Page 227 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Those two words conflicted her, but her resolve hardened.

“If you had your memories, you wouldn’t. Trust me.”

This time, when she pulled her arm, Nyte let her go. Zaiana spun, intending to head straight to Marvellas again, but the sight of Kyleer distracted her. He was her greatest weakness.

“I would advise we get out of here!” That voice, strained in the midst of fighting, made Zaiana’s spine lock, and her eyes sought out Tynan.

He fought with a sword, and Amaya with a bow. Both of them moved in tandem, watching each other’s backs.

How had they known to come here?

A Phoenix cry rattled through the night. Zaiana believed it was Faythe with her Firebird, Atherius. But this one was different…and on its back was Reylan, without his mate. She couldn’t figure out what their objective was in being here, but right now, all that mattered was making sure they all made it out alive.

Zaiana might not get her chance to end Marvellas today, but whether by her hand or another’s, she pledged her life toward ending the Spirit.

Nyte reached for her wrist again, but she snatched it away. She beheld the key in his hand, intending to free her from the manacles. His impatient ire wasn’t subtle, but with a flat look, Zaiana clenched her jaw, hooked her fingers under the stinging metal of one of them, and broke the binding, letting the wretched Niltain steel clatter to the ground.

“I could have made that far easier and far less painful,” Nyte grumbled.

“Remove Kyleer’s instead,” she said, not paying him much attention as she surveyed the chaos, slipping into a battle focus as she charged her lightning.

Tucking away the ruin, she decided to keep that element of advantage secret. Marvellas truly believed it was broken and that she was untouchable by death now.

Tynan and Amaya were keeping the fighting back from them. Their skills in tune with each other were admirably effective. Nerida was a force to be reckoned with on her own, usingpowerful currents of water to strike and manipulating the snow to bring the storm indoors.

A flicker of silver caught her eye, and she didn’t know how to react to Reylan running through the broken wall and into the chaos. He didn’t come to join the fight or confront Marvellas. Instead Reylan Arrowood slipped through the bodies masterfully before disappearing through a door, venturing deeper into the castle they should all be escaping from before their opportunity closed.

He was unnoticed by all but one other person.

Marvellas took a step in his direction, and Zaiana didn’t know when the line between enemies had blurred, but instinct drove her to act, running again toward the Spirit to stop her from following the general.

Her lightning charged to her fingertips, and without a second thought, she braced her stance, casting her fingers out to throw the might of her lightning toward the Spirit. Marvellas sensed it just in time to spin. Waving her hand expelled a flare of gold that clashed with the purple bolt.

“Go after him,” Marvellas snarled to her captain.To Nyte.

He watched his oblivious mother as she didn’t even spare a glance his way. Zaiana couldn’t imagine the turmoil he must feel.

But she couldn’t consider him right now. Her need for violence coursed so strong while she held the Spirit’s attention that her magick came out in a lethal dance of storms. Instinctual, precise, and deadly. Lightning so vicious and dominating exploded from her, so she could hardly see Marvellas through the jagged strokes of purple.

The Spirit didn’t attack, only defended, with bright flares of gold. Then, when Zaiana caught her attention subtly shifting sideward, she realized Marvellas wouldn’t make a target out of her—wouldn’t risk accidentally killing her—but she could harm Zaiana far worse by taking Tynan or Amaya from her.

Zaiana wouldn’t make it to them in time. She threw out more darts of lightning in a frantic attempt to stop Marvellas, until the Spirit invaded her mind. Zaiana cried out, having her movements halted, but she’d broken Marvellas’s influence before in her desperation.

This time she was too late.

Zaiana’s eyes flew wide, and a scream was all she had left to warn Tynan and Amaya, who were so focused on the relentless surge of Marvellas’s soldiers

The powerful flare of the Goddess’s power slammed against a wall of rippling darkness. She’d seen those starry shadows before, but never like this. When the barrier that saved Tynan and Amaya came drifting down, Kyleer stood there, tall and vengeful, staring off with Marvellas.

Discovering that Kyleer had not only kept his Shadowporting but that it had somehow advanced tomore,she couldn’t be anything but immensely relieved.

“Enough!” Marvellas’s declaration was accompanied by the strangled sounds of everyone in the room.

Every mind on both sides of the fight was seized by the Goddess, who panted, hunched, with a manic expression, as she blazed over the scene she’d lost control of.

Zaiana turned nauseous with the invasion in her mind. It held her still like everyone else, and she could break free, but there were too many others to consider. Tynan, Amaya, Nerida, and Kyleer. She had to figure out how to get them all out safely.

“Is this one not worth more than all of them?”

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