Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“It was burned. It was raw and blistered and . . .” I stare at it, as if the injury I remember might reappear if I look long enough.
“Did you go to a healer?” Kendrick asks. “Or perhaps it healed while you slept.”
“I’m human. I don’t heal like the fae. And if I somehow found a healer, why wouldn’t I have had them heal my leg?”
“Jas.” He steps forward and takes my hand in both of his, rubbing his thumbs along the sides of my palm and onto my wrist, where he traces a circle. “Didn’t you have a scar here?”
“I . . .” I blink at the smooth skin. With your blood you can overcome the flame. “I did.”
“The sword healed you.”
“Kendrick, it didn’t. I’m telling you, that sword nearly killed me. I would never have touched it a second time if I hadn’t been sure I’d meet my end in Erith’s presence.”
“What do you mean it nearly killed you?”
“It burned off my skin. I saw it with my own eyes. I felt it.”
He closes his eyes. “There’s so much about our history that even we don’t know.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I’ve been searching for the sword for years with no idea I’d be unable to wield it.”
“Not without burning yourself at least,” I say, but I don’t understand that look on his face, like he’s puzzling something out.
Suddenly, he strides for the door and flings it open. Brie is standing on the other side, pale and staring at us both. “It’s time to tell her,” Kendrick says.
Chapter Nineteen
Jasalyn
“Tell me what?”
Brie moves slowly as she steps back into the room. “Jas, you need to understand something about your powers.”
I close my eyes. I don’t know what it’s going to take to convince my sister that I’m not like her. Even now, knowing what I gave up, she still wants to believe I’m more fae than human. “I don’t have powers, Brie.”
“You do, though. I asked Pretha to look inside your mind, and she saw them there. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Why would my power scare me?”
Brie pauses for a long time before answering. For so long I’m not sure I want to know what she’s about to share. “Because you’re a phoenix, Jas.”
I stare at her, waiting for this to make sense. “Is that supposed to mean something to me? Because you just said I’m a magical bird, and I am confident I would’ve noticed something like that.”
“It means you have the power to burn to ash and arise again reborn.” She holds my gaze, as if willing me to accept this. “That’s why Mordeus needed you. The phoenix is rare, and if he can have it for himself, he can return.”
“No,” I breathe. I look to Kendrick, ready to see him argue with my sister, but I see the truth on his face. This power of mine can bring Mordeus back for good. I hear Fherna in my head. With your blood you can overcome the flame. “I gave up my magic when I gave up my immortality.” I shake my head, willing it to be true. I can’t stomach the idea of one more part of me helping that monster come back.
“You still have it inside you.”
Kendrick moves close and nods to my hand. “You said the sword burned you, but where are your burns?” When I don’t answer, he brushes his fingers across the inside of my wrist, where the circular scar used to be. “And of all your scars, the only one that has suddenly disappeared is the one that was in the flame.”
I stare at the smooth skin.
“You’ve been made new where the fire burned you,” Brie says. “Just like a phoenix.”
I feel like I’m falling and everything I grab ahold of disintegrates in my hands. “Fire almost killed me when Brie and I were children.” I turn to her. “If you hadn’t come for me . . .”
“We don’t know what would’ve happened in that fire if I hadn’t come for you, and I’d never choose to find out. But I need you to understand what I’m telling you. If you don’t harness the power of your phoenix, Mordeus will. And he will use your body to lead this realm, and we will have lost you for good.”
“Lead the realm?” I frown. “I’m not the queen. Don’t act like you’re going to die, Brie. I won’t hear it.”
“What better way to have the access he needs to kill me than to come at me as my beloved little sister.” She gives me a sad smile. “It’s not like he hasn’t already tried.”
“And that’s exactly why I shouldn’t be here.”
“You aren’t stuck in that ring anymore,” Kendrick says.
I bite my bottom lip. “I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”
“I can’t.” She flexes her fists, then releases them. “I can’t fail you again,” she whispers, and her voice is ravaged. She lifts a shaking hand toward my face before dropping it again, and I realize she’s looking at the scar that hooks around my eye. “I took too long getting to you. I thought you were safe. I . . . I didn’t know.”