Chapter Six
The desert is probably one of the most magical places in the kingdoms.
But it can also distort the mind.
Tabitha Wysteria
‘Commander.’
Kai stirred but did not wake fully, not until fingers, or something like them, brushed his ankle. Then he jolted upright, rubbing at weary eyes. They widened at once when he saw Dawn standing at his feet.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked, voice rough with sleep.
She did not answer.
Dawn stood silent in the small tent—just tall enough for her to stand upright and for Kai to sit upon his bedding. Outside, the winds whispered and shifted the sands, the desert breathing in slow, ancient rhythms deep within the heart of the Desert Kingdom.
Kai’s gaze returned to her, unease tightening his chest. She wore only a thin nightdress, so sheer that the contours of her form were unmistakably visible.
Her long white hair spilt loosely over her shoulders, untamed as moonlight against shadow.
And her eyes—those deep, unblinking purple eyes—were fixed wholly upon him.
Kai parted his lips to speak, but the words died in his throat the moment Dawn’s tattooed hands rose and tugged gently at the thin fabric of her dress. It slipped soundlessly to the ground.
His entire body went rigid, breath catching as he looked upon her, more radiant than he had ever imagined.
She stood like something carved from moonlight and shadow, her dark skin a striking contrast to the wild cascade of white hair that fell around her shoulders.
Those deep purple eyes held him captive.
Her beauty was a quiet, devastating force, and in that moment he knew he had never beheld anything more arresting.
Kai did not stop to think, nor to question. Instinct guided him as he reached for her, hands finding her waist and drawing her down onto his lap. The soft breath that escaped her lips was enough to send heat rushing through him, a slow burn that left no part of him untouched.
She glanced down, an unspoken understanding flickering in her eyes. Aware, perhaps, of the influence she held over him.
Then she smiled. That wicked, knowing smile that so effortlessly unmade him.
Before she could taunt him further, Kai slipped a hand to the back of her neck and drew her towards him, their mouths hovering a breath apart.
‘You’re naked,’ he said, his voice roughened by desire that throbbed beneath the restraint of his words.
‘I am acutely aware, commander,’ she replied, settling her hands upon his shoulders with languid confidence. ‘Or have you never laid eyes on a woman undressed before?’
Kai chuckled, and before Dawn could say anything else, he slipped two fingers inside of her. Dawn’s gasp was enough to make him groan. Enough to shatter the world. Enough to make him forget that there was another tent not far from his own and someone might hear them.
He really couldn’t care.
He quickened the rhythm of his touch and Dawn let out a low, delighted laugh, her head tipping back as her hips instinctively moved in sync with him.
‘We appear to be at something of a disadvantage here, commander,’ she said, her purple eyes once more finding his.
‘And why is that?’ he asked, voice roughened by the moment.
‘Because,’ she breathed, the hint of a smirk forming, ‘I am unclothed and you are not.’
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. In a sweep of magic, his garments disintegrated into dust.
Kai arched an eyebrow, mischief glinting in his dark eyes. ‘And shall I be seeing those returned at any point?’
‘Is that truly what concerns you right now?’ she replied, her head tilting in playful challenge just as a soft sound escaped her when he altered the pace of his caress.
‘You are being terribly naughty, Dawn,’ he teased.
‘Am I?’ She leaned closer, lips brushing the curve of his ear in a gesture that sent a shiver spiralling down his spine.
Kai clenched his jaw and guided her gently down against the bedding, holding himself above her with careful restraint.
His touch deepened, unhurried and deliberate, drawing soft, unguarded sounds from her lips.
When he lowered his mouth to her, the slightest brush was enough to send her arching beneath him, her entire body answering his in a way that made him smile against her skin.
‘Am I truly going to have to beg you to fuck me, commander?’ she asked, a flush warming her cheeks.
Kai’s mouth curved into a slow, wicked smile as he leaned in, his breath grazing her skin. ‘I’ve never known you to beg for anything,’ he muttered against her jaw, voice low with promise. ‘But if that is what you desire… then I’ll be the one to beg.’
‘Oh? And what is it you intend to beg for?’
‘To make you come so hard that even your magic won’t be enough to help you stand afterwards.’
He smiled at the sight of her eyes widening—just for a heartbeat, a flicker of astonishment crossing her face before it melted away, replaced by that deliciously wicked gleam he adored so much.
‘Or perhaps,’ she purred, ‘I’ll make you come so hard you won’t be able to walk for an entire week.’
Before Kai could summon a response, her hand wrapped around his cock, slow and deliberate, her touch coaxing a guttural sound from deep in his chest. His eyes fluttered shut beneath the intensity.
He drew in the scent at her neck and traced his tongue languidly across her skin, savouring her like something forbidden.
‘Commander.’
Kai glanced down at her, at a face so arrestingly beautiful it almost caused him pain to look upon it. He’d never allowed himself to stare for too long, wary of falling under the spell of her allure.
‘You need to wake up now,’ Dawn said.
Kai’s brows drew together.
‘What?’
‘Wake up.’
He jolted awake with a sharp breath, chest heaving. Something soft struck him square in the face. Blinking, he found Dawn standing at the entrance to his tent, a blanket draped over his torso—the obvious weapon used to rouse him.
‘I thought wyverians were meant to be mighty warriors,’ the witch remarked, hands planted firmly on her hips. ‘You snore louder than those damned dragons.’ She cast an irritable look his way. ‘We’re moving. Get up.’
‘Give me a minute,’ he muttered, clearing his throat and raking a hand through his short black hair. He was still trying to comprehend how a dream could have felt so blisteringly vivid…
Dawn snorted. ‘A minute?’ Her gaze dropped to the blankets. ‘Why? Were you dreaming of tits, commander, and now you’re hard?’
Kai pulled the blankets aside, revealing quite plainly the strain in the leather of his black trousers. Dawn’s purple eyes widened for a heartbeat before irritation swiftly reclaimed her features.
‘I was dreaming of you and all the wicked things that mouth of yours could do to me.’
Colour flushed along Dawn’s cheekbones, and for a moment, Kai was tempted to make that dream reality. Instead, she fixed him with a glare sharp enough to level an army.
‘You’re revolting,’ she snapped, turning on her heel. ‘Hurry up. Alina’s in a mood.’
Dawn strode out of the tent, and Kai let out a low laugh, unable to help himself—not when he’d seen the desire in her purple eyes.
The very same that still lingered in his own.
…
Alina Acheron had risen before the sun had even graced the horizon.
In the stillness of the hour, she checked each of her dragons with meticulous care, then swept across the surrounding terrain, ensuring no hidden dangers lurked beyond the dunes.
Isla and Arena—the two Dunayans who had chosen to accompany them—were already scouting for game.
She inspected the tents, stitched together from serpent skin, to confirm they remained securely fastened should a sudden sandstorm surge across the wastes.
Then her attention drifted, drawn irresistibly, to the woman standing at the edge of the rocky ridge that shielded their encampment from the wind, tending to the phoenix that had followed its master at the last minute.
Though Alina had endured days in Mareena Noor’s presence, resisting the urge to stare had not grown any easier.
Mareena Noor was, perhaps, the most breathtaking woman alive.
Princess of the phoenixians and a warrior of the Phanax, her figure was honed in elegant strength and graceful curves.
Her eyes—red as the deep wine Alina had once savoured in her homeland, what felt like a lifetime ago—held a fire that seemed to smoulder even in shadow.
Mareena’s hair was typically pressed straight between slabs of polished stone, but the hardships of travel afforded no such privilege; it had returned to its natural state—soft waves cascading, curling rebelliously at the ends.
She wore the traditional armour of her people: a white suit with long sleeves, cinched and reinforced with leather at the waist, arms, and back for protection. Clutched in one hand was her helmet, fashioned in the likeness of a serpopard—a mythical creature born of serpent and leopard.
Before Alina could address Mareena, her attention shifted to the approaching witch, with Kai Blackburn striding beside her.
It was difficult not to look at the wyverian prince.
Tall and powerfully built, shaped by war, he moved with the assuredness of a predator.
The twisted black horns crowning his head called to mind the cautionary tales drakonians had whispered in childhood—stories meant to frighten her into submission. They had never truly succeeded.
‘A storm is coming,’ Mareena observed quietly as she stroked her phoenix made of golden and crimson feathers. ‘We should seek safer ground.’
‘No. We should pack and keep moving.’ Alina turned away from the group, snatching up whatever she could to begin gathering their supplies.
‘We can’t keep driving the dragons like this,’ Kai interjected, stepping swiftly to her side.
Since their last argument, tension had hung thick between them.
Alina had kept her distance, watching the wyverian and his easy rapport with the witch.
‘They’ve been flying without rest. We’ve travelled without rest. We used to travel only through the night and now we spend day and night on the move.
There’s barely any food left for your beasts.
They’ll perish before we even reach the desert king. ’
‘I know my dragons better than you.’
‘I’ve never claimed otherwise, princess.’
She ignored him and continued across the camp. Her dragons lay nearby—slumbering, conserving their strength—sprawled in a loose formation that shielded the company from the vast and merciless desert beyond.
‘Can’t the witch use her magic to hasten our journey?’ Alina asked, irritation sharpening her words. She caught the flash of anger in Kai’s black eyes and relished it.
‘I am not a tool,’ Dawn snapped.
Alina pivoted to face her. ‘I will stop at nothing to bring down Hagan.’
‘And what do you think we’re trying to do?’ Kai cut in.
‘And her?’ Alina gestured towards Dawn. ‘Has no one wondered why a witch is so desperate to slaughter one of her own?’ She stepped closer, her brown eyes narrowing with suspicion. ‘Why do you want to stop Hagan? Surely your ambition lies in destroying the Houses.’
‘Alina, don’t start this again…’ Kai exhaled in exasperation.
‘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.