Page 72 of A Flame of the Phoenix (An Heir Comes to Rise #6)
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
Faythe
R eylan wasn’t best pleased with Faythe when she returned from the Mortus Mountains and explained what they’d done to collapse it.
“I’m not mad you left,” he’d said. “I’m disappointed I was left out of some great action.”
They reconvened in the drawing room of High Farrow’s castle again, which would become a regular routine with all the planning they had to do.
“Now I have over a hundred darklings occupying Galmire during a war when our resources for the people are already spread thin,” Nik exasperated.
“They have few survival skills yet,” Zaiana defended. “These are children with no parental upbringing.”
Faythe added, “We don’t close our borders on innocents.”
“This isn’t your kingdom to decide that,” Nik said.
That hurt to hear, though it was the truth.
“Then what you decide to do with them is your choice,” Faythe conceded.
Tauria placed a hand on his where they sat side by side. “If they were fae children seeking refuge, what would you say then?”
Nik’s lips pursed, realizing his bias. “We wouldn’t turn them away.”
Tauria said, “How can we expect to achieve peace at the end of this if we don’t break the cycle of seeing the dark fae as enemies? They were born into a war not of their choosing.”
Reylan stood behind where Faythe sat. He paced and mulled over the map that covered the table, his mind on various battle movements and where to station their legions.
“According to the plans you found in Valgard, they plan to attack High Farrow at four key angles. Through the Stone Passes, the mountain fringe, through Galmire, and our spies have reported their armadas are already moving to close in from the west. Their numbers are beyond us almost four-to-one. With that force, I think they’ve waited all this time, all but herding us into one kingdom to make it a swift annihilation and conquer. Our numbers are shaken from the Battle of Rhyenelle. We don’t have control of Olmstone’s armies, which could have granted us more favorable odds.”
“Do we know if Chief Zainaid is still in power?” Tarly asked.
“Our scouts say he is. But Marvellas and Dakodas have been sighted there, and they report most of the kingdom’s main defenses have been taken over by dark fae leaders,” Reylan informed them.
Tarly exchanged a look with Tauria, who must know this chief. He said, “If we can get completely secure information to the chief, I believe he can help us. He’s on our side. When I fled Olmstone and my father was captured, the chief stepped in, pretending he wanted the throne all along, and they let him, needing someone to keep the kingdom in order. I’ve met with him since.”
That opened a new advantage that sparked hope through the gloom of the dire odds they faced.
“Our communication into Olmstone must be completely secure then. We might have one opportunity to catch them unawares with forces blocking theirs from the north and south.” Reylan leaned over her shoulder, moving various figures with different meanings around the border between High Farrow and Olmstone. He asked, “Do you have an indication of Olmstone army numbers?”
“Before everything happened, around twenty thousand souls. But I fear many might have been taken… If they’re looking for fae to Transition to dark fae, best start with those with mastered combat experience.”
The grim probability settled an ominous tension.
Faythe said, “We might not have their numbers, but we have me and two ruins.”
Reylan’s tension built within her. He wouldn’t like any suggestion that put her at risk, but this was her purpose.
“We’ve accounted for that.” Izaiah took over with a wary glance at Reylan.
Izaiah pushed a small golden ball across the table, settling it over the castle. Two gray rocks joined it. Faythe leaned in and squinted at them.
“Is that supposed to be me and the ruins?”
Izaiah looked at the markers with amusement. “Your position is uncertain for now. We don’t know where Marvellas, Dakodas, or Mordecai will be. They might not be among the battle at all. Some things we can’t prepare for. They are our ultimate target. Eliminate them, the battles end.”
The pressure weighed on her shoulders, but she would not cower.
“You won’t be alone,” Reylan said, resting a hand on her shoulder and curving it around her nape. “I’m staying with you.”
“You’re our leading general—your position is with our soldiers,” she protested.
“We’re wielding that ruin together, and Zaiana will stay with us as the only other who can wield one of them. If Dakodas and Marvellas arrive together, we’ll need all three of us.”
Tarly asked, “We have Marvellas’s ruin to kill her, but how do you plan to stop Dakodas?”
Izaiah answered. “We’re still trying to figure out where the Aetherbonds are. They won’t kill her, but they would make her powerless.”
“I have them.” Everyone’s attention snapped to Zaiana who spoke.
“What do you mean you just have them? ” Izaiah said.
“I don’t think the how is as important.”
“Of course it is!”
“Then make it unimportant.” Her tone warned against arguing, and when she placed the metal manacles on the table, Faythe didn’t care about questioning it anyway.
“How can we be sure they’re the Aetherbonds?” Reylan asked skeptically.
“You’re more than welcome to try them,” Zaiana said.
That couldn’t happen. For it would silence his magick completely and the only way to release them would be to lose what he values most in the world. Her.
Nerida picked one up, studying it. “I have a strong belief they’re true. The markings on them are not of any language I’ve seen before.”
They had no choice but to trust they were the real bonds when the time came.
“This is excellent,” Izaiah muttered to himself, seeming lost in his own strategies.
Nerida said, “Has anyone actually seen Dakodas and Marvellas together again since they ambushed you in Rhyenelle?”
Most looked to Reylan, who was the point of all spy and scout communications.
“No. Should we be concerned?”
Nerida looked to be puzzling in her mind. “I’m not sure. Don’t you find it odd though? Marvellas wanted Dakodas here with her. You’d think they would be planning together a lot. And Marvellas doesn’t seem to know that Dakodas switched their ruins and betrayed her.”
Tauria said, “I last saw Dakodas with Mordecai in Valgard. They looked…close.”
“What if they’re conspiring to betray Marvellas again?” Izaiah posed.
Faythe’s mind spun with the new possibilities. “Or they already have,” she said quietly, turning over the thoughts in her mind. “Marvellas told me a dark fae reign wasn’t part of her vision. Think about it… Mordecai was the one who wanted to Transition Tauria, Nik, Tarly, and Opal in Olmstone, because it was he who realized Callen Osirion, a royal, Transitioned as one of the most powerful dark fae. Dakodas is the Goddess who protected the dark fae from extinction millennia ago. She’s always favored them. What if she was the one who urged Marvellas to raise Mordecai when that was never part of her plan? For this—for a second Dark Age with more power behind it than ever before. Marvellas wants a world of power and peace for the fae. Dakodas wants a world dominated by dark fae.”
Everyone digested Faythe’s suggestion in thick silence.
“If that’s true, what does that mean for us?” Tarly asked.
Faythe said, “Marvellas is vulnerable. She’s not our biggest threat, but she’s mine to kill.”
Reylan let her go, pacing away. Faythe watched him, feeling his rising distress.
“If we assume Mordecai and Dakodas are together and this army is theirs, not Marvellas’s, then we have a chance to draw Marvellas to us before the dark fae battles,” Izaiah said.
“How do you plan to do that?” Zaiana asked. She’d sat in quiet observation of their battle movements beside Kyleer thus far.
Nik said, “We have a wedding.”
Everyone’s gaze snapped to him with the jarring suggestion. Nik grinned wide, taking Tauria’s hand in his and kissing the back of it.
Faythe gasped at the sparking emerald that adorned her finger.
“You were not wearing that when you arrived—I would have seen it!” she exclaimed.
Tauria giggled. “We married in private before we last left High Farrow. We didn’t want Zarrius or anyone who might have intentions for our thrones to find out and risk a double assassination target on us. But if one of us didn’t make it with what we set out to do, we wanted to make sure, in law and in bond, our kingdoms belonged to the other.”
Faythe teared up. This flutter of joy was such a gift in their dark times.
“Congratulations,” Zaiana said, lacking sentiment. “But having a party for you in the middle of a war seems ridiculous.”
“I get it,” Kyleer said, speaking tentatively. “You want to make it appear like our guard is down and hope Marvellas will exploit our vulnerability.”
“She’s no fool,” Zaiana countered.
“But she’s desperate,” Faythe said, thinking it over. “I agree it’s nothing of a sure plan, but if Marvellas doesn’t know Dakodas switched her ruin, then I’ll draw her here with it. Use its power enough that she’ll feel it.”
“Excellent,” Nik said, staring adoringly at Tauria, delighting in the idea of a proper ceremony for their union.
Faythe’s heart filled watching them.
Even though their day would be used to lure one of their greatest threats, the memories they would capture before the chaos would be worth it. They all needed this. A moment to be with each other. To laugh and enjoy, when they didn’t know who would make it to the other side of this war.
Faythe’s eyes scanned the room though she knew Jakon wasn’t here. She would go to the blacksmiths’ again today as she’d been five times now. Her visits never lasted long. Jakon worked tirelessly, throwing his broken heart and soul into craft after craft. She didn’t know what to do.
Nik stood, guiding Tauria up with him. “We have preparations to make. We’ll have the wedding by week’s end.”