“And what about . . . what happened to your phoenix?” Sev asked hesitantly. Whatever had happened to Trix’s bondmate, it couldn’t be good, but curiosity got the better of him.
She stared at the flames. They’d burned quite low, only just gilding the bottom of her face. “Her name was Bellatrix.”
I’d like to be called Trix. She was silent for a long time, and Sev thought the conversation was over.
“We survived the fighting in Aura Nova,” Trix began, her voice heavy, “because we weren’t in it. I was already positioned inside the Nest and had to maintain my cover. Bellatrix was with the youngsters at Avalkyra’s home base on Pyrmont. It was terrible to be apart, but as I watched the phoenixes drop from the sky, I was grateful. Sick with cowardice and grateful all the same. In the days and weeks that followed, we tried to keep the rebellion alive. I fled my post, but I couldn’t risk leaving the capital—everyone traveling in or out had to provide travel papers and identification. Laws were passed; friends were executed as traitors. To exist was an act of rebellion. Even in Pyra, we were not safe. Avalkyra left nothing in place, no precautions in case she did not return. We were leaderless, all our best warriors dead or imprisoned. Raiders wreaked havoc on our borders, and animages were chased deep into the mountains. But hope lived. She lived.”
“Who lived? Your phoenix?”
Trix stilled for half a heartbeat, pain flickering across her face before tossing her stick aside. “Yes. She lived, for a time. She begged me to run away with her. There were still safe places for people like us, deep in the wilds. But I couldn’t.”
Trix was speaking steadily faster, the words pouring out of her in a rush.
“I have a duty to my queen, and my work is not yet done. I told Bella that, again and again—she had to remain in hiding, lest she give us both away. When she railed against my orders, I commanded it, with all my might and all my magic. She didn’t listen. Bella was a stubborn old thing,” Trix said, aching tenderness in her voice. Then, in the blink of an eye, her tone went hard. “When they found me at last, they dragged me to the city square. I must admit that I was afraid. I was a spy, so I was always prepared for my own death—but facing it is an entirely new beast. And facing Bella’s? That, I was not ready for. She came for me, wings blazing, shrieking her fury. A dozen soldiers were dead before they managed to hook her with a net and drag her down to earth. I could hardly see, for the tears in my eyes. Bella called to me, and her fear was like fire in my belly. Before I could do more than cry her name, they raised the ax and cut off her head with one fell swoop. A phoenix that’s been beheaded cannot be reborn. That death is final. There was blood everywhere. . . . It sizzled as it spread across the cobblestones.”
Sev stared at her, unable to banish the horrible image from his mind. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing,” she said briskly, clearing her throat. “It was years ago now. Water under the bridge. Ashes in the wind.”
“I’m sorry, Trix,” Sev said eventually.
“Ilithya,” she corrected. “That’s my true name. Or at least, it used to be. Ilithya Shadowheart. It’s about time you knew it.”
Sev felt the weight and significance of that name and the fact that she’d given it to him. Thya was short for Ilithya, and Trix was short for Bellatrix.
There’s so much in a name.
“I’m sorry, Ilithya,” he corrected.
“You know what? I prefer Trix,” she said, and gave him one of her wide, mad-looking smiles. Sev found it oddly comforting.
“Time for sleep, I think,” she said, getting creakily to her feet. “Nothing like tales of the bloody past for a bedtime story. Sweet dreams, Sevro.”
She squeezed his shoulder, then puttered off to bed, leaving Sev alone by the fireside.
He wasn’t at all ready to sleep. He wouldn’t be surprised if Trix really did think the history of the Blood War made a good bedtime story, but Sev did not. His mind was racing, filled with images of battles and blood and death.
He put another log onto the fire and stared into the growing flames.
Sev knew there was a chance he wouldn’t survive what was