Page 94 of War of Her Heart

I was . . . a phoenix? No.

Half phoenix.

Half . . . royal.

The only royal from the Sun Realm left.

Which made me Sovereign. Sovereign of a nonexistent realm that I was supposed to go to war against the other realms to reestablish.

How could I possibly do that?

“I can’t be what you want me to be,” I said as I turned back around to my father.

“What?” my father asked.

“Out of all the realms, you took me to the Mountain Realm where I have spent my entire life being indoctrinated that being a female makes me less than. I’ve been told to sit down and shut up and be nothing but a servant to the male and yet now you tell me I am meant to take back a realm and become its Sovereign.

“Not to mention you made up this ‘heart condition’ bullshit and treated me like a wounded bird.” I stared at my father, the anger seething inside of me.

“My little bird,” I said, recalling the pet name he had always called me. “Your little bird because I’m a fucking phoenix. Real clever.”

I looked at Sebastian to see he was trying his hardest not to laugh.

“What?” I snarled at him.

“Your . . . your hair.”

I looked at him confused before glancing over to the mirror that sat on the desk in the corner of my room.

My hair was glowing, and the ends were on fire.

“Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter that you were raised in the Mountain Realm. The fire, the strong-willed traits of your mother, of a phoenix, run deep in your blood.

“It didn’t change your nature. You have fought since you were a faeling against every bit of submission that has been thrown at you. Don’t you see that?” my father said.

I had never seen my father with such hope in his eyes.

“He’s right, love,” Sebastian said, drawing my attention to him. “I’ve been to the Sun Realm during its prime days. You embody it and its faeries and creatures with every natural instinct you have. The times I’ve seen you try to stay quiet and submit, it was only because that was what you thought you were supposed to do, not because it was what you wanted to do. You just have to let go of that.”

“So now the two of you are ganging up on me? You two have never had a conversation but now you’re on the same side?” I said, glancing between the two of them before turning my attention back to Sebastian. “And what happened to me hiding all of this? Now you want me to announce it to Alentara and put a target on my back?”

“I didn’t say I wanted to go to war tomorrow. We have the rest of eternity to fight. I just want you to have everything you deserve,” Sebastian said as he walked over to me.

“And you? You’ve been so worried about me taking my medication but now you’ve just changed your mind?”

“I never thought the day would come that I felt you were safe enough to be your true self. But knowing that you are mated to the shadow king, I fear more for what the two of you will do to the rest of the kingdom.”

39

Chapter 39

Violet

“What’s an achluo?”

Sebastian looked across the table in the library at me. It had been days since I learned what I was. My father went back to serving Calum, and I hadn’t talked to him since. Even if part of me understood why he kept it from me, I was still upset with him.

I wish he had trusted me with the truth.

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