Page 311 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“Don’t say that like she has no hope!”

“Nik…” Tauria’s quiet voice dragged his attention to her, and he held her upper body close, careful of the sword as he rocked gently.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so fucking sorry. Be strong for me, okay? I’m going to make this right.”

“I see the beach,” she said.

He pulled back, watching her glazed eyes that held unblinking on the ceiling.

“The one I love…in Fenstead.”

“No. No, no, no, you can’t see the beach yet. We need to see it together. Look at me instead, Tauria, please.”

Nerida and Tarly spoke to each other, but he couldn’t hear them. Tarly’s hands were on Tauria, and he prayed to every God,any God that might hear him, to spare her and reverse his grave mistake.

Her eyes didn’t move, but a tear slipped down the side of her face. Nik kissed her cheek, then her tear, then her mouth.

“You can’t leave me,” he said in a pained choke.

“My favorite moon…is when it’s…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, and Nik was desperate to know.

“When it’s what? Do you want me to guess? I know you too well, Tauria Silverknight. I know the special smile you wear when you look up at the moon and it’s full. Bright in all its glory. You are my full moon, Tauria. I need you.”

Tauria’s brow pulled together and her mouth moved, trying to speak, but no words came. Then her face relaxed slowly, her eyes dulled, and her heart…stopped.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

Tarly

“TARLY!”

The pure devastation in Nik’s yell severed the focus Tarly was gathering, frantically trying to follow Nerida’s guidance to summon the healer’s magick within him.

“I can’t reach it,” he panted, wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve.

“Yes, you can, Tarly! I know you can,” Nerida said, but her tone was equally as panicked.

Tauria wasn’t breathing.

A clink drew his eyes to Tauria’s hand as it fell limp, releasing what she’d held in a tight grip. Tarly’s pulse skipped, swiping the vial before it rolled too far.

He held it up. “She didn’t drink it,” he muttered in disbelief.

The Phoenix Blood swirled with an iridescent sheen within the bottle, and Tarly was transfixed.

You’ll know what to do with it.

Oh, Marlowe…oh, brilliant, spectacular, heroic Marlowe.

She hadn’t given it to him to heal himself, nor for Tauria to reach the cave, as she’d held onto it instead. It had to be for now—the powerful aid he prayed to the forsaken Gods would work to reach his healing magick.

Tarly uncorked the bottle and threw the contents down his throat.

His heart pounded, too aware of every second that slipped by with Tauria’s life hanging in the balance. Nothing felt different…until…

The hand he held on Tauria tingled.

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