Page 340 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“I’ve missed you,” Faythe said, pushing to drift closer until she could pull her friend into an embrace.

“I’ve missed you too,” Marlowe said gently. Her hug was so soft. It was peace.

“I’m so glad my death brought me back to you.”

Marlowe smiled when they pulled away. Faythe didn’t feel when it happened, but she was distracted by a compulsion to look down, wiggling her toes through fresh grass now.

Surveying their new surroundings, she realized they were in the Eternal Woods. A bubble of humor grew inside her. She hadn’t escaped a fate tied to this place in the afterlife after all. It didn’t matter. If this was where Marlowe’s spirit now roamed, it was exactly where Faythe wanted to be too.

“Reylan knows what to do after your sacrifice. The window is very short, but he’ll make it.”

Faythe frowned, turning back to her friend. “Reylan?”

Marlowe walked to the wide lake by the waterfall. The yucolites chased each other, and Faythe missed the serene sight of them. With a skip in her chest, Faythe noticed only her own reflection cast in the water, but Marlowe was right beside her.

Tears welled in her eyes. “I have to say goodbye, don’t I?”

Marlowe’s arm looped around hers, and she leaned her head on Faythe’s shoulder. “You have to live your life, but I’ll always be here. We both will be.”

Faythe sobbed. “Jak?”

Marlowe didn’t answer.

“I failed you both. I miss you both so much. I don’t know how I’ll go on without you.”

“Then you haven’t failed us. We all paid prices in this war for the better world that is dawning now.”

“Your price isn’t fair.”

“Nothing in life or death is about fairness. It’s about choices. Actions and consequences. Safety and risks. The beauty and fear of the unknown.”

Faythe turned to her dear friend, reaching a hand to her delicate face. She felt so real Faythe couldn’t stop her tears from pouring, wanting so desperately to stay here but also return to the living.

“Do I have a choice?” Faythe asked.

“You’re making it right now.”

She could hardly blink away her tears fast enough to cling to the image of Marlowe for as long as possible.

“I’m so sorry,” she could barely choke out.

“It’s time for your reign, Faythe. The world has been waiting for it. It’s my privilege to have played a part in the history that will live on for millennia.”

“You won’t be forgotten. Never.”

Marlowe smiled. “Then I am never truly gone.”

Faythe felt the scene drifting away like a dream she held onto desperately.

Was it even real?

Faythe’s mind would never be certain, but her heart was.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE

Reylan

Dakodas was defeated, but he didn’t take a breath of relief nor celebrate a beat of triumph.

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