Page 308 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“I am.”

He found the will to turn around, and it hadn’t let go of Tauria’s image. His resentment grew fast and ugly, surging the most determination he’d felt in this place.

“That damn prophesy kept me from her forcenturies.It stole so much time from us I wish I’d never heard it.”

“That’s the curse of knowing one’s fate. Mortals like to think they want to know what lies ahead, that it will grant them a sense of direction, or wisdom of which paths not to take. But the future is not carved in stone. You gain and lose according to which path you take in your own infinite web.”

Did that make life a choice, or an inevitable course?

Nik shook his head. He didn’t care about fate—not anymore.

“Knowing only made me a slave to fear.”

“Exactly. Yet had I told you something of grandeur and triumph, you would have become a slave to greed and impatience. Knowing what is to come serves as a curse either way.”

Vexation twitched his jaw. “How do I get out of here?”

“You have already figured that out.”

“By killing you?”

“There are many who wander through this void in search of something great. Somewhere new. But to Realm-Walk, you must have something of value to offer a God, and hope they will answer your call and grant you passage.”

“I don’t want to Realm-Walk. I have to get back to mine.”

“Then you must kill me, for I was the one to drag you here.”

“Why?”

“Because I once walked into this void willingly, and my call was not answered. It left me trapped here to waste away into thisthing.There are two ways for a Dresair to be freed. If all the mirrors at the gate of passage are shattered when they’re present, that frees them as a faceless creature, cursed to steal others’ identities for the rest of their days. This way, by killingone who wanders through whom I have served before, I will have my old form back. The one I do not remember, nor do I remember from which time or realm I came.”

Nik’s grip tightened on his sword. “Then why haven’t you killed me already?”

“I had to make you weak. I have no skills in combat, nor any weapon. This was the only way I could contend with you.”

He straightened in defense, blinking the tiredness away. Nik was lethargic and would doubt his skills against most opponents, but not this one. He would fight and he would win to make it back to Tauria.

Nik was prepared to lunge, but his vision swayed suddenly, catching on another image of Tauria. Then another. And another. She surrounded him in dozens of copies, so Nik lost track of which was the Dresair to strike.

One lunged for him, and…he couldn’t do it.

All he saw was Tauria’s face, and he could not raise his blade to her. They went crashing to the ground, and he held her off by her wrists that aimed to wrap around his throat.

Confusion battered his mind.

Why were they fighting?

What had he done to inspire such loathing in his mate’s eyes?

“Please, love,” he said through a breath, struggling to hold off her determined strength.

“You should have heeded my warning,king,”she hissed.

Those words slashed through the illusion, and Nik gripped her throat instead, flipping them and straddling her. He choked tighter.

This is the Dresair. Not Tauria.

Not Tauria.

---