A Sword from the Embers (An Heir Comes to Rise, #5)

by Chloe C. Peñaranda

“It’s easy to forget the leaps we’ve taken when the steps forward become so small. But never forget you are still moving. You are challenging yourself with every day you decide to face your reality.”

stranger. Unable to fit logic to why, when she looked at him she saw a dagger but felt the embrace of a shield.

She would never know why her mother didn’t want to be called as such. Aesira whispered, “I promise, Marvellas.”

“You’re right here,” he said at last, his voice just as hushed. “You’re alive. I’m right here with you, Faythe.” With him. With her mate.

“I want you to kill the King of Rhyenelle.”

Faythe was missing an explanation. A truth. She didn’t know what trickled through her mind to convince her not to stop trying to figure it out.

“I’ve always felt that I was searching for an answer that didn’t exist. Every dark path I walked, there was always a light. Every time I knocked on death’s door, I was coaxed back before the reaper could answer. Where I expected to see shadows, I saw flickers of gold.”

A butterfly.

Your eyes, Faythe. Then, now, perhaps long before, something awakens in me every time. They have become my sun, and should darkness fall for good then so will I.”

“Just know, before you decide what you want, I choose you, Faythe Ashfyre. With or without a bond. As human and fae. I choose you in every life. Your promise to me was that you would always come back to me. And you did.

“Out of fear of the very wrong reason—which has already crossed your mind—why I’m standing by you. I don’t choose you because of some answering bonded power. I choose you because I love every damn reckless, brave, impossible part of you.”

What we have is far more than a bond, and with or without it, I am yours.”

“You are magnificent.” Reylan claimed her. “My Phoenix.”

His brows were set in deep thought as though the beautiful dark fae had been consuming his mind long before now.

“It’s okay to be afraid, Faythe. Fear can be the weapon you need to rise. I’ve seen you overcome it before; it won’t become your weakness now.”

“You weren’t born to remain hidden.” Reylan watched her with an air of awe. “You were born to rise. Made to defy. To carry the dreams of those who can’t fight for them.”

“Promise me this will never change. That no matter what happens in the war to come, you’ll remember that I see you and I hear you. And that I love you, Reylan Arrowood. In every lifetime, I will love you.”

“Before bond, title, or name, despite anything that could try to part us, I love you with everything I am, Faythe Ashfyre.” His lips grazed hers. “Until the end of days.”

“I feel like I’ve known her far longer than possible.”

Come the return of the lost first son, The end will fall at last. For only if the heirs unite, Can they right the wrong of the past.

“Marvellas did not plan for you to rise, Faythe. You were in the past, and in your return, only a means to an end for her to reunite with her sister at last. But if it will bring you comfort, she did once care for you, and that sentiment may be the thing to end her still.”

“Should Marvellas succeed in conquering you, the one true heir of Marvellas, she will end the Mortal Gods once and for all. This realm will no longer be accessed by its creators.”

“It is almost time for you to remember. We have all been waiting.

When snow falls, it will not end until the war is won. There will come a time when you will lose all. Lose yourself. What you have broken today will be your only way back. Or you will choose to seek a new unknown.”

She taunted me with your name. She knows who you are but tells me you do not. It is part of her plan to keep you forgetting, only to have you remember the parts she wants. You have to remember it all. I don’t know how this will ever find you. Perhaps it never will. I couldn’t achieve what you asked, and trying to led to my capture. Should you remember, know my fate was not your fault.

The heir of souls will rise again, Their fate lies in her palms. With rings of gold and will of mind, She’ll save the lives of men.

“What a delight it is to finally see what you came back capable of, even if this is only a glimpse.”

“I can’t wait for us to be together, Faythe. This next chance we’ve been gifted.”

“Time and order, my child. We will be together so very soon. I only had to see you, to know what power you have come into since Transitioning. Since coming back to me.”

“There are two ends to our story, Faythe. I have every intention for us not to repeat history. The desired end will keep us together and create a world I know you will come to see is right.”

gaining enough distance from him that his whole body turned rigid against the unexplainable pull he fought so hard to resist.

“Nerida…” He paused, letting it sink in how much he enjoyed the feel of her name on his tongue.

“There will come a time to choose sides. You’ll either be a part of what I am or feel the force of what I will become.”

“Do you believe we could live more than one lifetime? Do you think you’d remember?” “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But if so and I didn’t remember, I would still find you.”

“I know because nothing has tormented me like you.”

For now, she didn’t want to leave this net that had become something she’d never felt before so wholly and unquestionably: safe.

“I do. I hate you so damn much for making me want you. You’re in my head too often. It’s infuriating.”

He didn’t want this. Someone to care for who would leave a new permanent scar when she left. They always left. Tarly wasn’t certain how much more he could suffer, and he wondered with a despairing thought what would end him first. The poison that placed his life on borrowed time, or the impact from the fall he could not stop.

Damning the secret. Damning the world. Damning himself for caring.

“You’re my beautiful nightmare.”

“He has three seconds to let you go before I damn the plan to the Nether and rip out his throat.”

“I don’t ever want to forget.”

“Because I know you could do it—take my memory far more effectively with the full power you have now. And that terrifies me more than following you to death.”

but something sparked within. A flickering beacon. Itching at a recognition that he couldn’t think to make sense

He’d never felt like this before, and it shook his world with so much confusion he didn’t know what it meant. What she meant.

This current between them became undeniably strong. It was a cruel taunt in his mind and a wicked torment in his soul that cried one word. One impossible phrase. Mate.

“All I ask is that you consider actions, not words. Power is not in a name. Strip me of it and see nothing more than what I would sacrifice—not just for this kingdom, but for the world beyond it. I have given my life and I came back to give it again. With or without this crown. To choose me is to choose faith.”

“Time to fly,”

“It took until now to remember why I chose to be Rhyenelle’s heir. It wasn’t to sacrifice my heart, but to lead with it. It wasn’t to bow to customs and ideals that have far overstayed their welcome. I wanted to show this kingdom devotion like my mother and protection like my father—neither of which I would have had the strength to embrace within myself if it wasn’t for you, Reylan. Your belief in me, your dedication to this kingdom…you’re everything our people deserve. I choose you, Reylan Arrowood. This kingdom chooses you.”

“Tauria Stagknight is my half-sister.”