Page 233 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“You have me,” Faythe said to provoke him further. “Dearcousin.”

“Everything would have been better if you’d just stayed away,” he spat.

Faythe couldn’t deny she’d thought that often herself, but those were the weak and cowardly sentiments of the woman she killed long ago.

Nyte approached, and Reylan intercepted him.

“After all my help in your escape from Lakelaria, you still don’t trust me?”

“One act doesn’t make you an ally. You’re her son.”

“I’m as much her son as your mate is her daughter.”

There was a twisted truth in that. Much as Nyte was her direct blood, Faythe was more kin by unfortunate experience.

Faythe said, “If you came to stand in my way, I’ll kill you before I do him.”

Nyte’s attention fell on Malin behind her. Reylan glanced over his shoulder, and Faythe gave a nod for him to let Nyte approach.

She kept her laser focus on him. So far, Nyte had acted in their favor, but she couldn’t let go of her doubt that he could turn on them all if he saw a benefit for himself.

Nyte silently assessed Malin in every step, and Faythe backed away a few steps to let the estranged brothers meet before they were parted permanently.

“He was never worth this,” Nyte said, his voice reducing to a personal level. “Our father is no one worth proving yourself to. That’s why you sought power, status, isn’t it? He abandoned you, and what else were you to believe other than that he saw you as weak and unworthy of his attention?”

“My father is dead,” Malin growled, but Nyte’s words were making their mark.

“No. He left you for the pursuit of something greater. Tocreatesomething greater. And he did… He created me.”

Malin’s hands lashed out, and Nyte could have maneuvered out the way, but he let Malin push him. Faythe had watchedthe Prince of Rhyenelle crumble more every second since she’d arrived.

“Who are you?” Malin seethed.

“Doesn’t matter,” Nyte said, barely audible, as if he were reflecting on something or someone else in this moment. “There is only one way for you to find peace. You know this too. You’ve fought for too long and never truly for yourself, brother. I hope you find solace in the next life.”

“NO—” Faythe’s magick slammed into Nyte at the first glint of steel that caught her eye.

Nyte thought to take his life swiftly. To grant Malinmercy.Faythe wasn’t ready for him to die so quickly.

Nyte was thrown back, but Faythe spun to Malin, finding him on his knees clutching the deep wound on his throat, which poured crimson over his pale complexion.

“You do not get to die yet,” Faythe growled, kneeling and pressing her hands over his wound. She pushed her magick into it, which wasn’t as effective as a healer’s ability, but she chanted in her mind for it to sustain him.

Malin wasn’t Nyte’s kill. He wasn’t even Faythe’s, much as she itched for it. This kill was Jakon’s to avenge his wife.

He should have joined them soon after with the courtyard clear, and Faythe grew concerned for him.

“The council is gathered, you-your High-Majesty,” the fae lord from before informed them in a nervous stumble.

Faythe glanced up at Reylan, who knew without speaking what she needed. She straightened as Reylan gripped the back of Malin’s collar, dragging him choking on his blood out the back entrance. Faythe spared one lethal warning glare for Nyte, who was still peeling himself off the ground. The impact she’d thrown at him had slammed his body to the stone hard enough to form a deep dent of crumbling stone.

She would have to deal with him later.

In the council room, the deep mahogany table was full of familiar judgmental faces. As Reylan dragged in Malin, Faythe pulled out the head seat, but she didn’t take it. Instead, Reylan hauled Malin up onto it.

Faythe slipped the crown off her head, placing it in front of him on the table, while she took in the horrified faces of every council member who’d turned their backs on her.

“Since the beginning, most of you have resisted my being here. You’ve questioned me, tested me, despite your king’s faith in me. Now you’ve been loyal to his killer, and I can’t have traitors on my council when I take this kingdom back.”

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