Chapter Fifty-Seven
Even though the desert is ruled by a king, and separated into twelve regions, which are all governed by different tribes—I’ve come to understand that the true power of the desert lays in the hands of the Saqar. For it is belief that moves the desert folk. Belief that will march them to war.
Tabitha Wysteria
‘Faster,’ Kai urged, slipping aside just in time as Alina’s blade cut through the space where he had been standing only a heartbeat before.
She was far better than he had expected. Or perhaps, if he were honest, far better than he had allowed himself to believe.
Months of relentless training had forged Alina Acheron into something formidable, a weapon honed sharp with discipline and fire.
Kai had never taken much interest in the various fighting styles practised across the kingdoms. Such things had always seemed unnecessary to him.
Yet after countless evenings spent watching Mareena guide Alina through the precise and elegant techniques of Phanax combat, he had begun to understand what his brother Kage had always tried to show him through the dusty pages of those books he so loved.
The truth was painfully simple.
Kai had never cared to learn.
He had always believed his own kingdom needed nothing from the rest of the world.
He had liked the distance between them, the way each realm kept to itself, untouched and unconcerned with the others.
And somewhere deep inside, he had carried the quiet certainty that a wyverian warrior would always stand above the rest.
How wrong he had been.
How terribly wrong he had been about almost everything.
His attention drifted to the far right side of the enormous arena.
Dawn stood there, watching.
Her gaze lifted and met his across the wide expanse of stone.
And suddenly the world seemed to tilt beneath his feet.
The distraction cost him.
In the brief instant his attention wavered, Alina struck. She moved swiftly and with perfect precision, throwing him onto his back before he could recover. A heartbeat later, the sharp tip of her desert sword hovered against his forehead. Her lips curled upward in quiet amusement.
‘You’re growing slow, wyverian,’ she said.
‘I thought I had taught you not to be presumptuous, princess.’ Before she could react, Kai hooked his foot around her ankle and twisted sharply, sending her tumbling down beside him. She hit the sand with a startled breath, and Kai laughed as he looked over at her, her eyes wide with irritation.
He pushed himself upright, brushing the sand from his clothes. Reaching over, he patted Alina’s arm in an almost brotherly gesture. It seemed to irritate her further, though she smiled all the same.
‘Do you think I stand a chance?’ Alina asked as they sat together in the middle of the vast arena.
The space stretched wide and open around them, large enough for several fighters to train at once.
Across the arena others continued their practice, steel clashing against steel, while beyond the fighting grounds the rest of the city carried on with its daily rhythm.
The gambling dens, in particular, were thriving.
With the day of Alina’s fight drawing ever closer, wagers were being placed in growing numbers.
Kai rubbed the back of his neck, grains of sand still clinging to his skin. ‘She’s just a woman, Alina.’
‘She’s a Dunayan woman.’
‘And you are the Fire Princess. You learnt to fight like them, so use that against her. You’ve also learnt the ways of the Phanax… and of the wyverians.’
Alina exhaled slowly. ‘I’m still not strong enough.’
She glanced up towards the towering walls that circled the arena like a great stone crown. Now and then curious faces leaned over the railings above, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fire Princess before the day of her fight arrived.
‘She’s just a woman,’ Kai repeated.
‘What if she isn’t, though?’
Kai let out a short snort. ‘Do you really believe that nonsense? That she’s a goddess?’
Alina shrugged.
‘Thought you didn’t believe in the gods.’
This time it was Alina who snorted softly. ‘I don’t know what to believe in anymore.’
‘Then believe in yourself.’
Kai smiled when she turned to face him. In the deep brown of her eyes he saw it plainly; the worry, the quiet fear of what awaited her in the arena.
‘But what do you think?’ she pressed.
‘I think, Alina, that you should do what you believe is right,’ Kai said. ‘I told you long ago not to live by what others expect of you.’
Alina shook her head. ‘I’m not asking you to tell me what to do, Kai Blackburn.’ A soft smile touched her lips, and for a fleeting moment it reminded him of the old Alina, the gentler girl she had once been. ‘I’m just asking you as a friend. Your opinion.’
Kai found himself smiling in return.
‘I think you shouldn’t trust anyone,’ he said. ‘But I also think you can do this.’
Mareena appeared at one of the side doors of the arena, offering them a small, silent nod. Alina rose at once, and Kai followed as they left the sand behind and made their way through the winding hallways of stone, climbing the stairs that led to their chambers.
Mareena guided them into the room she now shared with Alina.
‘Your staff is fully charged with magic once more,’ Mareena said, lifting it from where it had been resting upon the bed and placing it carefully into Alina’s hands. ‘You may use it in your fight against Saren.’
Alina frowned as she accepted it. ‘Wouldn’t that be cheating?’
‘She may use her godly powers against you,’ Mareena replied calmly.
‘She won’t,’ Kai said.
Both women turned towards him.
‘If it’s true and she truly is a god walking in mortal flesh, the moment she uses those powers, she exposes herself. Would she risk that?’ He shook his head. ‘No. Because then what Alina claimed would be proven true, and everyone would know it.’
Alina’s fingers tightened around the staff.
‘Then perhaps I should tempt her into using them,’ she said slowly. ‘At least then the truth would be revealed to everyone.’
‘If she uses her powers, you will die,’ Mareena said quietly.
Kai lifted an eyebrow. ‘I thought phoenixians and drakonians didn’t believe in gods.’
‘It is not that we deny the existence of other divine beings,’ Mareena explained. ‘We simply recognise only one as truly divine. The one true god.’
‘The Sun God,’ Kai said with a soft sigh. ‘And the rest are what, exactly?’
‘Creations of the Sun God,’ Mareena replied. ‘He shaped all that exists. The others are not truly gods, they are merely beings he brought into existence.’
Kai tilted his head slightly. ‘Then why call them gods at all?’
Mareena gave a small, practical shrug. ‘Because it is simpler that way.’
There came a knock at the door, and a moment later Dawn appeared in the narrow archway. She slipped inside quickly, pulling the door shut behind her. With four of them now in the small chamber, the space seemed to shrink even further, the air thick with quiet tension.
Dawn’s attention fell immediately upon the staff Alina held pressed against her chest.
‘You ought to use it,’ she said.
‘Only if it becomes necessary,’ Mareena replied. ‘It is best that the desert folk do not yet realise we possess such weapons.’
Alina nodded slowly. She looked at each of them in turn, her stare lingering as though she wished to say something more.
Perhaps a farewell, in case she did not return victorious.
But whatever words had risen to her lips remained unspoken.
Instead, she straightened her shoulders and walked from the room.
Mareena followed close behind.
And suddenly Kai found himself alone with Dawn.
It was strange how quickly the shift unsettled him.
In her presence he felt, absurdly, like a boy again.
Awkward, uncertain and faintly foolish. Few would ever imagine Kai capable of such feelings, but in truth he had known them well in his youth.
When he was young, nervousness had been his constant companion.
To be born secondborn was often spoken of as a great honour.
Yet for Kai it had always felt closer to a burden.
From the moment he could remember, his life had been shaped by a single purpose: to protect the future queen of their land.
Every day had revolved around that duty.
He had loved his sister Haven fiercely, and he had trained tirelessly to become the greatest warrior he could be.
But the weight of that responsibility had often threatened to crush him.
Over the years he had learnt to conceal the strain, to bury the fear beneath easy laughter and careless humour. In time, no one could see the truth beneath the muscle and armour, the boy who lay awake at night, sick with worry for his sister, for his kingdom.
For everything that rested upon his shoulders.
All of it had depended upon his strength. And it had all vanished the moment Haven died.
Now Kai had no idea what he was meant to be. But one thing he knew with certainty, thanks to Dawn.
He would never again be the man he once was.
‘Thank you,’ he said, and a smile tugged at his mouth as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
‘What for, commander?’
‘For making me better.’
He knew she did not truly understand what he meant, but that hardly mattered.
He did not need her to. Slowly he crossed the small distance between them, reaching past her to push the door shut.
The quiet click of the lock echoed in the room, and his heart gave a small, reckless leap at the soft gasp that escaped her.
‘This isn’t our room, commander.’
‘So?’
Dawn smiled then, though her hands had already begun to glow faintly green. Smoke curled around her fingers, and within seconds the wyverian form she had worn dissolved away, revealing the real Dawn beneath.
‘About fucking time,’ Kai muttered.
He caught her face between his hands and kissed her hard.
For the briefest moment she stiffened in surprise, as though she had not expected such boldness from him. Then she melted against him, her body answering his with equal hunger.
Kai deepened the kiss, a quiet groan escaping him at the taste of her. He lifted her easily and carried her to the bed, lowering her down with unexpected care. Then he stepped back, standing at the edge of the mattress, simply watching her.
‘Do you enjoy staring, commander?’ Dawn teased.
‘Of course I fucking do.’
Dawn lifted a hand. Green smoke curled again around her tattooed fingers, and Kai watched in quiet awe as the black wyverian leather she wore seemed to unravel into nothing, dissolving from her skin as though it had never existed.
A moment later, Dawn lay bare upon the bed.
Kai swallowed hard.
Her dark fingers drifted slowly down the length of her body, tracing the curves of her skin until they slipped between her thighs. She touched herself deliberately, her gaze never leaving him as he stood there watching.
‘You’re killing me,’ he whispered, his voice rough with restraint.
‘Then do something about it, commander.’
Kai did not need telling twice. He tore his clothes away with impatient hands before climbing onto the bed and over her.
‘Don’t you dare stop,’ he said the moment she paused.
‘If I don’t stop, I’m going to come,’ she breathed, her body arching beneath him, twisting with the rising pleasure.
Kai lowered himself over her, his lips brushing the shell of her ear before his teeth grazed it softly.
From there he moved along the line of her jaw, slow and deliberate, before his mouth found her nipples, teasing them until her breath grew ragged beneath him.
When at last he positioned himself to enter her, his voice dropped to a hushed murmur.
‘Come for me, Dawn,’ he whispered.
The moment her cry broke free, Kai pushed into her slowly and firmly, filling her as her body trembled with the force of her orgasm.
Her purple eyes flew wide as he began to move, thrusting into her with a steady, powerful rhythm, riding the waves of her pleasure and stretching them longer and longer.
‘Don’t stop,’ she gasped as his movements grew harder, more urgent. His hand slid beneath her back, lifting her higher so their bodies pressed flush together, skin to skin, as though they might fuse into a single being.
The sounds spilling from her lips drove him further—low, breathless moans that unravelled the last of his restraint.
Kai thrust into her with mounting intensity, chasing the rhythm of her body until he felt her shatter again beneath him.
Within moments, he followed, pleasure crashing through him just as fiercely.
For a while he remained there with her, their breathing uneven, the world reduced to the quiet closeness between them.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he said, pressing kisses along her neck and jaw.
And for the first time, when he looked into those purple eyes, Kai saw something shift within them.
For the first time, she was beginning to believe him.