The world exploded.
Pain crashed against my chest as I was thrown from my seat. I heard Reese’s voice through the blur of red.
“Mare!”
He tackled me, shielding me with his body. Tucked beneath him, I pulled my burning eyes open and forced myself to look at the stage.
A column of fire tore up toward the sky and fell from the clouds like rain. Horrible screams echoed within the blaze—someone was up there, covered head to toe in fire, burning alive. They flailed, swatting at their body as their skin popped and boiled.
I couldn’t even tell who it was.
The column of fire burst—flames spewed out across the courtyard, setting the grass and trees alight. Screams sounded all around me, but I could not look away.
A bird emerged from the embers—as tall as the towers, with a wingspan that nearly matched a dragon’s. It had no body, no feathers, no skin. The beast was fire itself.
A phoenix.
Ruby red eyes glowed on its head. They seethed with hate.
Reese winced as cinders struck his back. Drawing his rapier, he stood and pulled me to my feet. “Go!” He shouted.
I obeyed, stumbling a few steps away. My foot struck something, and I tripped, catching myself on my hands and knees.
Burning embers scorched my skin. I turned to see a body lying beside me, its face melted off.
Saints, the smell. I pressed a hand to my mouth and looked up.
The phoenix’s red eyes snapped onto a man in white—the priest. He scrambled back, away from the stage. Releasing an unearthly cry, the phoenix plunged straight down toward him.
The man’s screams were cut off quickly as another pillar of flame consumed him—and everything around him.
Fire tore down the benches and chased the fleeing people.
What was I doing, running? Standing, I summoned Cierthine. The black blade appeared in my grip with a flash of lightning and a rush of wind. Steadying my grip, I watched the pillar of flame reform itself into a phoenix.
A phoenix that turned its hate toward me.
Chapter 59
Diar
The blood woven into my brother’s blade pulsed under the strain of my spell. Gritting my teeth, I focused on the sheet of ice wrapping around me like a shield.
Drop it, and I’d die.
The phoenix screamed. Haunting, inhuman.
Flames slammed into the ice, shattering it.
Burning pain cut through my side, and the force threw me backward. My vision blurred as I struggled to my feet.
“You alright, girl?” Agendra grabbed my arm and hauled me up.
“Ferris!” I blurted out at him.
By the endless sea, the prince was an idiot—he’d probably leaped into the fire and immolated himself.
Falling cinders burned my face as I tore toward the back of the courtyard. Flames consumed everything in sight, and pillars of smoke spiraled into the sky.
