Page 201 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“You can’t swing a sword. And you don’t have onetoswing.”

“I’ll—fuck—” Reylan hissed, a hand rising to his chest.

Faythe began to panic. Her eyes scanned back to the hut. “Atherius can lend some of her magick to help. Let’s just rest for a few hours. Please.”

He followed her line of sight, jaw working with a desire to protest, but to her relief, he nodded.

Faythe bore a lot of his weight as they trekked back through the treacherous weather. Her teeth bashed together violentlywith her adrenaline worn off, and her fatigue made every muscle strain.

Inside, she took them right to the fire still blazing. Reylan sat by it while Faythe collected every blanket and cushion she could from around the quaint little home. The hole Reylan’s body had made in the side wall was the biggest inconvenience now with the nasty draft of bitter, snowy air. Until a large red, feathery barricade blocked it.

“I didn’t think she’d be tolerant of this climate,” Reylan remarked.

“She’s not, but she knows we need her,” Faythe said sadly. She could feel the Firebird’s distress, both for the weather and their pain. Faythe echoed her gratitude back.

Tuning back in to Reylan, she threw a blanket over his shoulders, immediately standing again. She had to find something to clean his wound as best she could.

Faythe stalled when her eyes caught on a picture above the fire. She hadn’t had the time to notice the painting of Marvellas before…and next to her was a man. Human.

This was her first love. The one who’d betrayed her, held her captive, and stolen her blood. He looked so familiar. With blond hair and brown eyes, tall, with a boyish smile. He looked…like Reuben.

Faythe’s fingers touched her mouth with the eerie coincidence. Then she shuddered, realizing this hut must have been their home at some time. Such a humble setting she could never envision the Spirit in.

“Come here,” Reylan said gently.

Faythe slid her eyes to him. “I need to find water…a salve, maybe, or?—”

“Please.”

She couldn’t resist the compulsion in that single word.

Faythe sank to her knees in front of him. He didn’t waste a second in pulling her close. She turned resistant when he tried to nestle her against him.

“Your wound?—”

“Is nothing compared to the ache I have of missing you.”

Faythe melted into him with that.

She felt him. His warmth. His scent. His touch.

“I missed you,” she said in a whisper. “I missed you so much.”

Reylan tipped her chin, coaxing her to look back at him. He was so beautiful, and she was completely taken by him, as if it were the first time. His eyes sparkled now, free from the manipulation of Marvellas. They held her with such devotion her heart swelled too big for her chest.

He kissed her, deep and promising. “You brave, incredible thing,” he muttered against her lips. “I love you with all the defiance in my being against everything that has tried to tear us apart. We may have broken a ruin and condemned the world to the Neither. Now let’s set the heavens ablaze, my Phoenix, and walk through the fires hand in hand.”

PART III

Set The Heavens Ablaze

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Zaiana

Zaiana awoke to a sound that consumed all others. A blast that boomed loud and left an eerie silence in its wake. The ground beneath her rumbled, and Zaiana felt in her core the split of something dark and damning. An imbalance that cracked through their world.

Faythe did it. She broke the ruin.

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