Page 18 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
‘I’m terribly sorry that your cock insists on interfering with your judgement and prevents you from thinking clearly. I, however, do not suffer from such a feeble anatomical distraction, and am therefore perfectly capable of rational thought.’ She brushed past him. ‘We depart the moment the sun rises.’
Kai made to follow, but Mareena cleared her throat. With a single, measured shake of her head, she halted him. ‘It is wise, Kai Blackburn,’ she said softly, ‘to recognise when one should not press their luck.’
Alina walked on until she reached the foremost of her dragons. She laid a hand upon its thick, scaled hide with reverence, a smile ghosting across her lips as the colossal creature stirred, responding only to her, as it always did. She stiffened for a moment at the sound of footsteps behind her, but her tension eased as soon as she sensed Mareena’s presence.
‘He is right,’ the phoenixian princess said quietly. ‘There is nothing here to sustain them. If we continue like this, your dragons will succumb to hunger or exhaustion.’
Alina clenched her jaw. She knew they were right, of course she did. But what choice remained to her? Going back was unthinkable. She had to reach King Siroc. She had to find Saren and end her. To prove that she had not been the one who killed Hessa.
‘I do not trust the witch,’ Alina said, doing her best to ignore the quickened thrum of her heartbeat as Mareena’s fingers brushed against her own.
‘That is wise,’ Mareena replied.
Alina sensed a presence at her back; one that lingered close,yet always just beyond reach. She turned slightly, catching sight of Hessa watching her. She knew this apparition was not real, not even a ghost. Merely a shard of her fractured mind, conjured in desperation to cope with the loss. And still, she welcomed it.
‘You shouldn’t trust her,’ Hessa said, that once-beautiful face tightening with concern. ‘Why is she helping you, Alina?Think.’
Alina’s brow furrowed. She glanced down at the hand entwined with her own. A beautiful hand, with long, warm brown fingers she cherished more than she dared admit. But Hessa was right. Deep down, she had always known it. Mareena Noor’s willingness to assist was too ready. Too perfectly placed.
‘She’s scheming,’ Hessa whispered before dissipating like mist on the wind.
Alina released a slow breath, withdrawing her hand from Mareena’s. She turned away, eyes lifting towards the distant horizon where the first light of dawn was beginning to break.
‘Aren’t we all,’ she whispered.
Hope is such a dangerous thing.
I had hope once. But the world crushed it. Burnt it. Until there was none left in me.
I have no hope left.
Tabitha Wysteria
Kage Blackburn found that death felt disappointingly similar to life. Then again, he had scarcelylivedto begin with. As the thirdborn in a land where such a birth meant learning to be overlooked, he had grown up honing the art of invisibility. Educated by the greatest minds of his realm, he had been shaped for a single purpose; to become the most astute advisor to the future queen. He had spent unending hours buried in the library, sharpening his thoughts into blades of brilliance, striving to be the keenest, the brightest, the most unerringly precise.
How absurd it seemed now.
All those years lost among pages had led him nowhere. Haven, his sister, was dead. Kai…who could say where he was. Mal had turned into something that chilled him to the core. And he…
He was dead.
Kage cast a glance towards the great white wolf that had not left his side since he’d become yet another lost soul wandering the Underworld. He had not been granted passage to Elysium upon his arrival—the place some called Heaven—accessible only by invitation. Only the purest souls were welcomed there. Kage had long known he would never be among them. Too much decay festered within the dark chambers of his heart.
Fortunately, he had not been consigned to Tartarus either, the Underworld’s prison where souls awaited judgement, destined to be cast into Hell or returned to some region in the Underworld. No, he walked instead among the Asphodel Meadows, as so many did. It could have been worse. He was free to roam. And yet he knew he must find a way out. Persephone would come for him soon, and she would almost certainly seek to use him against Mal.
‘We need to hide, Wren,’ he said to the wolf.
The creature dipped its head, then padded forward. When it halted and turned back—eyes glinting with impatience—Kage frowned, realising the wolf was waiting for him.
With reluctant resolve, he followed.
He found himself wondering where Bryn Wynter had gone. He had not seen the wolverian prince in some time, and part of him suspected Bryn had likely spared Kage no further thought.
‘Doesn’t matter now,’ he murmured to Wren when the wolf stopped once more, emitting a few irritated snorts at having to wait. ‘There was never any hope for us.’ His dark eyes widened slightly when the wolf nudged against him. A soft, unexpected comfort. He smiled, faintly, for the first time since dying.
Wren pressed on, and Kage followed with weary reluctance. They moved through deserted streets where the cracked stone roads were split by meandering rivers, carving their way through the abandoned town. It lay eerily silent around them, asthough even the souls had grown wary beneath the rule of their new queen.
When they finally left the Asphodel Meadows behind, Kage slowed to a halt.
