Alina turned to face him, lifting a brow in challenge. ‘I was trained in the Dunayan way. Now I learn the ways of the Phanax. And you, Kai Blackburn, will teach me your way too.’
A slow smile curved his lips. ‘Are you commanding me,princess?’
Her head tilted, her smile sharper this time, colder. ‘Yes. But you’re forgetting something, wyverian. I am no longer a princess.’
With a sudden glint of steel, Alina unsheathed the daggers hidden against her hips and lunged.
‘I am a queen.’
…
Kai laughed as he staggered backwards, his blades abandoned by the column, far too distant now to be of any use. He could almost convince himself that the fierce woman before him was the very same one who had once slapped him across the face atop a quiet hill in the drakonian lands. But that girl, though formidable in her own right, was gone. This Alina was something else entirely. She was a warrior born of sorrow and flame, carved by grief and reforged in fire.
She moved with startling elegance, a fluid fusion of wind and steel, her strikes as graceful as they were lethal. Kai, for all his years of training, had never studied the combat techniques of other kingdoms. Such things were kept guarded, whispered only within palace walls and passed down through bloodlines like precious heirlooms.
Alina lunged again, her dagger whispering past his ear, so close it kissed the air beside his skin. He couldn’t help but chuckle, and the sound only seemed to incense her further. He wasn’t mocking her. Gods, no. He was in awe of her. The Alina Acheron he had once known had been remarkable even beneath the weight of corsets and tradition. But now… now there was no denying the fire in her eyes.
He caught her wrist on her next strike, slamming her arm against the marble column behind them. In one smooth motion,his other hand pressed flat against her chest, pinning her there. His body loomed close, his mouth brushing the space between her cheek and ear.
‘I see you remembered that lesson I gave you in the woods,’ he said, his voice low and teasing. But Alina didn’t blush. She didn’t soften. Instead, her expression twisted in frustration, and then she drove her knee hard into his stomach. As he staggered, she slipped behind him like smoke through fingers, and a heartbeat later, he found himself the one slammed against the column.
Kai felt the cold kiss of a blade press against the nape of his neck.
‘Not bad,’ he muttered, allowing her the illusion that she had bested him. ‘But you forget something.’
The tip bit deeper into his skin in silent warning, sharp enough to sting but not to wound. Kai chuckled under his breath.
‘What?’ she snapped, breath quick with exertion.
‘I'm a wyverian,’ he whispered just before he twisted in a blur of motion, his speed unnatural, honed. The dagger clattered across the stone floor, skittering out of reach. In a heartbeat, he'd caught Alina by the waist and flipped her down onto the ground, pinning her beneath the weight of his body, his elbow poised at her throat.
‘Teach me,’ she breathed, unafraid.
‘I will,’ he replied. ‘I swear it.’
He rose and extended a hand, which she took without hesitation. But when she went to release him, he held on, his thumb stroking the centre of her palm with a tenderness that struck deep.
‘I thought you were dead, Alina,’ he said softly. ‘All this time, I’ve mourned you.’
‘I’msorry,’ she whispered.
Kai shook his head, and before he could steel himself, tears welled behind his eyes. ‘Haven… I wasn’t there for her. I wasn’t there for you.’
‘That wasn’t your fault.’ She stepped closer and brushed his tears away, her fingers lingering at the edge of his jaw. Her gaze held his with fierce gentleness. ‘This, all of this, is on Hagan. And one day, I’m going to make him bleed for every sin carved into our skin.’
She cupped his face with both hands, and something inside him broke, some blackened piece of his heart that still knew how to ache.
‘You haven’t mentioned my horns,’ she said, voice barely a breath.
‘There’s nothing to say,’ he replied, leaning into her touch. ‘Except that I’m sorry. And when you’re ready to speak of it, I’ll sit beside you and listen. Every word.’ He paused, his eyes dark and full of something tender. ‘You’re still as beautiful as I remember you. You are still the fucking sunshine, Alina Acheron.’
And when she smiled, tears shimmering in her own eyes, Kai stepped forward and cradled the back of her neck, drawing her in. His lips found hers, soft, aching, and then he folded her into his arms, holding her like she was the only warmth left in the world.
‘We should go to Mareena,’ Alina said, exhaling as though to steady herself. Yet her hands remained folded in Kai’s, reluctant to let go. ‘We all need to sit down and speak properly.’
Kai nodded, the corners of his lips curving in agreement.
But Alina stilled, her expression shadowed with thought. ‘Kai, I won’t be returning north just yet. There is a darkness festering in the south, one I must confront before I reclaim mykingdom and my crown.’
