Page 320 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Faythe couldn’t believe it. Her stupor was broken by Reylan tugging her.

“When you told me Livia went west to try to get help from Salenhaven, you didn’t mentionthiskind of help,” Reylan said.

“It was a mere gut feeling,” Faythe said, recalling her private conversation with the commander before they’d all gone their separate ways months ago. “Well, not entirely. I remembered a book Agalhor gave me to read about Phoenix migration. It was believed that if they felt themselves under threat, they would always travel west. Rhyenelle may not have been the first ever home of the Phoenixes if they sought a new safe haven here from somewhere else farther east a very long time ago.”

“Loyal creatures,” Livia commented, smoothing a hand down the Firebird’s feathers. “There aren’t many species that would stick together like that. They all migrate together.”

Except for Atherius. Faythe retrieved the egg before they mounted Livia’s Firebird.

Reylan sat behind Faythe, holding her tightly. She relaxed into him, letting her body and mind calm just for a moment as they took to the skies.

“I expected to meet you in High Farrow,” Reylan said. “When Faythe told me of your venture west, I was worried.”

“I knew you would be, which is why I asked her not to tell you,” Livia said playfully.

“The months by boat were awful,” Samara said, earning a chuckle from Livia, who ran her hand along Samara’s arm.

“What happened with Lord Zarrius?” Faythe asked.

Samara answered, “It was easy to get him into bed and kill him.”

The way she delivered this news was factual, her features expressionless. But Faythe thought it was only a disguise for how the deed would haunt Samara.

Faythe reached out a hand to squeeze her arm. “You’re incredibly brave.”

“I wish I could have done it myself ten times over,” Livia said, a hateful note to her voice.

Faythe couldn’t help but notice their mannerisms. Sure, they were forced to hold onto each other while Livia rode, but there was a new comfort between them, an ease in the way Samara wasn’t shy to subtly drift her touch over Livia or lean her cheek to her back. It made Faythe smile.

Reylan told Livia where they needed to go, and Faythe rallied her bravery and resilience to take Marvellas down once and for all to save Marlowe’s brave and brilliant soul.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE

Faythe

Faythe was horror-stricken to fly over High Farrow. The enemy had infiltrated right through the outer town, and the screams of the people rang through her senses. Smoke billowed from buildings she’d passed countless times in her youth. Her neighbors fought for their homes and their lives. The only hope to shine through her despair was to notice that High Farrow and Rhyenelle forces were holding strong against the enemy as they tore through the streets. The wall around Caius City hadn’t been breached.

They fought several dark fae in the skies to get to the hills of Farrowhold. Landing, war pounded in her chest with a strong urge to join the fighting in the town.

“They’ve advanced far quicker than we anticipated,” Faythe said.

Reylan replied, “The enemy is always uncertain. We can’t be sure what went wrong or what intel might have been miscalculated, but what I’m confident of is that our generalsknow how to adapt. They’re leading strong, though it may not look like it.”

Faythe nodded, trusting his judgment. She had no choice but to turn away from the cries of battle tearing through her childhood home and face the Eternal Woods. It would all be for nothing if Marvellas succeeded.

They raced through the woodland, passing the waterfall clearing and heading straight to the temple. Breaking past the tree line, Faythe stumbled to a halt.

Jakon stood by Marlowe’s headstone, his stance squared and a dagger aimed to protect it with his life.

Because Marvellas was here, standing off with him. A human against a Spirit with immense power even with one Aetherbond. Yet Jakon stood bravely, without a single tremble to his firm stance, and with the determination and rage of an army in his stare.

“If you hurt him…” Faythe had to pause with the dizzying adrenaline and rush of rage that pulsed through her to protect Jakon. “I won’t kill you. No. That would be too merciful. I’ll bind you in this second Aetherbond and keep you alive for worse torture than your first lover put you through.”

Marvellas’s golden eyes flashed with that. It was a deplorable thing to use, but Faythe had no kindness left.

“You will all die at the end of this. Who goes a little earlier depends on who is standing in my way.”

Her attention slipped back to Jakon defending Marlowe’s headstone. Marvellas must need to get to it to drag Marlowe’s soul out of the very core of these woods and destroy it.

---