Page 174 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash
Hagan sighed. ‘Actually, now that I think about it… I don’t really need him here for this conversation.’
‘What—’
It happened too fast.
Hagan stepped behind Zahian and, with a sharp, effortless motion, snapped his neck.
A sickening crack echoed through the chamber.
Alina screamed.
She stumbled backward, collapsing into her chair, her limbs numb, her world suddenly tilting sideways. The prince’s body slumped forward, his head lolling unnaturally to the side.
She couldn’t breathe.
‘What have you done?’ she choked, voice trembling.
Hagan barely spared the corpse a glance. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Did you actually want to marry him?’ He smirked, that once-handsome face now contorted into something monstrous. ‘Come now, Alina. I’ve done you a favour. You just don’t want to admit it.’
His voice, once charming, now dripped with something oilyand cruel.
Alina could only stare, her hands trembling so violently in her lap she thought they might never stop. ‘Why?’ she whispered, the word breaking apart like shattered glass.
Hagan exhaled sharply, his sigh laced with something dark and jagged, as he leaned against the table, his presence sprawled like a shadow between Alina and the lifeless prince. The flickering candlelight did little to soften the cruelty twisting his once-familiar face.
‘Because my father was a drakonian cunt.’ His voice was almost casual, but the venom within it burnt. ‘I never met him. He was a lord who fucked my mother and then decided she wasn’t worth marrying. When she told him she was carrying his child, do you know what he did? He tried to choke her.’
A cruel smirk ghosted across his lips, eyes gleaming with something twisted and unsalvageable.
‘What he didn’t know, of course, was that my mother was a witch glamoured as a drakonian. She cast a love spell over him, forced him to wed her, and then slit his throat as he slept. She inherited everything, and when I was born, I was given his title, his name, his claim.’ He gestured around the room. ‘That’s how I ended up in this castle, pretending to be one of you. Part of the noble court. Close enough to the stupid little fire prince and his naive sister to play my part to perfection.’
Alina's breath came shallow, her body tightening as the words twisted into her like a blade.
‘So there I was,’ he continued, his voice laced with mockery, ‘spending my entire fucking life pretending to care, pretending to love, pretending I actually gave a damn about my so-called best friend and the insipid little princess who worshipped the ground I walked on.’ His chuckle was low, taunting. ‘You should’ve seen yourself, Alina. All doe-eyed anddesperate, thinking you were in love with me.’ His eyes sharpened with utter amusement. ‘It was lovely to watch you fall apart. To know I had you in the palm of my hand, to take everything from you, to deflower you like you were something precious. And then, when you were drowning in me, I got to watch you shatter when I left.’
Alina trembled. The tears had started falling before she could stop them, streaking down her cheeks in silent trails of betrayal. His words struck her like stones against fragile glass, each syllable cracking something inside of her.
No.
It couldn’t be true.
It had to be a lie.
She had known Hagan her entire life. He had been her closest companion, her sparring partner, her first love, the boy who had kissed her beneath the moonlight, who had whispered promises against her lips. They had grown up together. Fought together.
And now,this.
The memories she once held dear curdled into something rotten.
Her stomach twisted violently at the thought of his hands on her body, at the things they had shared in the dark. The intimacy she had once treasured now felt defiled, turned into a cruel game she had never known she was playing.
‘You are lying,’ she whispered, her voice hoarse, but she knew the truth. Had known the moment the words left his mouth.
Hagan exhaled through his nose, a flicker of impatience ghosting across his features. And then, with a single pass of his hand over his face, his horns vanished.
Alina’s stomach lurched.
His once-warm brown eyes bled into an unmistakable shade of purple.
