Page 117 of Ruin of Revenants

My pulse pounded erratically in my ears. I couldn’t breathe. Here I’d thought he’d helped me when I was on the brink of death, not that he’d burned and died alongside me. Why hadn’t he told me? “Self-preservation,” I heard myself saying through numb lips. “He would have died anyway because of our blood bond if I didn’t come back. It was the only way.”

“Was it, though? I’ve never seen a male wilder or so panicked, more willing to walk through flames and burn for the one he loved. I only shared about our magic because he was so sincere and convincing. He said he’d pay any price, even death, to save you.”

My heart was in my throat. He convinced me too.

But everything rang falsely except for Scarlet’s words. He’d rescued her and her son. He’d told me they didn’t kill children, but he’d spared the child’s mother too.

He’d changed.

He’d saved a phoenix shifter.

He’d died for me.

I sucked in a heady breath. “Vithenna did something to him when she broke our bond. Stole something from him or manipulated him.”

“You have to bring him back to himself,” Scarlet proclaimed.

“How?” I blinked back the tears threatening to overtake me. There was no time. Already I could hear revenants creeping deeper into the city, approaching this temporary sanctuary Scarlet had found for us.

“You’re a phoenix. If she took something from him, a core piece of his heart or soul or mind, then heal that piece of him. If anyone can do it, it’s you. He loves you. He resurrected alongside you, burned in your fire. Those bonds run deep. Whatever he’s forgotten, his soul cannot have lost forever. Make him remember.”

Chapter Fifty-Six

Archer

A wave of dark water slammed into me, but I pressed onward, finding the revenant wielding the power and slicing my blade through its neck. I’d lost the fire demon and my chance to end the revenant army, but if she’d chosen to infiltrate Rainsong during the battle, I was convinced she wouldn’t go far. I could find her again.

Worse, I hadn’t found a healer anywhere. Everywhere I went there was death and destruction, more revenants than living fae left at this point. I feared Lily was long gone, that I’d failed her like I’d failed the rest of Emberglade.

Was this how it was all to end?

Screams alerted me to a writhing form on my right. I charged around the corner of the building to find a revenant tearing into a soldier’s arm, its rotting teeth unnaturally sharp as it feasted on flesh. Blood gushed down its chin as it lifted its eyes to stare at me, dropping its forgotten victim, who was in a growing pool of blood, his eyes glassy and pained and horrified.

Rage made my vision red. How dare Vithenna think this is what my people deserved, all because of my father’s violence. All because of some death-lovers. I screamed and swung my blade like a madman, hacking the revenant into pieces. Bile climbed my throat, but I couldn’t stop.

Until I remembered the suffering soldier.

I ran to him, but all the blood made it clear it was too late. My eyes burned as I drew on my power again, the soldier’s last chance of peace. I filled him with peace and comfort. But he was already gone. The change happened suddenly, his body rising, his eyes locking on me. They were terrifyingly blank, chilling me to my bone. I lifted my bloody blade and cut off his head.

At some point, I finally came across a healer knelt beside a soldier. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he pressed his palm to the gash in the female’s side.

“Please, when you’ve finished with her, I need you to find Lily Starblood. She’s near the northern border, and she’s gravely wounded.”

The healer’s blue eyes snapped to mine. Already, the female’s wound was knitting back together. “Yes, Your Highness. I’ll find her.”

Racing footsteps alerted me to a revenant closing in, and I turned to meet its attack. Everything was a haze of shadow and misery and screams and rotting flesh. I charged and ducked, parried and swung, dodged and sliced. The cobblestones were slick with blood. My body was heavy with physical weariness and exhaustion from wielding my magic.

And then I saw the flames again, chasing away the shadows and revealing Isoria.

There was something oddly like hope in her expression as she ran to me. The fool. She thought she’d make me fall for her again, trick me somehow. But without the bond, I could defend myself with my magic at last.

“You thought you’d be my ruination, but it’s over for you, Isoria Gildmere. Give up. You’re not going to harm any more of my people.” I eyed the flames dancing around her hands with revulsion, waiting for her to scream in rage and hurl them toward me.

Echoes of phoenix cries over the years haunted me. The death threats, how they’d said they’d burn our kingdom and turn us all to ash.

Not this time.

I opened my mouth to wield my magic, but she was already in half-form, fiery wings lifting her into the air and dropping her right in front of me.