motions had to be passed by a vote—but any orders or decrees issued before the war were given higher priority. If they came stamped with the seal of one of the Ashfire queens, even more so. It was too soon to tell if the royal line was truly broken or if any of the distant Ashfire cousins—real or imagined—wanted to make a claim to the throne. Tales of long-lost Ashfires and secret weddings abounded, and no object proved more valuable—or more difficult to find—than an Ashfire signet ring.
Even edicts stamped by Avalkyra—the rebellious traitor queen—held weight according to the lawmakers and notaries who still held their positions on the council.
While a ring with the spread-winged symbol of Avalkyra Ashfire did appear in the aftermath, only to be quickly debunked as a fake, the seal of Pheronia Ashfire was never seen again.
—“The Lost Ashfire Rings,” from Jewels of the Golden Empire by Ginevra, High Priestess of Mori, published 172 AE
My heart tells me that where I am weak,
you will be strong. Where I have failed,
you will succeed.
- CHAPTER 50 - AVALKYRA
THE THREE OF THEM stepped out onto the balcony; Rolan’s guards surrounded them on all sides, while Veronyka, their prize, was sandwiched between them.
Before them stood Commander Cassian, leader of Pyra’s ragtag Phoenix Rider forces.
Avalkyra steadied her breathing.
It had been harder than she’d expected to walk into the Eyrie all those weeks ago. The place reminded her of her own time in Phoenix Rider training, and it had been strange to see Cassian grown old, wearing the mantle of commander, when Avalkyra had known him back when his father was governor. He had been several years her senior, and she’d watched him train as a Rider, take his position in Ferro, and court her childhood friend, Olanna Flamesong. His cautious politician’s nature tempered Olanna’s natural fire, softening it—softening her—and Avalkyra had hated to see them together.
But all three of their lives had long been intertwined, and both Olanna and Cassian had been on her Rider Council. In her memories, he was still as young as her. He was… well, he looked like his son did now. It was what Avalkyra had thought when she’d first seen that brown-haired, brown-eyed boy. Even the touch of Olanna’s blood couldn’t change all the ways he favored his father.
And his son was with him now. He’d do anything for Veronyka, which Avalkyra supposed was an admirable asset. There were two other male Riders, unfamiliar to her, and then a woman. She was tall, her black hair long and braided.
Alexiya, Rider of Ximn.
In truth, Avalkyra barely knew the girl and hadn’t seen her since the war. Of course she was no girl now, but a woman grown, and older than Avalkyra by seventeen years.
But then, she’d been young and brazen, and she’d looked just like him.
If Commander Cassian was guilty of stealing Olanna away, what Alexiya’s family had done to Avalkyra’s was much worse.
Avalkyra swallowed; she remained cloaked and hooded, her entire body still—but her mind raced. She could avoid these reunions no longer.
She hadn’t been able to face Cassian when she’d been at the Eyrie, alone and friendless among Riders with whom she did not, could not, belong. Alexiya, on the other hand, was a reminder of the past that Avalkyra would rather forget.
But it seemed that her grace period—her years of hiding in the shadows—was over at long last.
Avalkyra straightened her spine.
The time for bargains and treaties was gone.
Now it was time for steel.
“To what do I owe this most unexpected pleasure?” Rolan asked the Phoenix Riders, smiling jovially, arms spread wide as though in welcome.
The commander took him in with narrowed eyes. “I didn’t think you’d be so… pleased to see me,” he said, his tone equally light, though lacking in the upbeat, almost friendly attitude of Rolan.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Rolan asked, his mouth still quirked up at the corners, as if they were sharing the same joke. He leaned in conspiratorially. “I’ve been trying to draw you out for weeks now, Cassian. It’s a good thing you’ve finally come—there are almost no Pyraean settlements left.”
Veronyka stiffened, and Avalkyra sent an elbow into her side. The girl had to stop exposing every thought and feeling for the world to see. Without their bond, without shadow magic—even without eyes, Avalkyra was certain she would have known Veronyka’s impotent anger in that moment.
Cassian, for all his faults, was a master of his expression and demeanor. Avalkyra had tried to use shadow magic against him