Page 84 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Kai’s frown deepened. There was something in her tone, something practiced. A lie, perhaps, though not where one might expect it. He knew Alina well enough to hear the subtle difference between truth and deception, and yet he could not quite place it.
‘Do you truly believe I would have killed Hessa,’ Alina wenton, her voice hardening, ‘when we were planning to marry?’
The Saqar recoiled with a sharp, hissing sound, retreating as though burnt by the sight of the necklace itself.
Kai noticed the advisor lift a hand to his other, fingers brushing the white stone ring that lived there like a talisman. A quiet understanding settled over Kai then. These stones mattered to the desert folk far more than he had first realised. They were not ornaments, but symbols. Perhaps even sacred ones.
The king’s pale eyes glazed for a heartbeat before he cleared his throat, composure returning with effort.
‘It is your word against Saren’s,’ he said at last. He glanced towards the advisor, then back to Alina. ‘Until a truth can be uncovered, I invite you to remain with us as our guest.’
Kai braced himself, certain Alina would accept. Instead, she shook her head, unmoved by the offer, as though it held no weight at all.
‘I want Saren’s head,’ she said. ‘Where is she?’
The king startled, the question clearly not what he had expected. ‘Saren is not here,’ he replied after a pause. ‘She has travelled to another region. Far north.’
Alina inclined her head once, already done with the conversation, and turned towards her dragons.
‘Then I shall go to her.’
Kai took a step forward, instinct screaming for him to stop her, but Mareena reached Alina first. Kai watched the exchange with narrowed eyes as Mareena’s fingers closed around Alina’s arm. The two women held each other’s gaze in silence, something unspoken passing between them.
Scheming.
Always scheming.
Kai felt it the instant Dawn edged closer, her shoulder brushing his arm, her presence taut with unease. Her eyesnarrowed as she watched Alina and Mareena conduct an entire conversation without a single word passing between them.
‘They worry me, those two,’ Dawn whispered, her voice barely more than breath.
Kai inclined his head in the faintest nod, careful not to draw attention. He watched Alina as she finally turned back to the king, and his body went rigid the moment he caught that smile, that sharp and wicked, almost fleeting smile, before it vanished behind her familiar mask of cool indifference.
‘Before I seek out Saren,’ Alina announced, her voice steady and measured, ‘my dragons must rest and be fed. And I wish to speak with you more calmly, King Siroc, about what truly transpired. So that we may bring justice to the desert and to Hessa.’
The king nodded once and turned away, his robes shifting as he strode off, the Saqar gliding after him like pale shadows.
Kai tilted his head, watching as Mareena slipped back to Alina’s side, her hand settling against the fire princess’s back with unmistakable familiarity.
‘I don’t trust them,’ Dawn muttered, unease threading her tone.
Kai did not answer with words. Instead, he found Dawn’s hand and squeezed it gently, a quiet reassurance pressed into flesh and bone. And in that small, steady gesture, he said everything he could not.
They say love can save us from anything.
But what of those that have never felt their heart beat to the rhythm of another?
Tabitha Wysteria
Bryn woke to the soft crackle of fire, its sound cutting through the fog of sleep. He could not say how long he had been unconscious. Perhaps a day, perhaps two, but his body carried the heavy certainty of time having slipped past without him.
Outside the small hut, Kage Blackburn knelt by a newly built fire. Bryn watched as the wyverian prince tended to a small rodent skewered over the flames, and he found himself absurdly trying to imagine Kage hunting something so small, so harmless. It did not suit the image he held of him at all.
‘Where were ya?’ Bryn asked, tugging another layer of furs over his shoulders.
Kage did not look back. His dark gaze remained fixed on the fire, as though it might offer him answers if he stared long enough.
‘I had some matters toattend to.’
