Page 120 of Of Flame and Fury

Kel lifted her hand. Cristo’s eyes sharpened, tracking her movements. She only had a second to act.

As fast as her leaden muscles would allow, Kel pitched toward Savita. She grappled with what remained of the collar, shrouded by blistering heat. The thinned metal fell away like clumps of charcoal.

“No!” she heard Cristo shout, maybe Coup too, as a sancter shot filled the air once more.

Lightning burned through Kel’s shoulder just as she heard the sharpclickof Savita’s collar. The metal fell to the ground.

A moment later, Kel did, too.

“Kelyn!” Coup screamed, and then there were hands on her. Coup’s face floated to the center of her vision, surrounded by black spots. She couldn’tfeelthe wound—but she could feel a strange, hot numbness spreading over her. It made her blood flare hotter.

Beside her, Kel felt Savita’s heat flaring, too. Without the collar, her magic was no longer tempered. Savita’s flames flickered from honey to orange to scarlet. Squinting, Kel watched Savita shine brighter than she’d ever seen. Brighter than the stars above them.Brighter than the sun.

Savita’s light chased away the shadows that tried to pull Kel under. With Coup’s hands pressed against her wound, she tried to turn her head toward her phoenix. Her beautiful, immortal, merciless phoenix.

Two more sancter shots echoed through the sky, but Savita was faster. If Cristo wanted her dead rather than free, he’d lost his chance. Faster than she’d ever seen Savita move, the firebird launched into the sky. She was no longer a bird, but a trail of fire and rage.

More lightning followed Savita’s path, but she’d climbed too high. Though the injury to Kel’s shoulder might not kill her, she couldn’t find the energy to stand. She wanted desperately to see the patterns that Savita carved through the sky, to watch the red and orange and yellow smother the black. But by the time Kel managed to turn toward Savita, toward the great screeching that claimed the sky, she saw only smoke.

Savita was gone.

FIFTY-THREE

Savita was a wild thing that couldn’t be tamed. She was a god destined to live forever—and Kel was nothing but a mere speck of dust that fluttered across her centuries. Kel should have freed her months—maybe even years—ago, when inklings of guilt had first crept beneath her skin.

Kel had loved Sav with every fractured piece of her heart, and had tried to want nothing in return.

And yet, still, ithurt.

Slowly, Kel managed to sit up. Coup held her to him, muttering words she couldn’t make out in a low, soothing voice.

Cristo lowered his rifle from the sky. His arms shook, barely containing his rage. “Well done, Kelyn. You’ve just sentenced yourself to death.”

Kel held back a whimper; she knew she didn’t have long left, but hearing it aloud hit her like a wave. “You’d rather I help you kill phoenixes?”

His eyes welled, something warring in their stormy depths. “You’d ratherIkill mydaughter?”

Kel tried to shake her head. Coup clung to her tighter, as she said, “No. But if you believe that the story of Landon Ryker is true, then what of the other myths we hear as children? What about the story that tells us a star will fall if a phoenix dies, and the sun will explode if they’re extinct? Where are we to draw a line between fact and myth?”

Cristo’s eyes turned black, and his nostrils flared. Though his sancter rifle was lowered, Kel noticed his grip stiffen. The rage inside him shook his entire body, desperately trying to claw to the surface.

Weeks ago, Kel knew she’d seen a kind man buried beneath the desperation. But she wasn’t foolish enough to think that man would reappear.

Slowly, Cristo pointed the sancter at Kel.

She could see down the barrel, to the glint of metal waiting inside, like Death looking at her with one eye.

Coup released Kel and took a step toward Cristo. “Get away from her,” he snarled.

Kel tried to shove Coup away, to keep the sancter trained onher—but her strength was gone. The weakness in her limbs contradicted the fire in her veins; her body was a blazing cage.

A single, glistening tear trailed down Cristo’s cheek. “You can’t imagine the pain coming for her, Mr. Coupers. This is a much gentler death. Trust me.”

“Coup—move,” Kel managed, though Coup didn’t seem to hear her.

She tried to shove him, push him out of the way. But Coup refused to budge. He said to Cristo, “You’ll have to shoot me first.”

Cristo’s fingers, clamped around the rifle, shook. “I don’t have time for this. I need to get back to my Estra.”

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