Page 21 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Then a heat of rage slowly crawled across her skin.

Within her, the tether to Reylan that ran through herpulled.It had been so quiet and distant, but at least it was still there. Her bond to Reylan wasn’t claimed, and though she may have been able to find him quicker if it were, the risk of Marvellas being able to break it made her glad they hadn’t had the chance to tie it yet.

“Faythe.” Nik said her name carefully.

Following his line of sight, she caught the gold essence diffusing out from her under palm, which she’d flattened on the table.

When she lifted it, the mark she wore was branded into the wood.

Marvellas’s symbol, flaring brightly for seconds as if it were laughing at its presence here.

Faythe had become more and more sickened by the thought of being of her bloodline. The only time her disgust quelled was when she focused her determination enough to remember, through Faythe, Marvellas would be her own downfall.

“I’m going to kill her,” Faythe said, locking that promise tighter within herself. Then her attention turned to Nik. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “We gave it willingly, knowing neither Marvellas nor Mordecai would trust her with ties to me. We wanted to get Dakodas’s ruin, but it seems that was all wasted planning.”

“What if Dakodas left it with Mordecai for safekeeping in Fenstead?” Faythe suggested.

“I wouldn’t be hopeful about her entrusting the one thing that could kill her to anyone else’s hands,” Kyleer chimed in.

Nerida said, “Technically, it can’t truly be in her hands either. The Spirits can’t hold their own ruins. She would have someone close to her guarding it.”

“Do you think it’s in Rhyenelle then?” Kyleer pondered.

Faythe blanched. “That would mean two of the ruins we need are there.”

“And they have the one person who knows how to use them,” Kyleer added gruffly.

“Zaiana,” Faythe said in answer to the questioning glances of the others. “She’s unparalleled with the amplified power.”

“She’s the only one who can wield them?” Nik asked.

“As far we know. I don’t think she lied about that,” Kyleer admitted reluctantly. He asked her, “I’m trusting you have the Light Temple ruin well-hidden?”

Faythe had hidden it well, but now she was doubting. “I only entrusted one person with the knowledge of where it is, in case anything happened to me.” Faythe’s stomach knotted. “Izaiah.”

Kyleer swore, settling his flash of upset and anger in a castaway glance.

Faythe went on, “He might not have told me his plan, but I don’t believe he’s truly working for them. It doesn’t make any sense. I was barely half-conscious when he took me to the courtyard after the battle was lost, but what he said?—”

“That he’s one step ahead? Hardly a soothing statement that it’s not for the enemy. He could have shapeshifted and come to explain it to me by now,” Kyleer muttered bitterly.

“They’ll be watching him far too closely. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I trust him.”

While he was still dealing with the sting of betrayal from his brother, Kyleer wouldn’t admit Faythe’s declaration eased his tense shoulders.

“Just one ruin grants a powerful upper hand. Right now our greatest enemies are circling around them all. Perhaps we should be devising a plan to infiltrate the castle ourselves to retrieve the Light Temple Ruin,” Faythe said.

“You can’t wield it. Best leave it secured if you’re confident in its location. Marvellas is hunting you, and if she gets you and the ruin, it’ll lose us the war,” Kyleer countered.

“I can use it—I just…don’t have control with it.” She cringed at the memory of such devastating power coursing through her.

“You mean it’s a huge risk to your life to try it,” Nik said. “I remember it nearly costing you your life in High Farrow. There’s no way you’re exposing yourself to that.”

“I was human then.”

Kyleer said, “You could easily become too overpowered in your fae body too. You need someone to teach you how to wield it, or you’re at more risk of it killing you than helping you.”

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