“I’m so sorry, Rubi,” she whispered. A fresh wave of grief spilled over me.
The wolf loved you dearly, Flame said.
“He stayed with you until the end, Edith,” I said, voice breaking.
We just held each other for a breath, tears streaming down both of our faces.
“We thought there was no way to save you,” Edith said, pulling back to look at me.
“How did you?”
“I removed all the spells on you.” Edith spoke quietly. “And on myself.”
I stared at her. Not an Azure, then.
A Red Phoenix. And despite her recent ordeal, she somehow appeared younger and stronger than the Edith I’d known.
The memories—
“The poison of the Starved isn’t a physical one,” she said, her voice rough. “It’s magical. So, the only way to get rid of it is to take all of the magic away, at least temporarily. Fortunately, that is something I can do, even from someone as magically powerful as you, although that task did take me to my limits.”
I struggled to sit up. “What do you mean? What’s happened? I thought I saw…”
“Activate your magic.” Edith turned over my palms.
My breath caught as I obeyed and looked down. My Mark had changed. My crescent-shaped yin Mark was so bright it was blinding.
“I’m afraid I’ve lied to you, my dearest heart,” she whispered, her hand coming up to tuck my hair back. “About a great many things. But one thing I’ve always told you is true:Never forget that I love you because of who you are, not for what you can do. I love you no matter what.I think you always believed that meant I cared for you despite your lack of power, but the opposite is true. I was trying to say that I would have loved you just as much even if you hadn’t been so extremely magical. You are not only a Zenith, but one of the most powerful Zeniths ever born.”
What?
She reached for something beside her. It was a hand mirror, its silver frame delicate, etched with swirling patterns. Without a word, she lifted it and held it up to me.
I stared.
My face looked the same but different.
Framing my features was a cascade of long, beautiful red hair, the strands impossibly vibrant, streaked through with gold like molten fire woven into silk. It caught the soft light, shifting between deep crimson and liquid flame as I moved, as if embers smoldered within every strand. I reached up, fingers trembling slightly, and pulled a lock forward. The colors shimmered, shifting under my touch. Not just red. Not just gold.
Fire.
Edith watched me carefully. “When we used a body double for you, your hair was the hardest to replicate.”
I tore my gaze from the mirror to look at her. “I can’t believe this.”
She smiled sadly as she said, “No one else has hair like yours. The people called you the Celestial Flame.”
You look like me, Flame said in my mind with great satisfaction.We were meant to be.
I was not dreaming. This was real. Edith was serious.
My throat felt tight, but I finally found my voice. “Why did I have a body double?”
Her expression darkened. “Because you were not only the crown princess of the Dominion of the Red Phoenix,” she said slowly and deliberately, “but you were also the child of prophecy.”
Her mouth parted and she sang, the same song that haunted me ever since I could remember:
“Born of passion and the silencing queen,
