‘We’re about to find out.’
Alina turned away before either could respond. Her steps were steady, each one steeped in purpose as she approached the great red dragon. It rumbled low in its throat, the sound like stones grinding beneath the earth, and bowed its massive head in greeting. It had recognised her. Not the girl she had once been, trembling and uncertain, but the woman who had risen from fire and ash, forged by grief and vengeance.
The beast lowered itself onto the pale stone, limbs foldingwith grace. Alina climbed atop its back with ease, finding her place with neither saddle nor aid. She sat tall, her spine straight, her chin high. Around her, the other dragons stirred, eyes glinting like molten gold, awaiting her word.
‘Up,’ she commanded, her voice cutting through the stillness like a blade.
Wings spread vast, strong, beautiful, and the air trembled beneath the collective roar of twelve dragons taking flight. The wind rushed past her, wild and alive, and Alina laughed. A sound full of freedom, raw and untamed as the sky rushed to meet her. They soared above the city, a tide of scale and flame, and flew onward, into the heart of phoenixian lands.
Alina urged her dragon to veer right, the city of Kairus fading behind her like a half-remembered dream. The wind rushed past her cheeks, tugging at her blonde hair, and she glanced over her shoulder, her heart swelling at the sight. Dozens of dragons trailed in her wake like living constellations, majestic and untamed. She led them away from stone and scorched sand, into open skies where time seemed to unravel, floating free like dust in the wind.
Closing her eyes, Alina surrendered to memory. The last time she had flown like this, astride one of her beloved beasts, had been with Kai Blackburn. It was during the celebrations at her palace, the air thick with music and perfume, in honour of Ash Acheron’s union with Mal Blackburn. A different life. A different girl.
She wondered where Mal was now, where Kai might be. Were they safe? Were they alive? The longing settled in her chest like a quiet ache. She whispered a silent prayer to the wind, that fate might let her find them again. That she might look into Kai’s eyes and show him how much she had grown. How fiercely she had survived.
When she opened her eyes once more, the past had drifted away on the breeze. The endless desert had given way to something gentler, something more forgiving. Before her, the world had bloomed into ivory sands and sapphire sea. The dragons circled above like sentinels of myth before gliding down one by one, settling upon the beach with grace that defied their size.
Alina slid from her dragon’s back and stepped barefoot onto the cool sand. The scent of salt wrapped around her, familiar and wild. She knelt and buried her hand into the golden grains, then slowly lifted it, watching the sand slip between her fingers like time itself. Just as Hessa had once done, over and over again, as if the act alone could hold the world together.
‘Do you think there’s more out there?’ Alina asked softly, her voice barely rising above the hush of the waves. She turned to the desert princess seated beside her, the scent of salt and sun between them.
Hessa tilted her head, her white eyes dancing with a familiar glint of mischief. ‘Who’s to say, amira? Perhaps.’ A sly smile curved her lips. ‘Perhaps one day, we’ll go exploring together.’
Alina returned her smile, though faintly, as though it hurt to summon. ‘Yes. Perhaps.’
‘You don’t sound convinced.’
‘That’s because you’re not real,’ Alina murmured, the ache behind her words heavier than the sea breeze. ‘You’re not here.’
Hessa gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘And does that make me any less real? Or make the world less worth discovering?’
‘I don’t want to explore without you,’ Alina replied, her hands curling into fists in the folds of her robes.
With gentle grace, Hessa leaned in and placed her palm over Alina’s chest, right where her heart beat stubbornly on. ‘But I’m always with you, amira. I am the grains in the sand.’
‘There’s no sand out there.’ Alina gestured towards the endless sea, its waters glittering gold beneath the fading sun.
‘No,’ Hessa agreed with a playful pout before her smile bloomed once more, bright and boundless. ‘But perhaps there’s something else waiting.’
Alina exhaled, long and slow, her soul weary with longing.
She sat in silence until the stiffness crept into her limbs, her heart unwilling to rise. And all the while, Hessa stayed beside her, as steady as breath. Alina knew, had always known, that the day would come when she would have to let her go. But not yet. Not while Hagan still drew breath. Perhaps when her blade found his heart, she might finally release the memory of Hessa into the wind.
Hessa stood with a soft whistle, turning to admire the dragons resting nearby. She laughed then, that sun-bright laugh that had always made Alina feel, even in the darkest moments, that the world could still be beautiful.
‘You have an army now, amira,’ Hessa said, her smile full of pride. ‘You truly are the Queen of Fire.’
The seven kings of Hell are fascinating creatures, each bound to their ring, never permitted to cross its threshold. They torment the souls cast into their domain, inflicting eternal suffering without pause or mercy.
Yet the truth is this; Hell is a prison for them as well. A sentence of their own. Each ring, a flawless cage, tailored not only to contain but to punish.
They can never leave.
I cannot begin to fathom what transgressions they must have committed to provoke their god’s wrath so utterly.
Tabitha Wysteria
Mal couldn’t help but glance around the vast chamber she now stood within. The ceiling soared so high it vanished into shadow, leaving her uncertain whether it existed at all. The walls were ink-black, as was the colossal table that dominated the heart of the room, so vast in length its onyx surface could easily seat a hundred souls, if not more.
