Page 336 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“To keep humans as blood sources and fae as slaves.”

“That is your narrative, your viewpoint, not mine. The one with the will to make the harshest judgments for the most efficient and powerful order will always be viewed as the villain. I am at peace with that.”

There was no reasoning with an unfeeling monster. Faythe wasn’t trying to change her mind, only buying time to recharge her magick. Even with the Ruin Dagger, Dakodas was too powerful an opponent, and Faythe was struggling.

She just had to get close enough…tap into the source of Aurialis’s power that still lived deep within her, but for all her crimes, it was like it refused to open up to her.

A loud cry pierced the sky, and Faythe’s head whipped around, believing she had to have mistaken the Phoenix call.

She hadn’t.

Red Firebirds, perhaps a dozen of them, flew in a formation that painted a blazing horizon, heading their way.

Her heart beat full for the first time, in complete awe of the Phoenixes that flew over the battlefield, aiding their side.

Livia had made it across the sea…and it was true that the Firebirds lived on in Salenhaven. In all her grief and tiredness, it was truly a gift to watch history return in both the aid from their faraway western neighboring continent, and in the triumphant inferno of Phoenixfyre that lit up against the darkest hour.

In Faythe’s distraction, she was vulnerable.

The attack of darkness that hit Faythe stole the air from her lungs and removed her from gravity until she slammed into something hard and fell to the ground.

The shadows animated before she could roll off her back, and they began flooding into her body.

The shadows surged down her throat, slithering like snakes through her ears, and her nose too. Her body arched off the ground. She could hardly feel with the force that was burning, but not like any flame she knew, and all she could think of wasShadowfyre.Darkness that scorched icily, expanding within her. Faythe silently screamed at an agony so overwhelming it took her from that realm entirely, placing her in an endless void of torture that only begged for death.

Death.

Death.

It was all she craved with the tiny slices over every internal organ that spilled blood freely, over and over.

In her misery, it broke only by small notes that kept her wanting to fight it.

Sapphire. Silver. Him.

Her losses made her want to let go. Maybe she would get to be with Jakon and Marlowe again and leave this world behind, like a nightmare they’d all escaped together.

Sapphire. Silver. Him.

Reylan was a light bright enough for her to want to stay despite the desolation. That kept her fighting to stay in a world that kepthurting.

Faythe thought she felt him, but her consciousness was hanging on by a thread.

In the depth of the shadows that devoured her internally, a sun burst to life. Faythe threw all her fading energy toward it, reaching back for it to pull her to the surface as the only way to survive.

The last essence of Aurialis was her only hope.

She touched it, then gripped it, allowing it to cast away the darkness, replacing the shadows with pure blazing light through her veins.

“Stay with me.” Reylan’s beautiful voice cut through her drifting mind, offering a thread for her to reach for and stay grounded through the raging vessel of power she became.

Faythe blinked at the night sky before she pushed up, coughing violently through her throat, which felt filled with ash and smoke.

Faythe clung to the warmth and safety that wrapped around her body, but panic thrummed in her chest.

Dakodas was here. Reylan was in danger.

That thought forced her back to full awareness until she found his deep blue eyes searching hers.

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