark eyes. He reached for a black sack he had brought along, undoing the ties to reveal an array of gleaming weapons. Alina leaned forward, eager to claim one, only for Kai to slap her reaching hand away.

‘Patience, princess,’ he chided.

Muttering under her breath, she retrieved her discarded cloak and spread it on the ground before settling onto it, determined not to dirty her gown.

Kai crouched before her, presenting each weapon like a storyteller unraveling a tale—their strengths, their weaknesses, the weight of their steel, the purpose of their design.

He described their lethality with casual ease, offering personal assessments of their handling as if recounting the merits of fine wine.

And then, at last, he withdrew a blade meant for her.

It was slender, long but deceptively light, its gleaming surface honed to a needle-sharp point.

‘And this shall be your blade,’ Kai said, handing over a long but thin looking sword. ‘It is edgeless, which means it has a very sharp point. You can grip it with two hands.’

Alina glanced at it, disappointment pooling in her stomach. ‘But this isn’t for fighting.’

‘All swords are for fighting, princess.’

She frowned. ‘But it’s…’ she hesitated, unwilling to sound ungrateful, yet unable to ignore the stark contrast between her own weapon and the fearsome steel the wyverians carried. ‘It looks like a toothpick.’

Kai’s laughter rumbled through the trees.

‘It is lightweight and most importantly—it pierces through any armour.’ He stepped behind her, his presence a shadow against her back, his hands guiding hers along the hilt.

‘You’d be surprised, princess, that sometimes it is more important to be stealthy than glorious.

No one will remember you or your sword if you are dead. ’

Alina tried not to notice the warmth of his chest pressing against her spine, the firm grip of his fingers curling around her own. She tried not to think about the way his breath fanned against her neck, unbidden shivers skittering down her arms.

Then, as if realising it himself, Kai cleared his throat and stepped away.

They resumed training.

He adjusted her stance, nudging her feet apart, ensuring her knees bent at just the right angle. His hands skimmed her waist, adjusting her balance, and each touch burnt, leaving an imprint that she tried desperately to ignore.

But it was difficult—when every brush of his skin made her breath hitch, when her mind betrayed her with images of being pressed against a tree, of his lips against hers, of his hands exploring beyond the confines of training.

‘Princess, are you listening? ’

‘What?’ Alina’s cheeks were flaming hot.

‘Lift your arm up slightly.’

‘It hurts keeping it up like that.’ She let her arm drop in frustration.

Kai chuckled. ‘Fighting is costly on the body, princess. Strolling around gardens will not keep you fit enough to fight.’

She pursed her lips. It was true—her muscles ached from even the simplest of postures. Unlike the wyverians, she was hardly ever allowed on the back of a beast, steering it through storm and fire. Her only exertion had been the graceful, delicate walks permitted by her mother’s watchful eye.

‘And perhaps you ought to find other clothes,’ Kai suggested. ‘Training in a tight bodice and long skirts will not help.’

‘I do not have any other clothes,’ Alina said. ‘I do not possess a separate wardrobe with shirts and trousers. I have never worn anything but long gowns and tight corsets.’

‘Very well, I will lend you mine.’ He shrugged as if such a proposition was anything but indecent. She couldn’t wear his clothes! ‘I’ll bring an extra shirt tomorrow for you.’

‘I cannot wear your clothes.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because…’ She fumbled for an excuse. ‘They will be far too large on my frame.’

His smirk deepened. ‘Or perhaps you are worried that by wearing my clothes you will feel me on your skin, princess. That would be rather tempting, wouldn’t it?’

‘I do not believe so,’ she replied a little too harshly, ‘seeing as though you find the mere thought of kissing me repulsive. I do not see how I would find myself tempted by a man that finds me displeasing.’

His jaw dropped.

The temple bells tolled in the distance, their chimes rolling over the land like a decree from the heavens themselves. Alina turned towards the sound, her heart pounding with sudden urgency. Midday.

Her brother was expected to stand before the court, before the gathered nobility of every kingdom, and utter an apology for striking the phoenixian prince. Alina clenched her jaw.

She had no time to waste. Ash would need her.

‘Alina, I—’

‘I must leave.’ She thrust the sword back into Kai’s hands and reached for her golden cloak. ‘My brother’s speech will begin promptly and I must see him beforehand.’

‘Surely your brother can give a speech without you, princess.’

Alina fastened the cloak, bristling. ‘My brother…’ she hesitated, her hands tightening around the fabric. She could not betray Ash’s secret. ‘He needs me.’

Kai snorted.

‘What? ’ Alina hissed.

‘Nothing.’ Kai shrugged. ‘Go, run off to hold his hand.’

‘How dare you. You understand absolutely nothing!’

‘I understand nothing?’ His eyes blazed with fury. ‘Because all I ever see is you running off to help your brother. You are at his beck and call, day and night. And my question to you is, who takes care of you ?’

Alina faltered. She had never been asked that before. Her lips parted, but no words came. Until—

‘He is my brother. This is what siblings do for each other. If you wyverians are incapable of understanding such a thing, I pity you!’

Kai sighed, his anger dissolving into something sadder, something heavier.

‘I never said you should not help your brother, princess. However, when others clip off your wings and do not allow you to fly, perhaps then it is time to reconsider.’ He pointed at the weapons.

‘Why did you ask me to train you? Your brother is as fierce a warrior as I am. You could have asked him to help.’

‘Well, because he’s…’ Alina hesitated, staring at the sack of weapons. The truth sat heavy in her throat. ‘My brother is to be the next Fire King. He has duties that he must uphold regularly.’

Kai laughed. ‘I’m sure he does. Though, most of the time I see him hiding away from everyone or training in the yards with his men.’

‘Fine, what is it that you want me to say?’ She lifted her arms, exasperated.

‘Yes, I have spent my life looking after my brother.

I have pushed aside what I have wanted for him.

But I am nobody. I am just a drakonian princess, which might sound important in most lands but in mine it translates to being married off to the highest bidder.

Which I have been. But my brother has succumbed to the exact same fate.

He has never wanted to be a king and yet, he is forced to become one.

We have both been set upon paths we did not wish. That is life.

‘And it may seem easy for you and your wyverian ways to laugh at it, to brush it away and say, you can do whatever you want. Perhaps in your land you are free to do so, but here we are not. Here the crown comes first.’ Her voice dropped to a whisper, laced with something raw and cutting.

‘And for all your criticism, I remind you that when the festivities are over and I am flown off to a new kingdom to be married, you will be travelling back to your kingdom to fulfill your duties as secondborn.’

She saw the way his jaw tightened, how his shoulders went rigid. He looked as though she had struck him.

She did not care.

Kai had no right to judge her when he was just as much a prisoner to his fate.

‘Do not look at me like that, wyverian,’ she warned, but her breath caught as he took a step towards her. And another. Her pulse quickened. She stepped back, retreating as he advanced, until the rough bark of a tree pressed against her spine.

He leaned in, his breath warm against her lips.

‘You got one thing wrong, princess,’ he whispered, his voice a rasp of thunder before the storm. ‘You are not a nobody. You are the fucking sunshine, Alina Acheron.’

And then he kissed her.

Not a hesitant brush like before, not a fleeting moment stolen and regretted. This time, there was no restraint, no careful boundaries.

Kai’s mouth claimed hers with hunger, with fire, with something desperate and aching. His tongue teased past her lips, drawing a gasp from her throat. His hands tangled in her hair, grasping, pulling, pinning her against the tree as though he would never let go.

Alina burnt beneath him.

Her fingers fisted in his black shirt, pulling him closer, closer, until their bodies were flush, until the heat between them was unbearable.

His hands slid down, gripping the backs of her thighs, lifting her as though she weighed nothing. Alina moaned as her legs wrapped around his waist, her skirts pooling around them like golden fire.

And then— a rip.

She blinked, dazed, only to see that Kai had shredded her bodice in his impatience.

‘Too much fabric,’ he muttered, tearing it away entirely.

Alina gasped, her face burning, but he was already lowering his gaze, his black eyes devouring the sight of her bare skin.

‘So much better, princess,’ he purred.

Slowly, agonisingly, he tugged the last whisper of fabric away, baring her to the morning air.

His lips descended, tongue trailing, teasing, worshipping. Alina’s head fell back against the tree, a moan slipping past her lips. Her fingers twisted into his hair, anchoring him, wordlessly pleading for more.

‘What do you want me to do, princess?’ he asked against her skin, his voice wicked and soft, his breath searing where it touched her.

Alina trembled, unable to form words.

They both knew this was all they would ever have. A single moment carved out of time, stolen from a world that would never allow them to be together.

This moment, at least, was hers to claim.

She leaned in, her lips brushing his ear, her voice barely a whisper.

‘Make me burn, Kai.’

And so he did.

Alina burnt like the sun beneath his touch, beneath the press of his body, beneath the dark hunger in his eyes as he watched her come undone, moan after moan, his name a whispered prayer on her lips.