Page 206 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Faythe was afraid to ask, “Where did you hide Marvellas’s ruin after you switched it with Dakodas’s?”

Reylan stiffened under her. “I gave it to Zaiana.”

Faythe’s eyes widened. “Why in the Nether would you give it to her?”

“She knew. The moment we were alone, she asked why Marvellas would plant Dakodas’s ruin and not her own if you were to break it. I had to tell her what I’d done, and then eventually…I don’t think I trustedmyselfnot to tell Marvellas the ruins were switched. I feared she would figure it out, and something about Zaiana felttrustworthy.” He said the last word as if, in his right mind, he now refused that idea profusely.

“She fought for him,” Faythe said, slashed brutally with flashes of vision from the horrifying night in the dome. “Shefought Marvellas and Maverick to try to save Kyleer like I would for you.”

Reylan’s brow creased. “What happened to her for that betrayal?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t say I’d mourn for her.”

“She’s important. I know she is.” Faythe paused, contemplating her thoughts. “Aurialis once said I had to find the teacher who tames the storm. It has to be Zaiana. She’s the only one who can wield the ruin safely. She can teach me.”

Reylan groaned, pulling her with an arm around her waist, until she was sitting sideways against him and he could rest his head on hers. “I wish that weren’t so.”

“Well, I wish you would rest and stop worrying about anything else but yourself right now.”

His body relaxed, and Faythe thought he might actually be caving in to his fatigue.

“Promise you won’t leave for a second without me.”

“So clingy.”

He squeezed her thigh, and Faythe giggled softly, nestling into him more with a contented sigh.

Reylan said, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. Everything I did to you…”

“It wasn’t you.”

“It was me. I can’t explain how that ruin touched the darkest parts of me and dragged them all to the surface. Marvellas may have commanded me to do things, but in that frame of mind I was willing. She stole the parts of you I loved, but no one could erase the pull I will always feel toward you. It made going after you something I wanted more than anything. When I found you, I became obsessed. I could hardly stand it. Every time you were near, I wanted to claim you. I bit you…”

Faythe angled her head back, brushing her lips against the edge of his jaw. “I’ve asked you to do that before.”

“It’s not the same thing, and you know it.”

“I don’t care. I plan for you do it again—on our terms. I’m rather looking forward to it.” She kissed below his ear, delighting in the low sound of desire in his throat.

“You don’t need to bury all that happened. You’re allowed to be angry with me.”

“With you? Never. I’m furious with Malin. I’m livid with Marvellas. I’m going to tear them both from their positions of borrowed power, along with Dakodas and Mordecai.” Faythe shifted up to straddle him again. “And in fact, the way you kissed me with all your darkness hasn’t left my thoughts for a moment.”

Passion swam in the pools of his sapphire irises. “Is that so?”

She spread her thighs wider to feel him beneath her. Reylan made a pained sound, curving his palms over her ass and gripping tight.

“How I wish I could devour you right now,” he said huskily.

Faythe ground her hips against him slowly. “If I can’t convince you to sleep, there are other methods to tire you.”

“This is completely unfair.”

His hard length beneath her sparked pleasure through her core with every pass, but this was about him. With her eyes locked passionately on his, she began to unfasten the ties and button of his pants.

His face twitched in protest and pleasure, but he didn’t stop her. Faythe reached for the length of him, stroking tightly and watching a sleepy lust overcome him as his eyes slipped closed and his head tipped back against the wall.

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