‘I’m not.’
‘Then the next time you say I mean nothing to you,’ he whispered, his voice softer now, darker, ‘try looking me in the eye when you do.’
And with that, he let her go.
…
‘Can Isla and Arena join us for lunch?’Alina asked as Mareena led her into the phoenixian gardens, a place so stunning it seemed conjured from a dream. Lush palms swayed in the golden light, and flowering shrubs of every hue spilt their perfume into the warm air. Birds of brilliant plumage sang from the branches, their melodies echoing softly through the tranquil space.
Alina’s attention drifted to a cluster of serpopards lounging beside a fountain, its marble carved into the shape of two phoenixes mid-flight. The creatures were unlike anything she had ever seen, sleek and feline in build, yet with serpentine necks and tails that curled and slithered like living vines. She was reminded suddenly of what Hessa had once told her, long ago: that phoenixians had a penchant for meddling with nature through strange forms of alchemy. There were whispers too, of an underground city hidden beneath phoenixian soil, where unnatural things stirred. Perhaps it was there such beasts were born.
‘You don’t like them,’ Mareena observed, her crimson eyes resting on the lounging creatures. ‘Most don’t. We fear what we do not understand. That which is unfamiliar becomes, by instinct, something we reject. But sometimes change, however strange at first glance, can offer more good than harm.’
Alina looked back over her shoulder, her brow furrowing slightly. In the distance, she could just make out Kai, his figure rigid as he exchanged heated words with the wyverian woman.
‘Do you love him?’ Mareena asked softly.
Alina slipped her arm from Mareena’s, suddenly needing the distance, space to think, to breathe. ‘I did… I suppose a part of me still does. That part where the old Alina lingers in quiet corners of my soul, the girl who once dreamt of a life by his side. A life where I followed him instead of forging my own path. But I’ve come to realise that life is rarely so simple. The things we want don’t always find their way to us.’
She exhaled slowly, turning her focus to the fountain, where the water glistened like liquid crystal beneath the sun. ‘Kai belongs to my past. He was the one who shattered the shell I’d hidden within, who taught me to raise my voice, to stand tall. For that alone, a fragment of my heart will always remain his.’
‘But?’ Mareena prompted gently.
‘But he is not my present,’ Alina said, clasping her hands together. ‘For a time, I believed Hessa was. But she was taken from me.’
Mareena inclined her head, her expression touched with quiet sympathy. ‘The threads of fate weave strange patterns.’
‘They do,’ Alina agreed. ‘And yet… something about it all seems curious.’
‘What is it?’ Mareena asked, her crimson eyes narrowing with intrigue.
Alina found herself momentarily entranced by her. There was something arresting in Mareena’s presence—her elegance, the way the sunlight kissed her smooth brown skin, how her raven-black hair, pressed straight each morning, shimmered like the starlit skies over the desert. And those eyes, impossibly red, impossibly beautiful.
But the spell broke as movement in the distance caught Alina’s attention. Kai and Dawn were approaching, the wyverian twirling a strand of her inky hair around one finger. There was something oddly familiar about the gesture, something quiet and haunting, that made Alina feel, if only for a breath, like she had returned home.
‘My mother once had a vision,’ Alina said, ignoring the painful twist in her chest that always came with thoughts of the woman who had given her life. ‘She foresaw me becoming a queen.’
‘And you will,’ Mareena replied gently, her smile as radiant as a rising flame, warm with encouragement.
But Alina shook her head, her expression distant. ‘She didn’t mean a drakonian queen.’ Her gaze met Mareena’s for a heartbeat, just long enough to speak volumes. Within that brief exchange, understanding passed silently between them.
‘I was meant to become a phoenixian queen.’
Before Mareena could respond, the soft hum of a melody tugged at Alina’s attention. She turned, and her breath caught. Dawn was braiding her hair absentmindedly, her lips moving to a quiet tune that floated through the warm air like an echo from another life.
A song Alina knew.
A song from her past.
A song once sung by someone she had called her dearest friend.
Alina stepped forward, her hand darting out to seize Dawn’s arm, fingers wrapping tightly around the wyverian’s wrist. The world seemed to still. Their eyes locked. Alina searched the depths of Dawn’s stare, desperate, no, determined, to unearth some buried truth. She felt Kai shift beside her, his posture tightening, ready to intervene.
But she didn’t care.
‘Where did you learn that song?’ Alina asked, her voice brittle with disbelief.
Dawn blinked, confused. ‘I don’t know. It’s just… something I’ve always known.’
