Page 134 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“Rainyte Ashfyre,” Faythe dared to say.

It became a weapon that backed the Spirit a ghostly step away and severed the final threads of denial Faythe had been holding onto. Nyte was real. Faythe would never have known his name otherwise.

“He’s here?” Marvellas asked, hopeful and broken. “Tell me where.”

“He’s not,” Faythe said quickly. “I have visions, that’s all.”

It was like she could see the wheels turning in Marvellas’s mind. The Spirit was used to having control of everything, but she couldn’t comprehend this. Faythe didn’t know if she’d sabotaged her chances by using the knowledge of her son so soon.

“Can you show me again?”

That request didn’t come as a demand—nothing vicious. It was a quiet plea from a mother.

Faythe had to block her empathy that threatened to open. She firmed her face. “Take me to Reylan,” she demanded.

That returned the icy demeanor to the Goddess.

“I was going to remove the Magestone for you to try reach him, but now all you’ve done is weaken yourself beyond being able to. You’ll go back to your cell to recover.”

“Take it out now,” Faythe said, even though it nauseated her to think of the agony it would put her through.

“I won’t ever underestimate you again. Chains alone aren’t enough to combat your will. The stone stays in your flesh and will only be removed for each attempt at breaking the ruin.”

Each attempt.

Faythe had to spin, barely making it to a bucket before she retched. Not much came up, and hunger pains clenched her stomach when she finished dry-heaving at the thought of the repeated torture like what she’d endured in the banquet hall the first time the Magestone was embedded in her.

“I’ve had enough of you,” Marvellas said.

Faythe detected a note of defeat and distance in her tone. When she lifted herself off the floor, she found Marvellas standing with her back to Faythe, staring out the long window. She didn’t insist Faythe show her the vision of Nyte again, but she didn’t think it was needed while Marvellas hugged herself, lost in thought.

She didn’t know how Captain Daegal had known to come, but leaving with him wasn’t much more pleasant than staying with Marvellas.

Back at her cell, Nyte was sitting in the same position she’d first seen him in when she awoke.

Before the captain would let her go, he pulled Faythe tightly to him, and she resisted the urge to spit in his menacing face.

“You try something like that stunt earlier again, I don’t have instructions not to hurt you,” he seethed.

He pushed her so hard she almost didn’t catch herself quickly enough before her face hit the wall. The cell door slamming shut was distant to the pain roaring in her ears from the disrupted Magestone in her arms.

She stayed in that position, hands plastered to the cold stone wall, until the stone stopped pulsing through her.

“I might have an idea,” Nyte said after a stretch of silence.

“Tell me.” She peeled herself away from the wall and slumped onto her cot.

Nyte was staring down the hall, his expression dark as if he were thinking of the departed captain. “I don’t know if it’s possible, and I’m not the most thrilled about it if it is.”

“Then why share it?”

“Because it might be the only way for me to have a temporary presence beyond your mind in this world.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Tauria

Tauria missed Nik with a soul-deep ache everyday. The fact she had no certain countdown as to when she would be reunited with him made the pain unbearable. She thought of him now, as she stared over the lands of Fenstead from one of the highest balconies of her castle. They’d returned from Valgard days ago, and Tauria was antsy more than ever to return to Nik so they could start preparing for the colossal army preparing to descend upon them.

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