Page 166 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Gus smiled pleasantly before shifting past him and making off in the direction Marlowe had gone, back to her area for making the potions, he suspected. Then he tensed, wondering if he should follow when he realized…did Gus have the same magick to spell the potions too? Had his offering of allegiance with his ship and crew been of the least interest to Malin compared to this skill that would rapidly advance the production of Phoenix Blood?

Izaiah didn’t know what to do if it were true. How to stop him without suspicion. He couldn’t kill Gus, though the thought crossed his mind.

“Change of plan for today?” Tynan pondered as if reading Izaiah’s contemplation.

“For now, no,” he said, still mulling over the possibilities—everything Gus could potentially do here that could truly work against them. “But we could use that little darkling of yours to keep an eye on him.”

“Since when did we turn into a team?”

Izaiah ignored that, clapping a hand to his back before walking off. “Study in an hour,” he reminded him over his shoulder.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Nikalias

Nik kept his back pressed to a wall in the shadows, only curving his head around the corner to scout the street in Fenstead. It was thanks to Lycus they’d made it this far so efficiently despite the dark fae that crawled through the kingdom. The Fenstead general navigated them through inconspicuous routes to get them to the heart of the kingdom.

He could see the castle from here. Its tall spires still stood as a proud beacon of grace despite the darkness that smothered these once prosperous and peaceful lands.

Nik’s soul yearned to get there, and he hoped with every fiber of his being that Tauria was within her castle, waiting for him.

“Is that…?” Lycus let his thought trail off, then the general slipped out of hiding, darting across the wide street and into a narrow alley.

Nik swore, having no choice but to follow him.

He had to jog after Lycus, whose attention had latched onto something. No—someone,considering their chase. Nik only wished he would confer his motives. When Nik heard signs of astruggle, he picked up pace, skidding around the next corner of the back-alley paths he’d lost sight of Lycus in.

Nik drew his sword, but his mind prepared to breach the assailant Lycus was engaged in a struggle with. It took him a second to distinguish the general from the other male clad fully in black, hidden by mask and hood, like them. The pair were of similar build and fought with hands alone.

Before Nik had to intervene, Lycus’s hood slipped down as he threw the assailant over his shoulder, ending the fight. Nik advanced, pointing his sword at the assailant’s chest for extra measure.

“Old age is getting to you, Lord Berron,” Lycus commented in far too friendly a manner, and Nik suffered emotional whiplash.

Lycus pushed up from pinning the male down with a knee on his chest, then his hand reached down in offering.

Lord Berron’s dark brown eyes shifted warily to the tip of Nik’s sword.

“He’s a friend. A trusted adviser of Tauria’s father,” Lycus explained.

Nik wasn’t so quick to trust. “And where does his loyalty lie now, after all this time?”

“With my queen,” Berron answered with a hint of irritation that his allegiance was being questioned.

Nik reluctantly sheathed his sword, and Berron was helped up by Lycus.

“You look like you’re in hiding,” Lycus commented.

“I have been since the kingdom fell. It’s been a long century, but by Gods, is it a relief to see a familiar face. Another strong pillar in Fenstead’s primary defense.”

Lycus and Berron’s hands clapped together before they pulled each other into an embrace. Nik began to relax. He trusted the general would know if Berron was being untruthful.

“You could have fled to Rhyenelle with us. There we rebuilt a strong army. Not the numbers we once had, but our soldiers have been training tirelessly, knowing their objective would be to reclaim this kingdom someday.”

“Yet you come alone,” Berron said, careful with his bitterness. The lord’s eyes skimmed over Nik. “And so does the King of High Farrow. So I assume you have not come to aid us but to take our queen, who has only just returned.”

Nik said, “Tauria is here?”

Berron nodded, and all the tension that had been growing in Nik the whole journey to Fenstead didn’t deflate—it sharpened into determination as he cast his sight up in the direction of the castle. He couldn’t see it from the high walls of this alley, but Tauria was so close it took everything in him not to abandon all strategy and reason to march right through the front door to get to her.

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