Page 150 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“I think it would kill him to remove it intact. That’s why she did it—she wants Faythe to break it to save him,” she said.

Maverick didn’t flinch at that. Of course he wouldn’t.

Zaiana calculated. She actually thought of the general’s death if it meant stopping the evil even Faythe and her company wanted to end. But at the thought of Reylan dying, Zaiana actuallyshudderedwith a cold lick of dread at Faythe Ashfyre’s wrath toward the world.

“No. That can’t happen. Reylan needs to stay alive.”

“I didn’t know you’d grown to care so much for him. Did he treat you kindly in Rhyenelle?”

She shot him a look of daggers. “Faythe is just as powerful as Marvellas, and she wouldn’t stop with the death of us if her mate died.”

“She’s toogoodfor that.”

“Love and grief make a deadly weapon, and Faythe is not immune to wielding it for those she loves.”

Maverick hummed, considering her opinions. “I suppose those months in Rhyenelle served you well. You’re particularly observant. I trust your intuition.”

To have Maverick admit he believed in anything she would say came as a jarring surprise.

He said, “So what is your plan then?”

She hated to admit it. “I don’t have one…yet.”

“Maybe not something certain, given the gravity of what you hope to achieve, but you must have thought of some options.”

“The dark fae aren’t going to believe the curse by word of gossip. Even if some did, the moment the masters hear of it, they’ll just start killing anyone who speaks of it. But if I can’t reach Marvellas directly, she’s nothing without the forces she’s gained over centuries. All the dark fae, the masters, Mordecai.”

“Then why don’t we start with them?” he said. “The masters are ancient, but they bleed silver like you. They can be killed.”

“I’ve considered that. But if I kill them without the sway of the dark fae led by them, I’ll only be branded a traitor to my kind. They’ll believe I’ve sided with Faythe against them, and I will not allow everything I’ve built to be thrown into the shadow of an insufferable, overpowered heir.”

“We kill Mordecai then.”

Zaiana ran an exasperated hand down her face. “Do all your suggestions begin and end with killing and no thought or strategy beyond?”

He shrugged. “I like to kill and deal with the consequences as they come.”

“Mordecai is another unknown,” she argued. “We don’t know enough about his resurrection to be certain he can be killed by mortal means.”

“Someone might be on the path to finding that out,” he enlightened her.

Zaiana’s interest piqued.

“It seems he’s taken a liking to Tauria Stagknight. She’s with him now, and he’s taken her to Valgard.”

Zaiana became puzzled at that. “He’s trusting her in his kingdom after what she did in Olmstone?”

“It seems so. Unless he has another motive and the Fenstead queen is naïve prey in his trap.”

That seemed more logical, but though Zaiana had never really met Tauria Stagknight, all she’d heard had made her believe she was more silently cunning than people gave her credit for.

“Do you know when they’ll return? She must be planning to escape him, or…where’s Nikalias? Her mate, is he not?”

Maverick’s expression shifted with the mention of the High Farrow king. “I assume he’s gone after her, but I don’t have intel on his movements.”

Zaiana’s mind was reeling with what to do. Where to go next. She didn’t feel like she could leave yet, and infuriatingly, there was only one thing that made her reluctant to any plan that involved leaving Lakelaria.

What were Marvellas’s plans with Kyleer?

---