‘I’m not! I swear it!’ Dawn’s hands rose in surrender as Alina surged forward, her dagger pressing against the witch’s throat, pinning her to the stone wall. Alina’s attention lingered on the vein that throbbed beneath her blade, imagining the way it might rupture, how the fire behind those purple eyes might vanish into dust and silence.
‘Does he know?’ Alina asked, dragging her eyes upwards, focusing on the face that had haunted her past, on the eyes that had cursed them all. ‘Does Kai know what you are?’
Dawn nodded, slow and tentative.
A snarl curled from Alina’s throat. She gripped the hilt of her curved desert dagger tighter, until the metal kissed skin, sharp enough to draw a single bead of blood that welled and slid along Dawn’s neck.
‘I never meant—’
‘I don’t want your excuses.’
‘I loved Ash.’
‘Shut up!’ Alina screamed, shoving herself back, releasing the witch as she staggered away, breath heaving, fury crackling in her chest. Her eyes shimmered with tears, and she dashed them away with the heel of her hand. No, she would not cry. Not in front of her.
‘You never stopped to think what it would do to me, didyou?’ she hissed. ‘You weren’t just Ash’s undoing. You were mine too. You pretended to be my friend. And all the while, you were lying.’
Dawn gave a solemn nod, grief pooling in her eyes like a tide too long restrained. Tears shimmered, unshed but glistening. ‘I didn’t mean to… I know you’ll never believe me. But I never truly lied. I wore another face, yes, but the time we shared, Alina… it was real to me. And Ash, I loved him. I loved you both.’
Alina turned away, loathing the warm trail of tears cascading down her cheeks, powerless to stop them. The memories surged like a flood, battering every corner of her soul. Ash, with all his shadows and strength, had loved Adara, the drakonian court girl who, in her quiet way, had helped carry him through his darkest moments. And Adara had not only captured her brother’s heart, she had claimed Alina’s friendship, too.
Once, it had been Ash, Hagan, Adara and Alina—four hearts clutched in the hands of fate, bound together by dreams and the foolish hope of youth. And two of them had been liars. Two had torn the circle in half, leaving only ruins.
‘Go.’
‘But I—’
‘I don’t want to hear it,’ Alina said, her voice sharpening to steel. ‘Pack your things and leave this city. I don’t care how you manage it. But you will be gone. If I return to these chambers tonight and find you still here, I swear by every god you believe in that I will cut you down. Witch. Adara. Dawn. Whatever name you claim, it means nothing now. Adara died that day. Just as the Alina you once knew died the night you stormed my castle and slaughtered my kin.’
‘Ash isn’t dead.’
Alina froze. Her breath caught, and her heart thudded painfully against her ribs at the echo of that truth, one she had not yet dared to believe. When Kai had spoken those words, she’d met them with silence. Too much had unravelled since then, too many wounds carved too deep. A part of her would not, could not, accept it until she saw him with her own eyes.
Because if it wasn’t true, if it turned out to be another cruel lie, then losing him again would shatter her beyond repair.
‘Leave.’
‘Please, Alina, don’t do this. We need the dragons—’
‘I will decide what my dragons do. And whatever decision is made, you will not be part of it.Leave.Before I change my mind.’
She watched as the witch’s face fractured beneath the weight of her sorrow, tears streaming freely as Alina’s own had long since dried to salt upon her skin.
Without another word, she slid the curved blade of her desert dagger back into its sheath and turned away.
She did not look back.
She did not offer a final word, nor a soft farewell to the girl who had once held her trust, who had once been stitched into the fabric of her heart. That thread had long since unravelled.
Alina walked on, her pace steady through the grand, echoing corridors, the silence pressing in on all sides. She did not stop until she reached the solitude of her chambers, where the weight she had carried finally became too much.
She collapsed onto the bed, buried her face into a cushion and screamed.
Screamed until her voice broke and her soul splintered.
Until her heart shattered like glass, falling into a thousand irreparable shards.
…
