Page 121 of A Flame of the Phoenix

To win, to get Reylan back, she was prepared to give in to the darkness completely.

More guards flooded into the room, and she braced to kill again.

Until Kyleer’s groan of pain stopped her, and she found him on his knees, Zaiana poised over him with a hand fisted in his hair, the other holding a blade to his throat. Marvellas smiled, pleased with the dark fae’s initiative.

Faythe was seeing murderous red toward Zaiana. She remembered her greatest fear of having her mind infiltrated, and Faythe was tempted to shatter it right now.

“Don’t,” Kyleer rasped, reading her intent.

She couldn’t understand why he would object after what Zaiana had done to him. How even now, she was proving Faythe’s hope of redemption in the dark fae was a childish fantasy. She would always be their enemy.

“You only prove my point, time and time again. Love is a weakness that will always be exploited against you,” Marvellas said calmly.

Too calm. It grated against Faythe’s trigger to erupt.

“Kyleer Galentithe,” she drawled. “As I hear, your brother is adjusting quite well to Malin Ashfyre’s new rule. Perhaps I may have use for you too.”

“It’s only me you want,” Faythe hissed. “I am your heir, Marvellas. I despised that for a long time, but now, seeing the fear that crosses your face when you try to hide it, you’rebeginning to realize what you have created in me is the end you cannot escape. A weapon crafted so perfectly to bring about your own downfall.”

“You always have been ungrateful. Selfish. It is because of you every one of them will die.”

Her blood raced with the challenge. Heat flooded her palms with a dare she could hardly contain. If she clashed powers with Marvellas here…Faythe knew no one in this castle would be spared.

Faythe said, her voice as calm as death, “Release Kyleer. Release Reylan. You have me now.”

“In truth, I thought the ruin would kill him. It was to my great surprise that he not only lived but alsobecamemy ruin. His magick is unparalleled now. How can I not see this as fate meddling in my favor? For now I have a bargain for you,” Marvellas said.

A cold shiver of dread broke over her skin at Marvellas’s cruel smile.

Marvellas continued. “I quite like the weapon he is, but as I’m sure you’re starting to figure out, the only way to free him is to break the ruin.”

The gravity of what that would mean for the world wasn’t lost on her.

Faythe’s gaze shifted to Zaiana, who retained her steely exterior. “You could be lying. Breaking it could kill him as well,” Faythe said.

“How might I convince you of my truth?”

“A blood bargain.”

Marvellas’s eyes narrowed in consideration. “Very well.”

Faythe’s pulse skipped as she watched her glide across the chaos toward her. A small pocket knife slipped out of somewhere in her ruby dress, which flooded around her like blood and water.

Marvellas held it out to her. “You first.”

Faythe took the knife, with her wary sight fixed on Marvellas, anticipating some kind of trick. She sliced a small cut in her palm and then handed it back. When Marvellas cut her own flesh, Faythe almost expected her blood to be a different color, or that she wouldn’t bleed at all, but crimson beaded across her wound.

Marvellas reached for her suddenly, clasping their bleeding palms together, and Faythe gasped at the pulse of energy that exploded through her body.

Then…a reel of moving images. As if she were watching forgotten memories through the eyes of Marvellas. She saw Aesira. Faythe looked like her, with the same color of hair and eyes, but the younger fae had shorter hair, and some of her features were different shapes or angles.

The Spirit seemed distracted by the unexpected connection too, and Faythe used that opportunity to draw a dagger from her side and slice it across her cheek. The blade flew out of her hand when next she lunged for Marvellas, and they both crashed down among the stone and spoiled food.

Faythe was quickly grabbed from behind and restrained by two dark fae. She was forced to her knees as Marvellas rose, the heat of a God’s rage in her amber eyes.

“If you’re going to behave like a beast, then you leave me no choice but to treat you like one,” she hissed venomously.

Faythe knew her attack wouldn’t go unpunished, but it had felt damn good.

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