Page 42 of The Phoenix Inheritance

Dane

Idon’t know how my heart can linger somewhere around the level of my feet and skyrocket at once, but that’s exactly the state I’m in as I sneak through Østrøm’s dungeons.

Everything is wrong.

Isobel isn’t my mate. She doesn’t have half the time I wanted left. I’m about to leave everything I’ve known behind, including Warwick, the one person who kept me sane all these years.

So why does a sense of calmness settle in my chest for the first time since I grew phoenix wings?

Because this is the right choice.I love Isobel, and even worse than the idea of her dying in my arms too soon, is the image of her dying alone, far beyond my reach or knowledge.

And that’s the last time I think about her death, I vow to myself. To be honest, I know I won’t be able to keep the thought at bay all the time. But I can do my best.

Isobel is right. We can’t be happy together if we’re forever dreading the end. Ten years – I’ll turn it into twenty – can last almost forever, if we make every moment precious. The short time I’ve known her already feels like a lifetime. It’s only been a month and a half, yet so much has changed.

As for Warwick… My heart twinges. Maybe he’ll be disappointed. Maybe he’ll be furious. Still, a small part of me hopes my brother will forgive me enough to see me again one day, once the bitterness fades.

He’ll make an incredible King. He sparks admiration in the eyes of nearly everyone crossing his path, and between the two of us, he’s the one who least takes after our tempestuous father. Warwick doesn’t have my brutish nature, though he’s intrepid when it matters.

And Warwick hasn’t had an Isobel to topple all his beliefs upside down. At this morning’s battle he was ruthless towards humans. Though it bothers me to the core, Sowilo can’t be ruled by anyone who isn’t. The crowd’s unbridled glee at the gruesome spectacle on the battlegrounds still rings in my ears.

This is how things must be, I tell myself with determination as I creep towards the exit.

But just as I reach the door, my escape is barred by two spears. Two of the paladins that patrol Østrom’s dungeons, empty armors animated by the vengeful spirits of fallen knights, cause me to halt in my tracks.

Live armors aren’t reputed for their intelligence, unfortunately.

“It’s him!” One tinny voice barks.

“We’ll get well oiled for this feat,” the second one gloats as he rolls a rusty shoulder. “‘Bout time, as these dungeons have more leaks than the Selkie palace, and nobody cares enough to do something about it!”

I frown in confusion. Though it won’t serve my reputation to be caught mingling with a human, it’s not enough to arrest me – least of all when the King himself authorized my escapade. The guards must have me confused with someone else.

I pull down my hood, shooting the pair of metallic men an icy glare.

“Let me through,” I command, not even bothering to mask my impatience.

“Leofwin, block him from behind!”

I roll my eyes as the second guard scampers around me. Didn’t these two clowns see me at the tournament today? Shifting my hand into a talon takes less than a second. Their spears are little more than twigs in a phoenix’s claws.

“I’ll have you thrown behind bars for this,” I threaten as I ready myself to barge past them, mistaken or not.

“Methinks you’re the one who’s going behind bars for what you did to the King!”

I could swing this clattering pile of silver aside as effortlessly as tin foil, but something about his words make me freeze. They take the opportunity to wind their arms around me in an iron grip.

“What?”

“Your plan succeeded. Those despicable Hunters you let escape from the prisons murdered the Phoenix King.”

My legs give in. I only absently note that the guards are dragging me away, but my protests die on my lips when we pass by a swinging door. Not an hour ago, I passed by that very cell while I stole the keys to visit Isobel. It was teeming with Hunters. One even spat on me.

Now it’s empty.

“My… My father is…?”

“Dastardly assassinated,” the guard supplies in a hollow voice. “The humans slashed him and the Queen with a sword coated in phoenix poison, and there’s no doubt who supplied them with it.”

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