Page 176 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“I was rescued from him—and from all those who’d worked with him and held me captive for centuries—by the Prince of Rhyenelle. I was still bound in the manacles, and we were searching for a way to release me. But they were forged in dark magick. I met an Oracle, who foretold that to be free of them I had to lose that which was most precious to me. Then I found out I was pregnant, and for a while I didn’t care how mortally bound I was in those manacles. I gave birth to a son—a fae this time. I loved my daughter for the decade he allowed me to keep her. Then she was taken from me, and two centuries passed. I only knew she’d gotten to live a full life and had her own daughters. I became aware of rumors of the gold-eyed children once I was freed. I was glad for that at least, but I couldn’t bear to seek any of them out, for they were only a reminder of the motherhood I’d lost. Then my fae son…the moment he was born, I could feel how powerful he would become. I loved him more than I thought myself capable of loving anything.”

Faythe dropped her eyes with the weight of the story. How a terrible, terrible turn was about to happen. Her sight flicked sideways to where Nyte had turned his back to them, his fists clenched tightly by his sides.

“I remember…” Faythe shook her head with the threads of memory she didn’t think she would ever fully grasp from her soul’s past. “I think Aesira knew where he was. Not in this realm.”

The comb paused in Faythe’s hair, and her heart skipped a beat.

“No, he is not,” Marvellas confirmed, starting a new braid. “The prince took the only thing I ever treasured truly in this world, assuming I would kill my son to break the manacles, since he was most precious to me. Do you believe me when I say that I would never have been capable of it?”

Faythe’s heart squeezed. “You killed me—or at least you planned to.”

“I don’t know if I would have gone through with it,” she confessed. Marvellas stood, wandering over to a jewelry box. “In taking my son beyond where I could search five hundred years ago, I did lose him. The prophesy was fulfilled. When my manacles released and my power was freed, all I had left was vengeance. My downfall started with human greed—when one who claimed to love me had tricked me and used my blood to make himself and others fae—so it was there I would begin. I visited the same Oracle as before. He told me I would need the help of another powerful entity like myself, but he warned such an alliance could turn to betrayal just as fast. So I planned to Ascend my sister, Dakodas, who was the only one who understood my choices. I needed Dakodas’s help to assume a mortal form, but Aurialis would never help in the same way as Dakodas. She always has been insufferably obsessed with her duty. But there was another way for Dakodas to gain a mortal form, which the Oracle showed me.”

Marvellas returned, holding up one red earring, then a sparkling blue sapphire, reminding Faythe of Reylan with apainful stab in her chest. The Spirit chose the red, fitting them on Faythe’s ears.

“To sacrifice one of your bloodline?” Faythe guessed to continue the tale.

“Not just any. My bloodline had long since been diluted from the human girl I gave birth to. So for the Ascension, it would take one who would come close to that purity. The offspring of a bloodline-blessed paired with a direct descendant.”

“Aesira,” Faythe concluded.

“Yes. Your soul is just as fierce as it was in that life. I captured Aesira’s mother and kept her under the mountain, and I killed her father, but I did not intend to form the attachment I did to Aesira. To you. You were so bright, joyous. You loved me back in the way I’d always dreamed of, but you were human, with such a fragile amount of time. When you came into adulthood at sixteen, I Transitioned you with my blood to keep you alive long enough to ascend Dakodas as I’d planned. But you became everything I hoped I would have found in my son. Light in my days when I was still making movements for the war I had started, using Valgard as the driving force. We were happy, and for a while, I thought we would conquer together, and I wouldn’t need Dakodas.”

The cool metal of the necklace she adorned Faythe with next was sharp compared to the heat of her skin from the adrenaline. The story of Marvellas was unfolding in Faythe’s mind with terrifying clarity. Images that should have been monochrome were given color, perhaps from some influence in her soul. Never full memories, but she could imagine it all so vividly as Marvellas spoke of their history.

“You said she died from a battle,” Faythe prompted.

“Yes, and I mourned deeply. I found you dying from three arrow wounds next to Reylan. The two of you looked a perfect picture of tragedy on that battlefield. I tried to warn you hewould only bring you pain, but you would not listen. I knew of another use for your life when it was far too late to save you, and I was so angry, so impatient, that I used the last of your life to raise Mordecai Vesaria, the dark fae king who led the Dark Age. He might have failed in that conquest all that time ago, but I was hopeful he could amass and lead a great dark fae army for me. Your life force was a sacrifice to raise the dead, and I held onto your soul.”

Faythe watched her own lost and broken expression in the mirror. None of what Marvellas said felt real, but she couldn’t deny it touched her deep inside.

“Why did you bring me back?” she asked quietly.

“Your soul was fading in me. I was running out of time. So I planted the essence of a mating bond within your mother—a descendant of mine—for Agalhor to become compelled to her. Perhaps it was petty of me to wish pain upon him for what his brother had done, but aside from that, he was known as one of the most powerful Nightwalkers to have ever lived, and I needed you as strong as possible for Dakodas’s Ascension on the millennium eclipse. I vowed this time I would not fall for you. When I first sensed Lilianna had finally conceived, all that was left to do was plant your soul before another could manifest. At first I thought I would leave Lilianna and Agalhor to raise their child until the time would come for me to take her. Until Lilianna Aklinsera stole you away. She went to High Farrow, because it’s where Aurialis’s temple is, and with her help, you remained masterfully untraceable to me.”

Wetness trailed down Faythe’s cheeks, but she made no sound. It was twisted, what Marvellas had done, but all her actions were crafted in heartbreak. Faythe was merely the unfortunate soul to have been caught in it all.

“I’m sorry all of that happened to you,” she said, and she meant it.

Marvellas gave Faythe’s arms a gentle squeeze as she leaned in, her smile warm and motherly, and it was jarring tofeelitin her chest.

“I didn’t expect you come back after you were killed for Dakodas. So how can I not see this as destiny finally leaning in my favor? All that came before can be forgotten, because we will rule together,be together, for eternity.”

Despite knowing the truth, Faythe would never lose sight of the end that had to come. Marvellas had to die, and Faythe despised her for all she’d done. That would never change.

Faythe met her eye in the mirror and immediately wished she hadn’t.

Marvellas seized the connection to unfold images in Faythe’s mind. Old, old memories that Faythe knew didn’t belong to her. This wasn’t her life.

Aesira’s joy was so genuine with Marvellas. They laughed, enjoying the simple pastime of brushing her hair, just as she was doing with Faythe now.

Faythe’s hands slammed to the dresser as she stood, her breathing heavy as she tried to expel those memories.

It was not her.It is not me.

Even with that settling in her heart again, Faythe was overcome with sadness for young Aesira, who’d had no knowledge she was in the arms of her captor.

“You murdered her parents to take her,” Faythe said. “That is not love.”

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