Page 87 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“I’m sure they’d be kicking themselves knowing they trusted you, only for you to abandon them and spill their movements to their enemy,” she hissed.

“Are you though…? Their enemy?”

“Yes,” she snapped. “I almost killed Kyleer and would have killed Faythe’s father.”

“But you didn’t.”

He was prodding at dangerous nerves that would have awakened her lightning by now. Then the reminder of her silenced magick turned her emotions even uglier, and her hand itched for her knife. She couldn’t kill him; the Spirits would likely killherfor the waste of one of their precious royals.

She stormed out of the cell and slammed it shut. Curling a hand around a bar, she fixed him with an ice-cold stare.

“I’ll be sure to let them all know you’re the one who gave them up when I find them.”

“Doesn’t sound like the Sprits have confidence in you for that task.”

Her grip tightened as she shook with restraint not to open that damn door and slit his throat.

Zaiana forced herself to walk away.

Anger and torment and humiliation pulsed in every step. She didn’t know where she was going, but she was done being idle. Undermined. Left to reel in the aftermath of her failure. Walking these halls, it were as if the ghost of Faythe laughed in every shadow.

They may have both gone down in that final blast, but the heir was out there, still fighting and powerful, while Zaiana was starting to feel as caged as she had been under the mountain. She had to get out of here.

She had to finish what she’d started…and capture Faythe Ashfyre.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Faythe

Shortly after everyone had gone their separate ways, Faythe suffered their absence in the core of her stomach, both fearing for and rooting for them all to be safe and achieve their tasks.

When they’d awoken before parting, one person was unaccounted for. They’d waited until midday in case he’d gone hunting or to bathe, but Tarly Wolverlon never returned. Faythe’s heart ached for Nerida, who’d hardly spoken a word to anyone and tried to shield her upset over his disappearance.

They’d offered Nerida to stay with them instead, but the healer was adamant to go to Lakelaria in search of a cure for Tarly even though he’d abandoned her and the prospect. So Faythe had called Atherius, and the Firebird had taken her friend across the sea.

Faythe spied with Kyleer, inconspicuous on a rooftop with a view overlooking the enemy camp in Fenher. They hadn’t sighted the general again, and the Eye of the Phoenix hadn’t given a single flare in the Ember Sword Faythe chose to carry.Anxiety crawled through her bones every passing day. What if he never returned here and she’d missed her one and only chance?

“You’d better not be cheating with that intense stare you have,” Kyleer said, snapping Faythe from her thoughts.

Kyleer had stolen a deck of cards from an inn and insisted they play to relieve the boredom while they scouted. Faythe eyed her fan then the rows of cards between them. He was beating her to an embarrassing degree. Usually, she was excellent at this game, but as she’d warned him, her attention was hardly focused.

She couldn’t stop glancing at the ruby pommel on her hip, mistaking every slight glare of sunlight against it for a signal the other eye was close. Then she would scan over the tents and bodies they could see from here one by one, as if she might find the general anyway.

Faythe placed down a card that gained her nothing.

Kyleer gloated as he placed his next, which won him the game easily.

“I like to win, but this is just sad,” he said, gathering the cards.

She hated to lose, even when she knew she deserved it.

Faythe huffed, throwing down her cards and rubbing her face. She’d run out of the sleeping tonic Nerida had provided her with, and the nights were once again restless.

“Shit,” Kyleer muttered, dropping the cards so they flurried back to the rooftop.

Faythe’s heart leapt, sights immediately targeting the ruby stone that finally glowed. Her hand smothered the flare, but they both scanned the field wildly.

She said, “We should go down. It’ll shine in the right direction, and we can follow.”

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