Epics and Tragedies had been banned. They were popular and, since the war, controversial, featuring many famous warriors and notable figures from Phoenix Rider history—and that was exactly why they were forbidden. Rumor had it that some of the underground theaters and gambling halls in Aura Nova paid extra for the players to perform them in secret for the after-hours crowds, charging twice as much admission to make up for the risk.
As Jotham stalked away, Ott considered Sev.
“Since you’re no good as a lookout, you can make yourself useful and carry this,” he barked, dropping his crossbow into the dirt before grinning smugly and sauntering away.
Sev watched him and Jotham leave, not daring to breathe until the sound of their departure was swallowed by the forest.
He took a shaky breath, unsure what to do or say, when the girl stood up. She had surely overheard them and knew that he was no regular raider, but a soldier. The phoenix remained somewhere out of sight, and now that the danger had passed, Sev’s mind was free to face the knowledge of its existence for the first time.
They were supposed to be things of the past, snuffed out just like the rebellion they had symbolized. Once the war was over, the empire’s governors had deemed the creatures too dangerous to remain and too loyal to animages to be trusted. Phoenixes had been hunted into extinction within the borders of the empire, and in the early years following the war, poachers had tracked them into Pyra as well. While the empire’s laws didn’t exist in the Freelands, with the fall of Avalkyra Ashfire, there was no one in the now-independent country to defend them or their lands. No government, no soldiers or infrastructure remained. Each village governed itself and didn’t have the population or resources to unite with the others under a common banner or purpose. Pyra’s people might be free of the empire’s laws, but they were free of its protections, too.
Sev had often wondered why the empire didn’t march into Pyra with its full army and retake the lost province, but according to what he’d overheard, the answer was simple: It wasn’t worth it. The land was too wild and vast to easily reclaim and would require spreading the empire’s forces thin. Besides, Pyra wasn’t a rich country—its economy had all but collapsed during the war, when travel and trade became dangerous—and the cost of rebuilding would be too high.
But then Sev had to wonder—if there was nothing in Pyra the empire wanted, what were he and the other soldiers doing here?
He looked at the girl again. Maybe the Riders weren’t gone after all. Maybe this was why they had come.
“Is that . . . ? Are you a Phoenix Rider?” he asked, his voice soft. He hadn’t spoken the words “Phoenix Rider” in a long, long time. Since his mother and father had died. What if this girl was part of some new rebellion?
The girl crossed her arms, her expression stony. He might have saved her from detection, but he was still a soldier standing between her and her home.
The phoenix chirruped from somewhere behind her, and her harsh features softened somewhat. She crouched down and scooped up one of the tubers from her upturned basket and tossed it into the trees. There was a great crunch and a crackle and an erratic stirring of leaves as the phoenix devoured the treat.
The girl grinned—and Sev smiled too.
There was a moment of camaraderie between them, a heartbeat of relaxed tension, before her breath hitched and her dark eyes widened in alarm.
Sev understood a second later when the air stirred behind him, cooling the sweat that dotted the back of his neck. Before he could react, there was pressure at his hip, a barely audible snick, and then a rough hand jerked his chin to the side while another pressed the blade of his own knife against the exposed flesh of his throat.
I promised her the throne would not come between us. Nothing would. How I long for the foolishness of youth.
- CHAPTER 6 -
VERONYKA
VAL HELD THE KNIFE in a steady hand, a savage smile on her lips and murder in her eyes.
With her long red hair blowing in the breeze, she looked like a deathmaiden, one of Nox’s guides into the dark realms, and this poor soldier had been ensnared like a lost soul on a battlefield.
“Val, no—wait!” Veronyka shouted, her hand outstretched. “Stop.”
Val stayed her hand, though she didn’t remove