Page 29 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Though he enjoyed it far more than he should have.
At times, screams drifted upward on the evening breeze, thin and broken. Each one made his chest swell with pleasure.He revelled in their agony.
For days now, he had felt adrift. Ever since the goddess Eris had been cast back into the god realms—killed by Mal Blackburn—something within him had gone unmoored. He now had free rein over his witches, unchallenged and unchecked, yet he despised the truth he dared not speak aloud: without Eris, he no longer knew which direction this war ought to take.
When his witches had told him of her death, he had cursed her name. Not because she was gone—she was not truly dead, and he knew it. Eris would return, reborn in another vessel, just as she always did.
He had not even mourned his sister Vera.
Why should he? His sisters had never loved him. They had only blamed him. Cursed him. For he was the reason their mother had fled their father’s side.
And he was the reason she had died.
Hagan closed his purple eyes and drew in a slow, steady breath. His mind slipped back to a quieter time—to days long past, when he still lived within the drakonian castle as the son of a noblewoman. He could see himself then, so much younger, unshaped by the brutal training of the Red Guard. In that memory, Alina entered the hall, draped in one of her extravagant gowns, all silks and splendour.
‘Have you ruined her yet?’ a voice drawled behind him.
Hagan turned to find his sister approaching. To the world, she was not a witch named Dawn, but a drakonian noblewoman called Adara. Even now, it was strange to look upon her, to see skin kissed gold by the sun and hair as soft and bright as spun metal. Yet her eyes… though brown, they still burnt with Dawn’s familiar fire. Perhaps that was what had made Ash fall so completely under her spell.
‘Have you stopped pretending your feelings for the FirePrince are real?’ Hagan teased. He laughed quietly at the way her expression tightened.
‘I sometimes forget how utterly despicable you are,’ she replied before moving towards where Alina and Ash stood together.
Hagan followed at a distance, struggling and failing to suppress the smile that continued to spread.
‘You look lovely this evening,’ he said, lifting Alina’s hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. He took a private pleasure in the way colour bloomed across her cheeks.
‘Thank my mother,’ Alina replied. ‘She’s the one who insists on parading me about in these ridiculous dresses.’
‘But they are beautiful,’ Dawn said, envy slipping unmistakably into her voice.
Alina seemed to sense it; she cleared her throat and nodded, visibly uncomfortable.
‘I shall ride to the wall to-tomorrow,’ Ash said softly, pitched low enough that only they could hear. He never seemed to mind his stutter in the presence of friends; it was strangers who unsettled him.
‘What for?’ Hagan frowned.
‘The k-king wishes to re-start pa-patrols,’ Ash explained.
Alina sighed. ‘A ridiculous waste of time. There’s nothing beyond the wall.’
Ash fixed her with a hard look. ‘There are ru-rumours of witch sightings.’
Alina rolled her brown eyes. ‘Then why doesn’t father simply burn whatever remains of that dreadful place and be done with it?’
Hagan fought to contain the surge of anger that rippled through him at her words. He caught the brief flash of fury in Dawn’s eyes before she smothered it, as she always did. Theywere accustomed to this; accustomed to pretending, to swallowing their reactions whole. Still, some moments made it painfully difficult.
Hagan reached for Alina’s gloved hand, rubbing it gently. ‘There is no need to fear witches, princess. They cannot harm you. You are safe here, within these walls.’ He exchanged a knowing glance with Dawn.
Alina huffed. ‘I’m not frightened of imaginary monsters. If they dared show themselves, our dragons would burn them just as they did a century ago.’
‘Alina…’ Ash warned, his gaze sharp.
‘What?’ she snapped, irritation tightening her features. ‘I’m only saying what everyone thinks.’ Then her expression faltered, pain flickering across it. ‘Hagan, you’re hurting me.’
She looked down at his hand, now clenched around hers with crushing force, enough to splinter bone. Hagan smiled faintly as he continued to squeeze, savouring the fear that bloomed in her eyes, before finally releasing her.
‘I apologise, princess,’ he said smoothly, fury neatly veiled.
