Draven frowned as Aydra began to unfurl the parchment. “Magnice?”
“Lex—”
Rupture and rapture
The flames blow
What do we do when the eagle grows cold?
Aydra’s stomach dropped.
Eagle.
Eagle.
—Nyssa.
Draven’s hand tightened around her waist. “Why is she speaking in Berdijay riddles?”
Her breaths shortened as she gripped onto his arm. “He’s hurt Nyssa.”
Aydra crumbled the letter in her hand and bounded up the stairs to Draven’s home. She started throwing things onto the bed, pulling her bag from the corner to pack it quickly.
“How do you know that?” Draven said from the door.
“Her core is an eagle,” she replied quickly. “Flames are Rhaif. He’s hurt her somehow. I have to go back,” Aydra argued.
“And if this is a trap?” Draven stated. “What if this is his way of pulling you back in? What if he is using her to get to you?”
“And what if he is?” she wept. “I cannot let her suffer. She is my sister. She doesn’t deserve to live beneath him as I did.”
“Your sister is strong.”
“I know she is. But that doesn’t mean she has to suffer in silence.”
“What about the ship?”
She paused, her heart tearing in two places as she contemplated her choices. “The ship can wait. This is my sister,” she answered. “Besides, I always told her she could come with me for negotiations when they arrived again. I will get her and bring her back here.”
“They will consider that kidnapping and take her crown too,” he affirmed.
“What would you have me do, Draven?” she snapped, rounding on him. “Would you have me sit back and do nothing while he hurts her? Ignore her as my olders did me when I voiced my own pains?”
Draven ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots. “Aydra, I cannot lose you again.”
The reality of why he didn’t want her to leave set in, and she crossed the space between them, taking his hands in hers.
“You’re not losing me,” she promised.
He swallowed hard and met her eyes. “If you go back there… You know he will try to hurt you. Punish you for leaving or imprison you in your own castle.” He paused, his thumbs rubbing her hands. “Are you ready for that?”
“My brother has hurt me for the last time,” she swore.
The noise of great wings flapped in the air outside the balcony, and the phoenix dove into the room. It stared down its long beak at her, amber eyes staring into her core. She felt its ferocity inside her own, and it gave her a slow blink.
She squeezed Draven’s hands and looked back at him. “He won’t know what’s coming to him.”
Draven sighed and rested his forehead against hers, and she closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of the forest around them.
“I love you so much,” she whispered.
He pulled back slightly and brought her hand to his lips. “I love you,” he said before kissing her palm. “And I support you. If this is what you need to do then… I will not stand in your way.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
AYDRA TOOK THE phoenix back to Magnice.
Anger flowed from her core into the phoenix’s, and she could feel it heating black flames beneath her legs and hands. Black flames that wrapped her as a cool breeze, that tickled her flesh as wind would.
They flew in shadow, the whispers of its feathers beneath her hands as they crossed the Preymoor in a matter of hours instead of days.
They flew over the town, all the way up to the castle gates.
She pulled her sword and jumped from the creature’s back upon reaching the courtyard.
Belwarks drew their swords as she landed.
Aydra straightened and whirled her blade in her hand. “Do you really want to do this?” she asked the men.
Behind, called the phoenix.
Her sword clashed overhead with the one behind her. He pushed her forward, their swords crashing together. Aydra ducked low and struck his knees, wiping him out to the ground. Her blade landed in his throat. As the crack of his neck filled her ears, she straightened and looked around her again.
The phoenix chirped overhead and circled the courtyard. A chill ran down Aydra’s spine at its anger filling her core.
“One last warning, Belwarks,” Aydra dared the men.
Two of them crouched low, swords at the ready. Aydra held a hand up.
Her fist closed as they launched at her.
Black flames swallowed the courtyard.
Aydra stepped through the cold fire and pushed her way into the castle.
Servants moved out of the way. A few of the Belwarks started to draw their swords, but the sudden sight of the phoenix flying beside her out the windows made them stop in their tracks. She kept her sword in her hand, all the way up to her sister’s room. Her foot met the door upon reaching it.
Nyssa yelped upon seeing Aydra, and then her gaze softened. “Aydra—”
She bounded across the room and dove into Aydra’s arms, wrapping her arms tightly around her. Aydra hugged her close and then pulled back to see her face.
“Where are you hurt?” Aydra asked quickly. “Where did he—”
“It wasn’t like with you,” Nyssa cut her off. “It was just my arm.”
“It is never just your arm,” Aydra affirmed. “Don’t ever let me hear that it was ‘just’ anything from you again. Do you understand?”
Nyssa swallowed hard and nodded.
Aydra’s weight shifted. “What happened?”
“I was arguing with him about you,” Nyssa answered. “I let it slip that I knew what he’d done to you. The flames grew on him instantly—”
“Where was your eagle?” Aydra cut in.
Nyssa’s jaw tighten, her nostrils flaring. “He was with me.”
“Did he defend you?”
A flicker of a smile found Nyssa’s lips. “You haven’t seen him yet.”
Aydra’s brows raised. “I came straight to you.”
The phoenix landed in Nyssa’s great window. Nyssa yelped and threw herself into Aydra’s arms.
“What—what is that?!” she shouted.
Aydra smiled at the beast. “She’s mine.”
“—Nyssa, are you okay—”
Lex froze in the door. “Aydra?” she breathed.
A broad smile rose on
