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January 3 - January 3, 2024
“Have faith we will find a way, my dear.” Her heart swelled to the point she thought it might erupt. It didn’t matter—it would be left behind with him. But the word was like a song, a note of him she would carry with her for eternity. Lilianna echoed it after him as a promise, a gift he would never know he had given to their child when she left. “Keep having…Faythe.”
“You’re slowing, General.” Faythe pushed off against him, and he allowed her to lead with a series of offense attacks. “Maybe I’m just going easy on you, Princess.”
I may have come from nothing, but I will rise to everything. The greatest triumph will be having you there to bear witness as I do.”
“On the order of myself.” His firm voice left no room for dispute. “Second to those of Faythe Ashfyre.” Snapping her head to him, Faythe’s chest burst with pride. Reylan hadn’t overpowered her; he’d matched her rank. More than that—he’d asserted his own power of authority as beneath hers.
Kyleer shook his head, eyes softening as he said, “You are home.”
“Maybe it makes me selfish, but I can’t. I can’t stay away from you. I came back sooner than I usually would from Fenher because while I fear to no end that I might be incapable of protecting you, I can’t stand the thought of your safety being in the hands of anyone else.”
“You saw me and you heard me from the first day we met.
“I wouldn’t ask—” “You don’t need to ask.” He cut her off, voice hard. “Of course I’m coming with you.”
“But you’re not alone anymore—never again. I vow to do whatever it takes to avenge Lilianna and find the truth you’ve longed for.”
As though the beat of her heart were tied to his own. Yet he didn’t fear it. Not in the slightest.
“I am all ears, Faythe. But you should know, not a minute of time is wasted with you. Not when we have so many years to make up for.”
“Then there you were, with her eyes, the most precious gift of all. A daughter I didn’t think I deserved.”
Dear Faythe,”—he took a step toward her, and she didn’t flinch as his hand brushed her face—“I am so proud of the woman you have become despite all that was kept from you, and I know your mother is smiling at us now. We may not have the past to reflect on, but the present is all the brighter, the future all the more hopeful.”
“I’m not trying to seduce you.” She didn’t have to try.
Reylan caught her eye, sapphires bright with the warmth on his face. The others were ahead, chatting between themselves. “To having Faythe,” he declared quietly.
“You look simply exquisite, Zaiana.” Maverick’s voice was carried on the wind with a seductive caress.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you kneel before me.” “I’ll get on my knees for you anytime, Zaiana. You know you need only ask.” Maverick used his flaming sword to prop himself up in front of her.
“I have missed this.” “Getting your ass handed to you?” “Watching you”—his eyes trailed her from head to toe—“become beautifully untamed.”
“I promise you, Zaiana, I had no knowledge of Berrik’s intention.”
Maverick’s insufferable smirk returned, sadistically delighted by her threat. “I thought you might like to know I have a healer for your little darkling.” Her breath stilled. “What?” “I said—” “I know what you said,” she flared. “Where did you get a healer?” “I have my ways.” Zaiana stared into his eyes, searching them for any indication he was playing her for a fool. “Why?” Maverick seemed to calculate his next words carefully. “She was impressive out there. It would be a shame to see such talent go to waste.”
“There’s something I’ve been waiting to do,” he said in barely more than a husky whisper that weakened her knees. “Something I never got the chance to do back in High Farrow.”
“You are not a distraction, Faythe. You are everything.”
“I don’t know what the future holds or where the path may end, but I plan to follow you down whatever perilous, reckless, adventurous road you lead, Faythe Ashfyre.” His lips curled in tender amusement. “I vow to stand by your side. I vow to protect you with my sword and my life. And I vow to bind my fate to yours, if you will have me. I’ve lived enough years in this world to know should you leave it, so too shall my desire to stay here without you.”
“Until the end of days, Reylan Arrowood.” His smile—warm, genuine, and heartbreakingly rare—had become the light in her eternal shadow. “Maybe even longer, Faythe Ashfyre.”
“Take care of her, and both of you come home.” Agalhor’s words were hushed, for Reylan directly, though it tugged her heart to hear them.
“You are more than I could have wished for in this life, Faythe. And I know…I know you have it in you to change the world. Not with the power you wield or the crown that may befall you, but with that golden heart that sings in your chest. For what is good, for what is right, and for what is fair.” Faythe was transfixed by his fierce eyes. They struck her to listen; to absorb every word as though it were the truth. “But sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Watch the world burn and then rise from the ashes.”
A force collided with her back. Hands wrapped around her forearms while she jerked. Maverick said nothing, but his touch was slow to release her. They had glamoured their wings to fit through the space, and his whole body pressed to hers gave her a short moment of relief, awareness, that she was not alone in a stone cage. She was free.
“Give this to the one with eyes like mine.” Her voice croaked. “To the one they call Faythe Ashfyre.” Zaiana stilled. The name chilled her even more than the first time she heard it. How this human knew of her was mystifying. “Tell her…tell her I knew her mother. And tell her…that I’m sorry.”
“How much I wanted you,” he finished, though it felt like an amended answer. Regardless, it burst a warmth in her chest. “Gods, I objected to being sent back to High Farrow—I really did. Only because I knew even then how dangerous it was for me to be close to you. To get to know you. I feared… More than anything, I feared I wouldn’t be able to stop myself, to keep my distance from you beyond making sure you stayed alive.” His smile was partially broken, cleaving her heart. “It was a futile fear because I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you I wouldn’t be able to stay away. Even if you
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“Now, I am yours. This kingdom is yours. Freedom is yours to take and do what you want with. On my life, you will always have that.”
“As it turns out, I am not that male. I choose you, Faythe. I will always choose you. And I will always hope, as selfish as it may be, that you will choose me too.”
Faythe’s hands curled over his at her face. “I know what a mate means to your people—” He kissed her. So soft and barely-there. Against her lips, he said, “You are my people.”
“You are so perfect, Faythe,” he groaned against her skin. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you.”
“Because you are my biggest weakness,” he began in barely more than a whisper. Faythe blinked, stunned. “But you are also my greatest strength,
“But I’ve come to realize tomorrow isn’t my promise to give. What I can promise…is me. Until the last tomorrow comes. I want you to know every broken piece of me belongs to you.”
Reylan breathed a long exhale, his thumb brushing her cheekbone while she felt that pain growing in him too. “You are my heart, Faythe Ashfyre. When you lose yourself to anger, when you are consumed by passion, when you risk yourself defending… Gods, do I love every impossible, reckless, and fierce part of you.” Faythe released a laugh mixed with a cry. Her eyes blurred, but elation kept her tears from falling. “And I will spend the rest of my days showing you when words fail that you are everything. In this life or the next, I will always find you.”
“And nothing has ever driven me as insane as you do, Faythe Ashfyre.”
“Gods, I wanted you then, from that moment, as twisted as it may sound. I hated you for it, but I hated myself more. Only because I knew…you were everything I would never deserve. Everything that felt so right but seemed so wrong.”
“I realize now that I was wrong. Wrong to ever deny that you were meant to be mine, and I yours.”
be loved. “I would have endured it all again.” Reylan kissed where her feelings had spilled over. “For centuries over if it led me to you, Faythe.” Then he kissed her mouth, the salt of her tears on his lips. His pain and hers. His joy and hers.
“My last breath would be yours,” she heard his truth. “To make sure you knew…I will always find you.”
His touch at her hips caught her breath, but they didn’t pause, traveling carefully to her waist and slowly pulling her flush to his chest.
“I hate you,” she whispered. Though it held no meaning, no impact. What she hated…was her want for him. His eyes held hers, and a new life sparked within their cold, black depths. “Show me,” he challenged, eyes dipping to her mouth. “Show me how much you hate me.” His breath blew over her lips. His nose brushed hers—then over her jaw, her neck. Zaiana’s grip tightened in his hair while her head tipped back and her eyes fluttered closed. Her chest rose and fell in a deep, uneven rhythm with the need that knotted in her lower stomach. “I want it all, Zaiana.”
Before she could protest, his strong arm hooked around her back, and he twisted. She met the softness of their discarded clothes. He pulled back, eyes glazed as they roamed over the half-naked sight of her. “The depraved things I’ve dreamed of doing to you, Zaiana,” he said huskily.
Maverick halted at the cave opening, staring right back at her with raised eyebrows. His eyes fell to the weapon she gripped then back to her stone stare. “You believed I left you?” There was a note to his voice she couldn’t place. Pain perhaps, but that didn’t seem appropriate.
Kyleer rose from his knees and spoke quietly through their stupor. “She is Faythe Ashfyre of Rhyenelle. And she is the Phoenix Queen.”
“If you harm her—” He took a few calming breaths, his wrath a tangible force in the room. “There is no place you will be able to hide. No distance you can run. I will find you. And when I do, death is not what you will fear from me, though it is what you will beg for.”
“We don’t have much longer. It was I who caught your soul before it could cast on to the next realm, but it is not without your mate’s tether that you are both here…and there. Though be aware, even the strongest of bindings can be broken.” Faythe took a breath that felt suspended in time. A weight dropped in her stomach. A dawning. An awakening. A brilliant flare of realization and enlightenment. Her eyes were wide. Still. Fixed on Aurialis as though she might repeat it. “What did you say?”
“The Great General of Rhyenelle, the one they call the White Lion of the South, and the one who will be remembered in history within stories of battles and reign for millennia…is your soul-bonded mate, Faythe Ashfyre.”
“Power answers power. You are a child of the Spirits, Faythe. The general may believe he has met others like himself before, with the gift he harbors, but he is misled. He is not simply a Mindseer, as such an ability is only used to diminish another’s power. No other can take. Reylan Arrowood has strong bloodline blessings from all three Spirits. He is a powerful rarity none of us could have predicted.”
