Page 93 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“Your interference was unexpected but welcome,” he went on.

It was jarring to be walking and speaking with someone who, not so long ago, had harbored a strong will to kill her. He still did, but having to see him as an ally right now was strange, and she didn’t like him this way.

Reylan placed Faythe into the back of a wagon, being careful with her despite the injuries he’d inflicted to capture her. He lifted himself in too, pulling the heir to lay her head in his lap. He did so as if it were a habit, not conscious thought. Tragic, really.

Kyleer was already in the back, and she wished to claw the itch from her skin to check on him.

Reylan looked to her expectantly, but Zaiana considered taking to the skies and following. When she thought of being seen by Dakodas or Maverick, she decided to smother her discomfort and climb in, sitting on the edge to dangle a leg off the open back.

She didn’t look at Kyleer when it took off, jostling them.

“Do you feel anything for the harm you caused your mate?” Zaiana asked curiously.

“I did what I had to.”

“What does Marvellas plan to do with her?”

His brow furrowed. Zaiana could see how mindless he was. He wasn’t acting with any given reason, only following what was asked of him.

“She wants Faythe’s fealty.”

It would be hopeless to keep testing him for any true information when he likely couldn’t give a good explanation as to what the Spirit wanted withhim.

Zaiana planned to find that out herself. She would go to the Spirit of Souls, Goddess of the Stars. She would promise her allegiance to her and hope the desertion from Dakodas wasn’t unforgivable when she came to serve her instead.

Her sights found Kyleer when she didn’t mean to. Part of her wanted to lay his head on something soft to keep it from knocking off the wooden wagon with every movement. She didn’t. Zaiana tried to erase him from her thoughts as she watched the streets they left behind.

She understood what Dakodas meant now. Reylan had been undercover as the leading general here, but now he had retrieved Faythe, Zaiana was to take over. She was supposed to stay and lead this legion in Fenher.

Zaiana smiled with defiance as she rode away from the insulting position she’d been given.

She didn’t have a plan, really. Didn’t know how outraged Dakodas would be to find her missing, or how annoyed Maverick would be. Honestly, for once in her life, she didn’t care at all.

PART II

The Phoenix and the Ice Queen

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Faythe

Faythe had never traveled by boat, and it was a shame she was hardly awake for the first time she ever crossed the sea. The blindfold hadn’t helped the dizziness and the nausea, but luckily, she managed to avoid being sick, though her stomach couldn’t handle the peculiar motion of the boat against the waves.

The cold became sharper, with her breaths gathering ice chips in her throat.

“As if this is going to stop us knowing we’ve crossed to Lakelaria,” Kyleer grumbled.

All she could be grateful for after their capture was that they hadn’t separated her from Kyleer yet.

“It’s to stop you being noticed or doing something foolish,” Zaiana answered from somewhere nearby.

“Considerate of you,” Kyleer said with more chill than the frozen island.

Faythe was yearning to know where Reylan was. He’d remained elsewhere, letting others handle her, in the longjourney Kyleer had been tracking better than her. He estimated around three weeks had passed.

She was tired of the darkness now, but she feared the lashing contrast of light when they would finally take off the damn wrap from around her head.

When they were taken off the ship, Faythe trekked through more inches of snow than there had been on the mainland. Water flowed beside them, and from what she recalled about the great western island, river paths stemmed through the kingdom like roads.

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