Veronyka was melancholy, and her dark mood was leaching the joy Avalkyra was feeling from their joined fight today.
“They deserved…”
“What, forgiveness?” Avalkyra asked, arms crossed. “Is that where you draw the line, Veronyka? Those who ask for mercy get it? But what about those who never get the chance? What about the people they killed—or would have killed? Do those potential victims not deserve the mercy we just gave them? Because of us, animage children across Pyra may sleep easier in their beds, knowing they are safe.”
“Don’t,” Veronyka snapped, throat working in a tight swallow. “Don’t pretend that’s why you did this. Don’t pretend you care.”
“I am not unfeeling,” Avalkyra said on a sigh. “I simply understand better than you the cost of war.”
“War took away my mother,” Veronyka said.
“War took away my life,” Avalkyra shot back. “It took away my body, my phoenix, my sister…. When I opened my eyes again, the entire world was changed. Do not talk to me of loss.”
“Fine,” Veronyka said suddenly, and Avalkyra narrowed her eyes, suspicious at once. “I won’t talk about the past, but I will talk about the future. I want my sister back. I want us together, just as you do, except I want us to do the right thing. We make a powerful team,” she said, and Avalkyra had never heard truer words, “but it’s what we do together that matters. Come with me and join the rest of the Phoenix Riders. We can defend Pyra and put an end to this war, like you said. I want that to be enough for you… but I don’t think it is. Is it?”
Avalkyra leveled her gaze at Veronyka. It was strange to speak so openly with each other. Avalkyra wasn’t used to sharing her thoughts and motivations. Two lives fraught with lies and betrayal had made her keep her own counsel.
When she spoke again, she didn’t hold back; she said what she wished she had said in a different time, to a different Ashfire. “It’s not,” she confirmed, and the light in Veronyka’s eyes dimmed somewhat. Avalkyra continued anyway. “You and I are meant to rule together. Join me, sister. The world is ours.”
Veronyka frowned. “Why? Why us—why together?”
“We have a destiny to fulfill.”
“A destiny to what? Undo the past? Remake history?”
“To remake the empire,” Avalkyra said fiercely, the words rising up in her like a tide, the want, the need, the desire to make it so practically choking her. She flung a hand out, gesturing toward the capital. “The Golden Empire belongs to us both. For so long I thought it should have been Pheronia and me—that I had missed my chance—but this was my destiny all along. To come back, to rule alongside another Rider queen. Together we would be unstoppable.”
Avalkyra saw a flash of something like excitement in Veronyka’s eyes, and if she released her hold on her phoenix for just a minute, she felt it too. It trembled between them, but like many things for Veronyka, that thrill was tempered by fear. Fear of Avalkyra and fear of herself.
“You think the council will hand it over to us?” Veronyka asked, nodding to the south, in the direction Avalkyra had just pointed.
Avalkyra snorted. “It is not theirs to give.”
“But we’d need support, Val. Armies… allies…”
Avalkyra felt herself lighting up like a phoenix in full flame. Veronyka could deny it all she wanted, push back her dark urges and warrior instincts, but these questions proved that she’d thought about it—that the empire, their birthright, was on her mind as well. Veronyka was on the threshold of accepting it, and all Avalkyra had to do was help push her over the edge.
Avalkyra lurched forward and gripped Veronyka’s shoulders. “We’ll get them. And those who don’t support us will burn.”
Veronyka avoided her eyes, but not before Avalkyra saw the regret there—as if her words had confirmed Veronyka’s worst suspicions.
“And how many will die for you to sit on that throne? I know you keep saying ‘us,’ but there can be only one queen. That’s the way it’s always been.”
“We’ll change it,” said Avalkyra passionately. And she meant it. Avalkyra would share a throne with no one but her. As eldest, she would make the majority of the decisions, of course, and would usher them forward with decades of knowledge and experience under her belt. But Veronyka would always, always be by her side.
“Answer my question, Val. How many will die for you to get what you want?”