Something Rolan had said during their first meeting weighed on Sev.
I must convince them there is, in fact, a threat.
Lord Rolan wanted a war, and in order to get it, he had to convince the council that the Phoenix Riders were a threat. But how?
“He doesn’t say anything about the hostage,” Sev said, glancing down at the original coded letter in case he’d missed something. He hadn’t.
“Hostage?” Kade asked.
Sev frowned. “There’s a girl,” he said. “Her brother was one of the Riders, and Captain Belden took her hostage to force him to spy.”
Kade’s eyebrows rose. “And this Rider spy told the commander and the others?”
Sev nodded.
“Do you think she still lives?”
The question sent an icy spear into Sev’s heart. He hadn’t considered that. “He didn’t come forward until right before the battle,” Sev said, convincing himself as much as Kade. “I don’t think anyone here would know he’d defected….” He sighed. “I guess we need to focus on Lord Rolan for now.”
Kade tilted his head at Sev. “We?” he asked, though his tone was light.
“If you want,” Sev said hurriedly.
Kade surveyed Sev as he had done countless times before, his gemstone eyes glimmering in the lamplight.
“So, what do you say?” Sev prodded, trying to keep the hope from his voice. “Are you in?”
Kade grinned. “I’m in,” he said, and Sev smiled so hard his face hurt.
They sat in a comfortable silence, with nothing but the sound of the wind in the trees outside Sev’s window and the clucking of the messenger pigeon picking its way across the sill.
“I should go,” Kade said eventually, getting to his feet. “I’ve an early start tomorrow.”
Sev stood as well. “How will we…,” he began, but Kade nodded at the concealed door.
“I’ll come as often as I’m able. Every night, if I can. Leave a lantern lit in your sitting room if you are in and alone—I can see it through the doorframe. If you don’t, I’ll assume you’re with someone and will return later.”
They looked at each other, and there was still so much unsaid between them that Sev didn’t know where to begin. “I’m so glad you’re here” was all he managed, his throat constricting slightly on the words. He didn’t just mean here in this room—or here in Rolan’s estate. He meant here, alive, when Sev had already said his goodbyes.
“Me too,” Kade whispered, rare softness in his face again. He gripped Sev’s good shoulder, the warm press of his hand lingering before he stepped around Sev, crossing the room to pull aside the tapestry. With a last glance over his shoulder, he stepped into the shadowy corridor and slid the panel back into place.
Sev burned the letter and its translation before packing away his supplies and putting out the lantern. He fell back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling once more, wishing he’d had the courage to ask Kade to stay.
After the defeat of Nox and her children, the fearsome strixes, the people of the world rejoiced. They believed their war against the darkness was over, which was true.
But there were battles yet to be fought.
Famine came after the Dark Days, and it was in this time that sister phoenixes Xatara and Xolanthe were hatched, born from a First Rider bloodline.
Despite their strength and vigor, Xatara and Xolanthe found themselves Rider-less in the first year of their lives, having both lost their bondmates to hunger.
They did not despair, though, because in the death of their Riders, they found purpose.
No sooner had the ashes of their bondmates cooled than Xatara and Xolanthe took to the sky in search of food. They traveled far and wide, down deep into the valley where all was wild and dangerous. They fought great hairy beasts with curling horns and giant, scaly creatures that breathed fire. They even fought men who lived among those fantastic creatures, waiting with traps and snares and poison-tipped darts.
At last they found what they were looking for: a tree growing from a thrust of stone in the middle of the valley, with two fat, bright-red fruits dangling from its boughs. They each took one in their beak and flew home, where the villagers rejoiced to see them return, for phoenixes didn’t often remain after their bondmates had died.
The humans sliced open the fruits and found golden seeds inside. Though the highest reaches of Pyrmont were barren and little grew there, when the villagers planted the golden seeds in the rocky ground, they took root immediately: one grew into the first Fire Blossom tree and the other into the first phoenix fruit tree.
Xatara and Xolanthe were celebrated as heroes and remained among their people and their phoenixes. Some say they bonded again, years later, while others insist they remained as guardians over the two trees, ever watchful.
Whatever their fates, the Pyraean villagers never went hungry again.
—“Xatara and Xolanthe,” from The Pyraean Epics, Volume 2, circa 460 BE
My sister taught me many things. Would for you,
my daughter, to have a sister such as her. She would
teach you life’s hard lessons. Some on purpose. Some by
accident. And some simply by virtue of who she is.
- CHAPTER 13 - VERONYKA
IT WAS LATE BY the time Veronyka stepped out into the stronghold, alone for the first time all day. She cast a glance over her shoulder toward the commander’s administrative building, but Tristan was nowhere in sight.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead, rebuilding her mental barriers.
It had been a close call.
Despite how hard she’d been working on blocking her shadow magic lately, her emotions were suddenly raw—Val, the lockbox, the soldiers, and now a chance to become a Master Rider. Tristan had supported her, stood by her, and then they’d been alone in that dark hallway….
He’d wanted to kiss her—she’d heard him think it. She hadn’t realized how much she’d opened herself to him until that moment, and she’d been forced to get away from him. Immediately.
Because Veronyka wanted to kiss him, too, and it seemed that even the thought of it was enough to rattle the connection between them. To make it tremble and shake. Would she ever be able to have that kind of closeness with Tristan? Or was their romantic relationship doomed before it had even begun?
No. Veronyka refused to believe that. She’d get it under control. She had to.
Their bond was difficult for her to wrap her brain around. It wasn’t like her bond with Xephyra, because that went both ways. Even her bond with Val was something they were both aware of. But Tristan didn’t see what was happening between them, had no control over his own mind and thoughts, and that felt like a horrible betrayal of trust.
But she couldn’t tell him. Not if she didn’t want to make things worse than they already were.
Not if she wanted to pass the trials the next day and achieve her goals.
If she’d been eager to become a Master Rider before, she was downright frantic now. Not only would she have the chance to join Tristan’s patrol, but she’d do so as his second. It was everything she wanted. The empire was mobilizing, soldiers had been sighted, and the Phoenix Riders were finally, finally going to leave the Eyrie and prepare to defend the people of Pyra.