The streaks stopped at the bend of her arm. The fissures on her flesh cracked, and an amber hue emitted from inside.
Dorian's eyes darkened, his fingertips blackening, as he pulled for his form, but he didn't let it grow further than his arm.
Nyssa's weight shifted as his own fissures glowed navy.
Flames erupted on their entwined hands. The world vibrated in Nyssa's eyes, but Dorian squeezed her hand.
"Stay with us, Nys," he said. "Fight it. You are in control. Not it."
"Breathe, Nyssa," Bala reminded her.
Nyssa forced out a long breath, and she concentrated on holding that form at bay, her muscles straining. Amber flames entwined with his navy ones.
Bala stepped between them. Her hand lifted, and the wind swept gently through the fires, giving them oxygen and fusing them together.
Black flames rose between them and wrapped up Dorian and Nyssa's arms.
Nyssa's eyes lifted to her brother's, and he smiled. Bala's fingers moved again. The fire spread between them, taking the shape of the phoenix.
"Show off," Dorian muttered to her.
Bala smiled, the fire dancing in all their eyes. But her gaze shifted past them then, and she gave an upwards nod to where the bonfire had been going on.
The siblings followed her nod, and the sight of what was happening made Nyssa's form falter. Dorian's dwindled with her, and together, the three stilled.
Every person on the beach had dropped to one knee. Swords in front of a few. Others had their hands over their chest in salute. Nadir and Lex grinned at them from their knelt positions beside each other. Reverie and Corbin both smiling at Dorian.
"Remember them, Kings," Lex called out.
And Nyssa's heart knotted at the realization of what was happening.
Bala was the first to move.
She pushed between Nyssa and Dorian, and she drew her sword.
A King confident in her place. Demanding respect without ever needing to ask for it or fearing it ever being questioned.
"We have questions," she said, the tone of her voice commanding every person there and sending a visible chill through the air. Wind swept over the tops of their backs.
The Rhamocour cried out behind them. Purple fire lit the sky and evaporated. But for a moment, Nyssa saw the illuminated bent heads of every Honest and Venari on the beach.
"Name them," Nadir shouted firmly, and Nyssa noted that his gaze had not left her.
Bala began to pace before the crowd, eyes darting over the people. "We are not looking for anyone to fight in our names," she said. "We are not standing before you to ask you to die while charging strangers and screaming out our names on battlefields while we sit in castles and drink wine. What we are asking is that you fight at our sides as our equals. We ask that you fight for your own freedoms. To fight for this land and our continued survival."
Two beats rattled the ground.
Two beats that made Nyssa's weight shift, her chin rise higher, and she saw Dorian straighten beside her.
"Do you make this choice of your own free will?" Bala asked. "To kneel before Kings not forced upon you by bloodlines but rather of earned trust and respect?"
A collective, short battle grunt sounded, and Nyssa's chest swelled.
Her feet moved, and before she realized it, she was standing at Bala's side, arms wrapped around her chest. Noting the eyes fixating on her.
"Will you follow us?" she asked loudly.
Two more beats vibrated beneath her feet.
