Page 309 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Yet her eyes filled with so much terror that he let go, stumbling to his feet and backing away in horror over what he was doing.

“Tauria, I’m so sorry?—”

She stood, wheezing for breath and pinning him with a look of stunned betrayal. Until she let go of the act and a cruel smile split her lips.

Not Tauria.

Not Tauria.

Nik yelled into the void, his mind splitting apart.

He was grabbed from behind, recognizing her lavender scent as his back was bent back awkwardly by the hook of her elbow around his throat.

“Poor Nikalias,” she taunted in his ear. “Pining for years. Missing out on the many joyous centuries you could have had together.”

He would never regret anything more in his life. Nik had thought he was saving Tauria by pushing her away; that the wicked prophesy would not come to pass if they never bonded. It had all been lost time, but he swore to make it up to her for the rest of their long lives together.

With a pained cry, he had no choice but to twist, hooking his arm back and ducking to throw the Dresair over his shoulder. When he straightened, he was met with another dozen images of her.

The one in front of him wore amusement that crawled his skin. “It’s time for the best part,” it taunted.

A new sensation crept along his nape, making him believe the one in front of him was not the one to strike and make it out of here. Nik chose to spin around, driving his blade through the gut of the one behind him.

Tauria’s eyes flew wide, and she choked. It felt soreal.Nik waited for the illusion to break and the Dresair to change into its true faceless form now he’d won.

He’d struck the Dresair true.

Nothing changed.

Every perfect contour of her face remained exactly the same.

“Nik,” Tauria choked. Her hand wrapped around his forearm still holding the mighty Farrow Sword, now plunged through her abdomen.

Her heart slammed in his chest, and he shook his head. Sweat beaded down his face.

Not Tauria.

Not Tauria.

This was what he had to do to make it back to her. He had to kill the Dresair.

Her knees buckled, and Nik wrapped an arm around her, lowering them both. She looked down at the wound with pain and terror-stricken eyes.

“I-I found you,” she said.

A ringing filled his ears.

I found you.

No. This was another trick. It had to be. Tauria wasn’t here.

Her hand rose to his face, and he trembled stiffly.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “This wasn’t really you.”

It was him. Of course it was him.

“Tauria.” He said her name in a trance, hoping he wasn’t really holding her right now. That in all his days of chase and torment, wishing she were real, that this time she wasn’t.

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