A Throne From the Ashes (An Heir Comes to Rise, #3)

by C.C. Peñaranda

But this child was not a gift to two doting parents who would love her endlessly; she was a death knell gripped by a twisted, sinister fate before even her first breath.

If she had discovered the consequences of bearing a child conceived of a Bloodline Blessed and a Descendant of Marvellas earlier, if she had known the damned fate she would be condemning the child to…perhaps she might have been more careful.

Then she let herself fall before shooting skyward to chase the moon.

“The difference between you and me is that I don’t need a name or a title or a damned thing to tell me who or what I am. I didn’t come here to lay claim to a throne from name alone, but I also didn’t come all this way to deny my heritage. 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.”

“Blood is the key to chase away foe.”

“Shouldn’t we have the right to defend our honor, not just our bodies?”

Words can only cut if you listen. They can only scar if you believe.”

“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.”

“I never thought I’d come across someone like you, Faythe.” In his eyes was conflict. He looked over her face as though memorizing every inch or trying to figure out a puzzle. She caught his gaze lingering on her lips a second longer. “You see everything I am and know everything I’ve done, and yet you’re still here.”

She shouldn’t have offloaded her concerns onto him. It wasn’t his problem, and he seemed to have enough of his own suffering to deal with. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“You and Caius…your dreams aligned. He gave his life so you could carry them on; so you could see them answered. You fought, and you survived. You deserve to live, Faythe. Live, and make every life that was taken too soon count for something. That’s how we go on.”

Aurialis seems to believe there is a prophesy that one conceived from both a Marvellas bloodline-blessed—a Nightwalker—and a direct descendant, like my mother, is the key to ending the Great Spirit-turned-fae before she can cause any more destruction.”

Not the Heir of Marvellas; not the daughter of a great king; not a keeper of powerful magick; just…Faythe. And that was enough. She didn’t deserve to carry the weight of the world.

As though the beat of her heart were tied to his own. Yet he didn’t fear it. Not in the slightest.

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.”

“Have I ever told you your confidence is wickedly attractive? Even if misplaced.”

They are so enemies to lovers coded

As creatures born to feel nothing, they indulged in the opportunity to feel something.

“Which of them hurt you?”

“Don’t be afraid of the past that has made you stronger.”

Strength is in those who know when help is needed and are not afraid to ask for it. And in those who listen, even when the truth is hard to hear.”

“To have Faythe: to live like death is a game, love is a prize, and danger is desire.”

“From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that you were destined for something great, Faythe. For when I looked at you, I saw exactly what I saw in your mother. A fierceness, a rare determination. To live, to fight, to stand up for what is right.”

“Then you spoke—like a leader and a protector. A peacemaker. I saw a ruler worthy of being my successor.” Agalhor bowed his head to her. Bowed.

“I’ll always be thinking of this. Of that look on your face. Of how I would have scattered everything on this desk to worship every inch of you over it. Of how beautifully you would have screamed for me.”

“My daughter, Rhyenelle’s lost flame returned. Just like your mother…you would make a gracious queen, Faythe Ashfyre.”

Their closeness was deadly and intimate, faces almost level from his slant against the wall. She straddled his extended crossed legs. For a split second, she almost retreated at the dark flash of desire in his depthless onyx eyes, there and gone so fast she would have missed it if she blinked. She recoiled internally. Not at that look, but because her body betrayed her mind with a flush of heat in response to it.

Tension vibrated an exhilarating current between them, and their faces came so close they shared breath.

“We do not hold the key to the temple, and the one who does also happens to be exactly what we need for the ascension.”

Omg faythe

“She doesn’t just hold the key to the temple…she is the key.”

“Because while I see the spirit of your mother and the will of your father…you are someone else entirely, Faythe. It gives me hope for us all.”

“Why think of the ending of something that has not been given the chance to begin? Why deny yourself the chance to be happy and damn whatever the ending may be?”

Then the sun and moon collided. A ray of the brightest light flared in her mind, shooting to her chest and bursting with a warmth so pure and safe.

Its fuckin obvious that theyre mates

“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.”

Then, as she looked around the still and beautiful forest, sometimes she even imagined a land of peace—a concept that seemed so impossible with the constant clash of species. One had to triumph.

“What you mock in others is what you see in yourself, Zaiana.”

“In Ungardia’s darkest hour, when all shall burn and fall, only the Phoenix Queen can find a throne from the ashes, and rise it true for all.”

“It’s not the act but the intention that separates the good from the evil.”

“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.”

“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 thank you. Because I never knew how lost I was until you found me.”

She felt herself climbing and climbing, reaching heights she had never glimpsed before. They were darkness on darkness. Fire on fire. Together, they could blissfully destroy each other and the world in their wake.

Laughter was the brightest sound in the dark,

Amber flame blazed into amethyst lightning, at risk of destroying the world in the wake of their rage and defiance.

“She is Faythe Ashfyre of Rhyenelle. And she is the Phoenix Queen.”

Love was damning. But it was also absolution.

“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.”

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.”

“You are two parts of the same sword. A blade without a hilt cannot be wielded. A hilt without a blade is forgotten potential. With the weapon you could become, together, you could change the world.”

“You live, and you fight, for the world of the dreamer.”