Page 312 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“Tell me again,” he demanded of Nerida.

She told him what to reach for it within himself, how healing was like the union of air and water—fluid yet vital. He felt the well within him begin to open, but it wasn’t enough. He needed more—so much more—to conquer this impossible task

“I’m going to remove the blade. Keep pushing all you can into that wound to stop the bleeding and start knitting the skin,” Nerida said.

She was such a calm and brilliant teacher despite their collective grief and urgency.

“Her heart…” Nik croaked, holding her head to his chest.

Tarly had to shut out Nik’s soul-tearing cries.

“There are a few moments in which the body shuts down but a life force can still be felt within. How long varies per person. You have to keep sealing the wound, but I need you to divide your magick and search for the thread of her life,” Nerida instructed.

She pulled the blade out slowly, and Tarly gritted his teeth. The flow of her blood broke out again just as he felt like he was getting it under control. It was like holding a sphere of water and trying to seal the cracks that split too fast.

He couldn’t let Tauria die.

“I killed her,” Nik whispered, absolutely haunted.

“Keep yourself together,” Tarly snapped. Nik was threatening his focus.

“Youhaveto find her life thread,” Nerida urged.

Tarly gritted his teeth. His whole body trembled and slicked. His first test of magick was far beyond what he should be capable of thanks to the Phoenix Blood. If there was consequence…he didn’t care. Saving Tauria was worth anything. He pushed into the well of magickdeeperwith a pained cry.

“You’re doing incredible,” Nerida said, placing her hand over his in comfort.

It helped. Having Nerida there, he could pretend it was both of them working magick within Tauria. He wasn’t alone with her life in his hands.

Tarly closed his eyes and focused on finding the thread. He saw darkness and many threads, but they were all gray and snapped, floating within an empty space.

“The life thread is silver,” Nerida said gently into his ear. “It will be severed too, but if you can reach it, there’s a chance to reattach it, and the rest will follow.”

Tarly pushed himself through the decaying web of Tauria’s life. When the first flicker of anything bright caught his eye, he surged for it.

“I-I think I found it,” he said. Then he frowned when he reached it. “It’s gold.”

Nerida gasped. “The mating thread.”

She stood suddenly, and Tarly gripped hold of the golden thread before he risked slipping his eyes open to see what she was doing. Nerida cut Nik’s palm without asking and placed it over the wound.

Tarly jerked at the rush of energy that attacked him.

“Hold on, Tarly,” she said, coming back around and dropping beside him. “The mating thread can bring her back if you can join it to Nik’s severed thread. It’s a miracle it’s still there, really.It would have died completely eventually, after being severed by Marvellas, but some bonds are particularly stubborn. But Nik…”

Nik’s red, tear-stained eyes met hers.

She said, “By doing this, it might bring her back, but only because it will link your life thread to what’s left of hers as the only way to save her. It means if one of you die, both will die. There will be no other loophole, no other possibility to bring one or both back, when you only have half a life thread each.”

“Do it,” Nik said without hesitation.

Nerida nodded.

“I can’t hold it much longer. The resistance is growing.”

“We have thirty seconds at most. Find the other half of the gold thread. Nik’s half. With his blood in her, Tauria’s should help guide you toward it.”

Tarly listened. Instead of pulling on the gold thread, desperate for it not to slip out of his grasp, he relaxed and let it guide him.

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