dead body of their landlord into the alleyway after they’d missed several months of rent; Val defending them against three men who wanted more than their money, her face exultant and her hands dripping with blood.
“I’m trying,” Veronyka said in a strangled voice, blocking out the haunting images and turning her focus to Xephyra. She slowed her breathing, trying to calm herself and convey meaning to her bondmate, to explain the concept of danger. Xephyra’s response was to send her bright-eyed reassurance: She’d had dates before. They were sweet and delicious, and Val was a familiar sight and sound and smell. Xephyra didn’t understand.
“Don’t explain it to her,” Val said, while Xephyra took another step forward. “Tell her. Command her to step back. Command her to go to you.”
Terror had sunk its teeth into Veronyka, and she tried—but she knew she did it wrong. She was desperate now, afraid and on the verge of tears. She didn’t command; she begged. She pleaded. And all her wild emotions managed to do was cause her phoenix to tilt her head in confusion before edging nearer to Val.
“I can’t!” Veronyka cried out, losing her faith that Val would never do anything to hurt her. “Please, Val—I can’t. I—”
“Order her!” Val yelled.
The words weren’t just words—they were power. Val had used shadow magic on her, the magic she’d never turned on her sister before. For a moment Veronyka thought her body might bend to Val’s will. But the next thing she knew, she was on her knees, reaching, sobbing, tears streaming down her face.
Val straightened up, no longer trying to lure the phoenix toward her. She sighed, her dark eyes filled with disappointment. She tossed the knife onto the cutting stone and dropped the date onto the ground at her feet. Xephyra leapt the last few paces between them and began pecking at it eagerly.
Relief flooded Veronyka’s chest, loosening the tight knot twisted there.
“Val—” she began, but she was interrupted by a retching, spluttering sound. A second later panic seared through the bond, intruding upon her thoughts.
She knocked the cutting stone aside and leapt for Xephyra, but Val got there first, slamming into Veronyka and pushing her backward. Xephyra gagged, opening and closing her beak as she tried to bring up the date. Her feelings were so wild and insistent that Veronyka couldn’t tell which thoughts were hers and which belonged to the phoenix. As Veronyka struggled against Val, sorting through her clouded mind, she finally made sense of what was happening. Xephyra wasn’t choking on the date; it wasn’t lodged in her throat, obstructing her airway. She’d already swallowed it. So why was she struggling to breathe?
“You poisoned her,” Veronyka gasped, unable to believe it even as she knew it must be true. She stared wide-eyed at Val—the person who’d helped raise her, Veronyka’s sister and protector and friend.
“Xe Nyka,” she said, using the Pyraean nickname for “Veronyka.” Val’s voice was sweeter in Pyraean, the long e sound of Nyka softer, gentler—almost soothing. But if it wasn’t a denial Val intended to speak, Veronyka didn’t want to hear it. She shoved her sister, hard, and Val toppled backward into the cabin wall.
Veronyka didn’t hesitate, but flung herself onto the ground next to her bondmate. Xephyra’s bulging eyes met hers, but they couldn’t focus. Pain gnawed at Xephyra’s stomach, pulsing through the bond, while her thoughts, her emotions . . . they were ebbing away, like water through cupped hands.
Veronyka reached out for her, mentally and physically, but then Val was there again, dragging her backward. Veronyka fought her—more savagely than ever before, more than she’d fought even for her maiora—but Val’s grip was unrelenting. Veronyka could do no more than watch in horror as, with a stagger and one last chirrup, Xephyra fell to the ground, unmoving.
Veronyka’s mind went silent.
Their bond, their connection—just like that, it was gone.
Phoenixes are the reason magic exists. Azurec’s flaming warriors of light needed to be able to communicate with humankind, and vice versa, and so Nefyra and the First Riders were gifted with animal magic.
Because the First Riders were Pyraean, some people believe that the people of Pyra are the source of magic and that all magic in the valley was brought with them when Elysia made her conquest. But, of course, Elysia didn’t come alone—she came with phoenixes.
Therefore, Azurec is the source of magic, and phoenixes are its bearers, spreading magic across the land and bringing it to life where it lay dormant in humans all