Page 154 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Though he said it in humor, Faythe was fierce as she said, “You meant more to all of us than you know.”

Bittersweet joy pulled at his expression. His eyes glistened, but before tears could form, he straightened his posture.

“You can’t linger here, and we have to make sure you don’t return. I’m so glad I got to see you again, but you can’t join me. Do what you have to do, Faythe. Follow your heart and trust you can rise from the ashes you will burn. Nothing is without sacrifice.”

Faythe pulled Caius to her again. Her arms tightened when her body began to feel too light to stay grounded, and she wasn’t ready to let him go. To lose him all over again.

“I’m still with you. In here, remember,” he said, reaching between them and tapping her heart.

Faythe cried freely, grieving for him all over again and filled with terror to return to her world with the choice she had to make.

“Thank you for being my friend,” Faythe choked.

Caius turned to sand in her arms, and a breeze swept in to take him away from her. She didn’t get to drown in her sorrow when a sudden wave of dizziness slammed into her, sending her crashing to the ground. The sheet of water had turned into a deep lake, which she plummeted into.

He eyes flew open, and her body jerked up in the opposite direction to the one she was being pulled in. Faythe panted hard, shivering violently.

She was soaked in ice water, but drowning she was not. The shock of the frozen water lashed her consciousness to clear faster, and she found Zaiana staring down at her, an empty bucket in her hands. They met wide-eyed stares, and Faythe had never seen suchpanicwithin the purple depths.

Her expression quickly shifted to absolute rage, and Faythe jerked when she dropped the bucket and crouched, seething at Faythe.

“You arenotallowed to die,” she snapped.

Faythe blinked, not expecting that to be her reprimand.

“After all this, you don’t get to leave this gods-forsaken world so pitifully, so get up and get yourself together.”

Her teeth bashed together as Faythe rolled onto her hands and knees. She almost left her dignity behind to crawl toward the blazing fire across the cabin, but Zaiana was right. She was being pitiful. So Faythe forced herself to stand, limping over to it.

She cast her sight over her shoulder to Reylan while she warmed her body.

“Did I come close?” Faythe asked Zaiana.

“I think so,” Zaiana grumbled, watching her with a sour glare. “When I can hardly stand the sound of it, the feeling of it clawing at my skin, that’s when you must be close to splitting it apart. Your heart stopped before you could push your magick a final time and win.”

She’d come so close. Faythe recalled her vision of Caius with a heavy heart. Was what he’d said true? Had Faythe yielded right at the last moment before it broke without realizing? A piece of her subconscious hesitating out of morality.

Zaiana studied her intently, and it was like she could read Faythe’s thoughts. “You’re two halves of a whole—that’s always been insufferably clear,” she said. “Save him and damn what comes after. You can figure out the rest together.”

Faythe’s burden lifted off her shoulders a fraction as she slipped her attention back to Reylan, who kneeled with his back to her. She watched the fire glisten off his map of scars, aching to have him back so much her soul had been slowly dying ever since they were parted in Rhyenelle.

“I’ll try again,” she said.

“Not today.” Marvellas’s voice came from the shadows. When the darkness cleared to reveal the Spirit, Faythe didn’t think her body would ever stop seizing with dread. “Look at you, my dear. You need to replenish your strength. It’s no matter. It gives usmore time together before the next part begins when the ruin is broken.”

Her teeth gritted when Marvellas extended a palm toward her, wanting to steal her away from Reylan again. Faythe’s heart cried at having to move toward the Spirit and leave him here bound and alone until she could return.

“Can’t I stay with him? I’ll rest here and try again.”

Marvellas’s darkening gaze spoke of her impatience, Faythe reluctantly crossed, and Magestone was clamped around her wrists—a measure to contain her magick enough until she was taken to have it embedded into her flesh again. Sparing a last look at Reylan, she was taken away in a plume of smoke.

Back in the castle, they didn’t get far before Captain Daegal fell back a step from Marvellas, following like an obedient dog. He cast Faythe a disdainful sidelong glance, but she didn’t react to it. His presence reminded Faythe of her theory with Nyte—their agreement for Faythe to try to plant the thread of his consciousness into Daegal instead.

Her pulse skipped at the thought. If she waited for the right moment when they removed her Magestone chains, she would have a chance to try. Hopefully, she had enough strength to attempt it.

They brought her to a chamber, where a stone chair appeared to be crafted from the ground. Marvellas usually took away her pain, but still, they strapped her down in case the Spirit wasn’t feeling merciful or Faythe rebelled.

She held out her wrists to Captain Daegal, who held the key to her shackles. He glared at her with the desire to hurt her swirling in his brown eyes. Faythe couldn’t muster her usual glower back.

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