Page 98 of War of Her Heart

“I do as my Sovereign commands.”

Of course that’s his response. I expected nothing else from him. I turned around to see he had propped himself up on a rock and had his arms crossed. He had the same disinterested and annoyed look on his face that he always did.

All I wanted was to leave, but considering my only way out of here had abandoned me, I might as well take the time to figure out what exactly I could do.

I was half phoenix, half royal, meaning I could have every ability of my parents or only a few. I knew I could wield fire, but I hadn’t tried to summon it since the night I burnt Bash’s room. And frankly, I had no idea how to bring the fire forth again. Even if I hated to admit it, I needed help.

We stood in silence, staring at each other, waiting for the other to speak. But the way he looked at me—the way he always looked at me—just pissed me off. I knew he would have no problem wasting the day and telling Bash I wouldn’t do anything, so I knew I would have to initiate this if I wanted anything to happen.

Adar could be hundreds, maybe thousands, of years older than me, I wasn’t really sure exactly, but I was going to be the more mature one today. I had no problem with him, but his attitude had always made me steer clear of him.

“I’m not sure where to start,” I said, dropping my arms.

He let out a sigh before standing up and walking towards me. “Well, we know you can burn things down, so let’s start with that.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Close your eyes and go into your mind. Since you don’t have control of it yet, it will be connected to your emotions. Think of something that angers you. A moment where you felt weak and all you wanted to do was find the strength to fight back.”

I thought about those weeks of torture. I thought about what happened to Astrid and about Celine and the anger she brought me. And everything I wanted to do to her. But no matter how angry I got—how hot I could feel my body becoming—I couldn’t turn it into fire.

I opened my eyes to see Adar staring at me. “Your mother was a phoenix. They didn’t have the ability to wield power in fae form, only when they were in bird form so maybe the same applies to you. Your incident may have been a fluke. A one time thing since you had so much energy built up inside of you and it just released.”

“So what? I should close my eyes and imagine being a bird, having wings and a beak, and then I will just turn into one?”

“Pretty much,” he replied.

“I don’t know why I need your help then,” I said under my breath as I closed my eyes.

I did precisely what I had said. I pictured myself as a bird, a phoenix, just like the drawings I had seen in the books. Golden feathers, large wings covered in flames that spanned double the size of my body. Long, majestic tail feathers and a small yellow beak.

No matter how hard I tried to concentrate on becoming the bird I was imagining, all I could think of was Adar standing there, staring at me.

This would be so much easier if I was alone.

“It’s not working,” I said as I opened my eyes.

“Well, I have another idea that could work,” he said, taking another step closer to me.

“What is it?” I started to back away from him. I didn’t like him being so close to me, but he continued to inch closer. I had a gut feeling that I wasn’t going to like this other idea.

Before I could react, Adar picked me up and threw meoff the fucking cliff. I was falling, and fast. I knew that if I didn’t do something, anything, I would hit the ground soon and Bash wouldn’t be here in time to save me if I tried to call out for him.

I had no other option but to bring forth whatever was inside of me. I closed my eyes and forced the thought of wings into a reality, like my life depended on it, because it did. When I opened my eyes again, instead of falling to the ground, I was rising back up, but I wasn’t a bird. I had the wings of a phoenix, but I was still in my body. I didn’t care how I did it or if I only did it halfway, but I did it. And now I was fucking pissed.

“What the fuck was that?” I yelled as I brought myself back to the top of the cliff.

“What?” Adar asked innocently. He was back propped up on the rock, smiling at what he had done.

“You . . . you pushed me off the cliff!”

“Technically, Ithrewyou off a cliff,” he said, pushing himself up off the rock and crossing his arms. “Trying to get you to shape-shift wasn’t working so I couldn’t think of a better way to force you to do it.”

“I could’ve died! What if I didn’t inherit that gift from my mother? What if I couldn’t turn into a phoenix, and instead I was impaled by one of those trees down there?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Then I would hope you inherited her reincarnation abilities.”

I could feel the rage building at his response. He had no regard for me or my safety. He was willing to risk my death to see what I could do.

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