Page 33 of A Flame of the Phoenix

So much had changed.

Her fae body allowed her to rise against him, and he didn’t need to hold back. No longer did she feel like something was missing.

Faythe tracked his movements without the use of her ability, wanting to expend her full combat abilities to beat him fairly.

“You could have ended this with various maneuvers from Kalsain Seven and Kajac Nine,” Kyleer said to her over their clamor. They were highly effective battle sequences. He stood leaning against a tree, eyes trained on them by habit, assessing the fight.

Faythe only smiled. She didn’t want it to end so soon.

“Don’t pretend you’re goingeasyon me,” Nik chuckled.

Faythe ducked under his vertical swipe, turning in a crouch, with both hands clamped around the hilt to block his next move. He was fast.Veryfast.

“You seem particularly tired today, or were you always this sluggish?” Faythe gibed.

Though she was taunting him to distract him, she had noticed when Nik joined them for breakfast that he looked half-asleep.

“I have to check on Tauria as much as I can,” he answered coolly.

Before she could say anything else, she had to hone her skills when he came at her with more force.

Kyleer was strong, masterfully strategic, and knew her ways; beating him took outsmarting him, which she had yet to achieve. With Nik, her speed was tested like with no one else.

They parried for another minute until Faythe stumbled in her focus because of a pressure in her mind. She tried to shake it off, thinking a headache must be forming from their unrelenting efforts. It grew like a gentle prodding, turning more forceful, and it was then her eyes snapped to Nik’s, forgetting their battle. He anticipated it with a wicked smirk before he disarmed her swiftly and kicked her legs out from under her.

Faythe hit the ground, wincing at the impact, but she didn’t immediately peel herself up.

“Do I want to know how you’re doing that?” she said incredulously.

She partly hoped she was delirious, yet the impression was too damned familiar, and Nik’s hooked brow confirmed what she expected.

He had conscious mind abilities.

“You were right,” he said casually, thrusting a hand to her.

Faythe accepted the help to stand, her thoughts reeling, while Nik dipped inside his jacket. The vial he produced immediately stole her attention for the hum of energy it gave off. Shaking the vial, her eyes widened on the glittering crimson liquid.

“The Phoenix feather was real,” he clarified.

“From Atherius,” Faythe breathed.

“You’re sure it’s from that particular bird?” Nerida chimed in from where she was sitting by a tree, organizing various herbs she’d spent the day gathering. Tarly tied them together, slipping them into a neat pouch, while she scribed what she found in a small journal.

“It’s her… I can feel it,” Faythe confirmed.

“That bird is a myth,” Nik said, but when he met her flat look, he seemed to drop his skepticism. “Well, damn,” he mused instead. “Want to enlighten me as to how you can be so sure then?”

“She’s the bird you saw in my memory when you last Nightwalked to me. I…bonded with her.”

She slid her gaze from Nik’s surprise to the healer, whose smile was knowing, and then to Lycus, who gave a smirk from where he was leaning against the tree. Samara sat at his feet by Nerida, disconnected from their conversation as she was fascinated by Nerida’s plants, forgetting the pretty flowers of her own she was assembling.

“Want to tell mehow much you’ve taken of that to give you conscious abilities now?” Faythe asked, motioning to the vial.

Nik pocketed it. “One dose. Months ago in Olmstone. I only did so for the threats we faced. It was necessary.”

Faythe pained at the wince he gave.

“Fascinating,” Nerida said, standing now and brushing the snow from her skirt. The way she examined Nik was like she’d found an unsolvable puzzle. “You said neither of your parents had abilities?” She mulled over this. Faythe half-expected her to start scribing her findings about him in her journal too.

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