Page 156 of A Flame of the Phoenix

That almost sounded like a compliment.

Faythe fiddled with the key, gritting her teeth against the stinging and burning that grew worse from the Magestone with every slight movement.

Again, Zaiana let her struggle, not offering to help remove her shackles. When they finally clanged to the ground, Faythe sighed in relief, examining the thick red torn skin.

“You could try to run now there’s no Magestone stopping you. Though I’d recommend waiting at least a few minutes for your magick to stir.”

“You wouldn’t stop me?”

Zaiana shrugged. “I think it would be more entertaining to watch the chaos that would ensue before you were inevitably caught and brought back.”

Faythe couldn’t figure Zaiana out. What she wanted or sought to gain from being here.

She banished the thoughts from her mind, Zaiana was not her concern. Instead Faythe’s attention fell back to the captain, remembering what she needed to attempt to do. Now he was unconscious, would Nightwalking achieve the task better?

Falling asleep on command would be impossible, and she didn’t have much time before someone noticed she hadn’t been returned to her cell and came looking.

Internally, she groaned that she had to ask the dark fae for help without arousing suspicion.

“I don’t suppose you have mercy enough to get me a sleep tonic?”

Zaiana lifted a brow, but she seemed to find her own conclusion without asking. “Who do you want to Nightwalk to?”

She was too damned perceptive for her own good.

“I want to see if my friends are safe while I have this chance,” she lied easily, but once again, Zaiana wasn’t even remotely convinced.

“You’re a fool by many accounts, but you wouldn’t waste such an opportunity for a wellness check.”

“Does it really matter to you?”

“You’re asking the enemy to aid you with the greatest ability you have.” Zaiana crouched on her haunches to level with her.

“You’re not my enemy,” Faythe dared to declare. Zaiana’s cruel smile should have proved her wrong, but Faythe didn’t balk. She added, “You’re no one’s enemy but your own. You’re here, but you’re not wholly working for Marvellas. I don’t know what your agenda is, but it’s not in full allegiance to Marvellas or Dakodas like you want them, maybe even yourself, to believe.”

Zaiana’s smile faltered slowly like a withering black rose. Her eyes tilted down, looking through her with a piercing warning.

The dark fae rose then stalked the few steps to Faythe. What she didn’t anticipate was the quick strike of her hand lashing around her throat, pulling her up. Faythe was pressed against the wall, while the metal guards on Zaiana’s middle and pointer fingers dug into her flesh like the fangs of a serpent.

“This is far quicker than fetching a tonic,” Zaiana said, her voice like sin-filled shadow. Pressure was added through two of Zaiana’s fingers and her thumb at a precise pressure point.

The twin cores of Zaiana’s amethyst eyes were captured in her mind before darkness swallowed her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Faythe

Agloomy gray had begun to darken the white whorls of her subconscious essence, and it started to chase more of the gold away.

Faythe didn’t feel comfort here anymore. She wanted to escape the creeping burden her own mind was becoming. Heavier by the day.

At least she had awoken here and not fallen into some torturous nightmare when Zaiana knocked her unconscious. Faythe was sour about her methods, but she couldn’t be mad when it was exactly what she needed.

“Mine used to look like this too,” Nyte said, his voice a gentle silver disturbance in her quiet void.

She found him standing a few paces away, lifting a hand to swirl it though the gray and gold clouds.

Seeing him here and knowing what she was about to attempt, her nerves began to doubt this plan. Granting the son of her greatest enemy the ability to walk her world as Marvellas did. It could be a trick. Rainyte Ashfyre could instead become a weaponwith his mother, and they wouldn’t stand a chance against them both being reunited.

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