In the next moment of awareness, he stood before a roaring wall of flames, easily reaching heights of twenty feet, and there seemed to be no end on either side. It sounded like a train. The heat blasted him. The smell of burning flesh and oily smoke stuffed his nose and gagged him. His leather pants were melting, burning him, his wings wilted, and he was still yards from the actual flames.
“Go on, hero,” a snorting voice said.
Another voice added, “Ask his mother if he’s a hero.”
Skin-crawling laughter mixed with the raging sounds of the fire.
He turned to the right. There on a dais was a throne chair, all massive wood legs, red velvet cushions, and a hideous creature on it. Even sitting, the creature was massive, probably as tall as Wing Slayer. It had three heads: a ram, a bull, and a monster’s head in the middle. Black wings spread out against the back of the chair, and a snake-like tail curled down and around one leg. Its cloven feet added to the horror. Asmodeus, the three-headed demon.
The monster’s head said, “Heroes’ screams are entertaining. They never think they’ll scream.”
Screams poured out from the flames. Gut-wrenching, agonizing screams that made Phoenix’s teeth hurt. Sweat broke out and his guts churned.
The ram’s head said, “Just say no, hero. The witch tricked you. She’s done this to you over and over, time after time, calling you to life, then burning you to death.” The heads all nodded.
The memory of flying over Ailish’s birth, her first cry filling him with such aching glory that he couldn’t contain the joy … then flames erupting. Sick fear and dread pressing in on him.
The hilt of the knife seared into his back, below the wings. Wing Slayer reminding him of his vow, his commitment to die for his witch. His blood filled with Ailish, with her siren’s voice calling him … her scent filling his lungs, the way her touch ignited him, and the way her mind merged with his until she could see through his eyes. He could see her silvery eyes, bracketed by scars set into her strong face.
She’d had the courage to tell him she loved him first.
He’d have the courage to say it now. In the way that mattered.
Phoenix turned and walked into the flames. The first step ripped a scream from his bowels. The burning agony seared and made him long for death, for freedom from the unending pain. Each step after that, the fire melted his skin, ruined his muscles and bones, drank his blood.
Then stopped. He’d collapse on the cold ground, slick with his own sweat, and heal.
Then it started all over again, until, finally, death came and his earthly body broke apart and crumbled to black ash.
Ailish jerked awake when she heard a scream so terrible, her heart shuddered. Sitting up, she felt around the bed in desperation.
He was gone.
Her heart dropped to her stomach. The silver phoenix on her right wrist pulsed with a fierce heat. Something was wrong! With Phoenix! Fighting her panic, she opened her first five chakras. Then she reached for him, reached to feel the man or the bird.
She recoiled when all she felt was heat.
“Oh God, oh God.” She jumped out of bed, dressed with magic, and grabbed the phone. “Darcy!” She projected her power through the phone to find the witch.
“Ailish …” Darcy’s voice was thick and tangled. Not sleep, but maybe tears?
The panic climbed up her throat and came out in a bellow. “What has he done!”
“He loves you.” Darcy’s voice was kind but tear-filled. “He said he was born to die for you.”
No, no, no! This was the thing she’d sensed that had made her so uneasy. Now she knew why he’d taken her to his mother’s grave—so she would understand that Phoenix loved her enough to die for her, just as his mother had done for him. She began to shake. “How?” she demanded, and endured a second of silence, then begged, “Please! I have to …” She didn’t know, but she had to find him, had to get to him. “I can’t breathe without him!” She couldn’t let him do this!
Ailish listened in horror as Darcy told her. She dropped the phone and, following where her chakras led her, ran through the house and out the back, down the stairs to the grass, to the last place she’d felt Phoenix’s energy. She could smell his leather, soap, and musk scent. The grass was wilted. Dropping to her knees, she wrapped her fingers around the phoenix and forced open her sixth chakra. Her powers raced and spun up and down her spine.
Without the bird to help her, the power was filling and expanding until even her eyelashes hurt.
She pulled on her memories, each and every one of Phoenix. The way he made her feel strong, powerful, able, and worthy. The way he’d chased out her shadows, bringing light to her gray world. What he looked like in that heartbreakingly sensual way of his.
She had to open her seventh chakra, had to find the way to save him. She shoved aside her fear; her eternity didn’t matter as much as saving Phoenix.
He was willing to die for her. For love.
Her gray world exploded in a violet-colored fog. The swirling was beautiful, loaded with patterns of symbols, pictures, writings … it was all churning in the violet-colored mist.
The churning fog kept revealing things: facts, data, formulas, and spells. There was so much knowledge—she’d done it, she was in her knowledge chakra!
She wanted to learn and study each droplet of fog that was bursting with things to discover. It was mesmerizing to watch the knowledge churn and spin in the incredible violet-colored glory. If she knew more, she—
No time! Have to find the answer to saving Phoenix! Focus, look for the answer. There was too much! Phoenix, siren, legend, soul mirror, handfast binding …
She couldn’t find the answer, then suddenly she saw Phoenix. Burning! “Oh God, no!”
Everything wavered, and Ailish fought to hold on. She needed to know how to save him!
A creature appeared. Huge, with wings, bronzed bands wrapped around his massive biceps. “Wing Slayer,” she breathed in reverence.
“Ailish, the siren witch. You found me.”
His voice flowed with power. It was rich, with a tinge of thunderous command. That he would talk to her was a shock. She didn’t waste time. “Take me to Phoenix. We have to save him.”
“He’s in the Underworld.”
“I’ll go anywhere, do anything. Please. He can’t do this, he has died too many times for me! It’s time to save him.”
The god held out his hand.
Ailish didn’t hesitate. Within her knowledge chakra, she put her hand in his. Immediately, the scent of metal and flowers filled her, while her blood raced with the touch of eternal power. The swirling fog of her seventh chakra vanished.
She had no idea if a second passed or a year.
The first thing she became aware of was the booming sounds of popping and snapping flames. The power of it sucked the air from her lungs, while her mind screamed, Phoenix!
“He’s dead.”
The voice made her chakras cringe. But her mind was focused on Phoenix and the flames. He couldn’t be in there!
Wing Slayer held fast to her hand and said, “Release the witch from the handfast. The price has been paid.”
Ailish felt the handfast binding fall free of her wrist. No! Suddenly, she wanted it back. If it was gone, that meant … No! Phoenix was dead!
The god spoke gently. “You’re free, Ailish. Phoenix paid with his life. I will gather his soul from the ashes.”
“Ashes?” Dead. Ailish’s mind rebelled. Her chakras fought it, reaching for Phoenix.
A ripple raced from the god’s hand through her to touch her eyes. Her vision cleared and she saw a neat pile of ashes at their feet. The flames roared to their left, and there was something she didn’t want to look at beyond the ashes.
But all she could see … oh God … the ashes.
She ripped her hand from Wing Slayer’s and fell to her knees. The huge hunter reduced to this pile. Her mind replayed what she’d seen in her knowledge chakra: Phoenix wal
king into those flames with his animal grace, his head held high, his shoulders back, and his wings spread wide even as the feathers wilted.
Her Phoenix. Her beloved. Burned to ash. Other images flashed:
The way he’d showed her what he looked like in the bathroom mirror after her nightmare.
The way he’d sparred with her in the gym.
When he’d taken her sandwich away, insisting on making her steak.
His laughter when she’d called him bilingual because she’d said he spoke “the language of Chuck.”
The way they’d fought the rogues, Young, and his Immortal Death Dagger on the motorcycle together.
How he and the bird had blocked her from seeing him kill her mother.
His love washed over her, and his death shredded her heart. He had died for her! She held out her hands, and her grief ruptured through her chakras up her throat, the pain so furious that she sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and sang:
Breath of life
In my cry
From the flames
Wings shall rise
Aching in beauty
Tears of healing
Wings of my soul
Soar to my call
She poured out all her love, all her soul-shattering grief, her utter desolation, into each word. She couldn’t stop, even as tears burned her eyes and fell down her face, mixing with the ashes, she sang and sang. Even when her breath faltered and her throat bled, she sang.
She’d never stop. Never. If she kept singing, she could keep some little part of him with her. She sang.
And sang.
Her mouth grew so dry, she felt her lips crack and bleed.
Ailish forced more power into her voice, desperate to feel just one more touch, one more brush of wings, hear one more word, inhale his scent …
Her grief wouldn’t let her stop. She sang with unending love, struggling to reach across death and time to touch him with her love once more.
DAYS REMAINING ON HANDFAST CONTRACT: ZERO
“Ailish, my siren, my beauty, I heard you.”
Oh, Ancestors! She heard his voice! Had she cracked? Or maybe she’d died?
“Open your eyes,” Wing Slayer commanded of her.
Ailish lifted her lids, expecting shadows.
Instead, she saw Phoenix. With her own eyes. He was magnificent, kneeling across from her. They were on the grass in the back of his house. Her eyes filled with hot tears and streamed down her face. “How? Are you really here?” His glorious wings spread out behind him in rich, vibrant blues and purples. His huge chest rippled with muscle and no burns.
His dark eyes fixed on her. “You called me from the ashes.” He lifted his hand and brushed a finger across her bottom lip. “You’re bleeding.”
His touch shivered through her. And Ailish threw herself into his arms. “You died! I felt your suffering!” Fierce, raw tremors ripped through her.
Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her. “I thought it would be another century before you called me back. Another hundred years. But I heard you singing and singing.”
She lifted her head, looking to the left, able to see Wing Slayer. “Is he really alive?”
The god inclined his head. “With your profound love for Phoenix, you were able to reach out to me in your knowledge chakra. Because you and Phoenix are soul mirrors, that makes me your god, too, and I could take you into the Underworld. Then you sang, you sang for an entire day. Your voice filled and soared, even when your lips bled, you wouldn’t stop. Your knees were bruised and blistered. You wouldn’t stop.”
“I wanted to find him.” Ailish looked up at Phoenix. “I needed to find you, show you that I loved you every bit as much. I’d have followed you into the flames, but Wing Slayer pulled your ashes out. I couldn’t leave your ashes. So I tried to reach you, to tell you I love you. Always.”
Phoenix leaned his mouth close to hers. “I heard you. I came back to you.” He closed his hand around her bare left wrist. “Thank you, Wing Slayer.”
Ailish turned to look at the god. She began to piece it together. “Did you know I could call him back to life?”
“Once I touched you and felt your love for Phoenix, I knew you could.”
The god radiated power and a vibration of otherworld knowledge that was beyond them. She lowered her head. “Thank you.” Then she lifted her head and added, “Please, don’t let him ever do this again. This burning and dying for me. Please, I don’t want him to suffer anymore.” She hurt to her very soul that Phoenix had suffered and burned.
Phoenix stroked her arm. “You didn’t make me, sweetheart. I chose to do it, and I would do it again. For you.” He paused, then added, “It worked, you are free. Her Ancestors will accept her now, right?”
“They welcome you, Ailish. They have waited for you for a very long time. In the years since the handfast, you have proven your worth.”
Her heart swelled so big, she could barely breathe. Looking at the majestic god, she said, “I am honored.”
Wing Slayer looked into her eyes. “I am powerful, but even I can’t restore your sight permanently. There are costs to power, and you used your power to cause harm.”
Phoenix slipped inside her head. I’m sorry, sweetheart. But you can see through me.
I’m not sorry, Phoenix. I would do it again to save Haley.
He squeezed her hand. I love you.
Wing Slayer said, “Phoenix, hand me your knife.”
She felt the jolt of pride in him when he pulled out his knife and showed her the hilt. Wings. He marked my knife, accepting me as his hunter before casting me into the Underworld.
Ailish looked at the silver hilt of his knife, stamped with wings that looked just like her bracelet. “They are perfect.”
Wing Slayer took the knife. “Hold out your joined hands with your thumbs up.”
Phoenix pulled their hands forward while he said to her, “Can you still see?”
“Yes.” She saw the beautiful wings wrapped around her right wrist.
Wing Slayer announced, “Your Ancestors are here, witch, do you feel them?”
She quieted and felt their benevolent spirits flowing around them. They were stunning and filled with a peaceful radiance. “Yes.”
The god moved, flashing the knife so quickly, it was just a streak. The twin rings appeared around the base of their thumbs. Then he wrapped his large hand around their joined thumbs. “As true soul mirrors, may the two of you reflect the faith, courage, honor, strength, and cunning to fight the curse and protect the innocent. We give you the gift of time to aid you.” He focused on Ailish. “And grant your request that Phoenix not die in the flames over and over. With immortality, you’ll stay together in life.”
The touch of Wing Slayer traveled through her then like a bolt. It raced through her blood, seared through her chakras, found each and every cell or atom that had ever lived. He was creating a new force within her and Phoenix, and marking them both with some invisible touch. Even the hairs on her arms raised in response. But his words, his vow to rescue Phoenix from the repeated suffering of the flames, made her love this god with all her heart. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Then Wing Slayer touched her beloved bracelet. “Look at Phoenix now. Take in the sight of him and the image will be in your bracelet for you to see any time you wish.”
Ailish turned and saw Phoenix. The moonlight reflected off his dark hair, illuminating his outlaw face and his eyes glowing with love for her. She drank him in, the shape of his nose, the curve of his lips, the depths of his eyes, the lines of his jaw. She heard lightning and thunder, felt the dramatic rocking of the earth, felt the winds whipping around them as Wing Slayer left. But she looked only at Phoenix.
Finally she blinked.
And then he was gone. She saw only shadows and shapes.
She touched the bracelet with her hand, and there he was. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. “You are the last thing I will ever see with my true sight.”
“My gift.…” Wing Slayer’s words floated around them, then faded away.
Then Phoenix took her in his arms and filled her with so much more.
Epilogue
TWO MONTHS LATER
Ailish heard the wails of the baby coming down the hallway outside the condo.
“Morgan went shopping,” Phoenix said, his voice full of laughter. Ailish was on her laptop, Phoenix and Key were watching a movie.
Key got up and opened the door.
The screams nearly made the windows rattle.
“Ailish, can you try? Please?” Joe asked.
She set aside her laptop and held out her arms. The baby was two weeks old and very attached to his mother. He loved Joe and preferred falling asleep on Joe’s chest. But he knew the second Morgan left the condo, and he voiced his opinion loud and long.
Joe settled the baby in her arms. She stood, amused when Joe put his hand under her elbow just in case she fell. That man might not be the biological father, but he was little Devlin’s true daddy. Opening her chakras, she began to sing:
Child of magic,
Born of love.
Dry your tears,
Still your grief.
Your mama loves you,
Even from afar.
Feel her worship,
In your heart.
Dev’s tears stopped, his rigid body relaxed, and he pressed his face against her chest, as if burrowing closer to her voice magic. Finally, he fell into a deep sleep. Ailish leaned down, inhaling his powder-and-milk scent just as Phoenix slid his arm around her shoulders. Seamlessly she slid into his head, able to see through his eyes.
They both looked down at the little guy sleeping peacefully now.
Deep happiness spread through Ailish. She had come home to Glassbreakers, blind and alone. She’d thought she would die that way. Now she had Phoenix, the man who brought light to her dark world and had sacrificed his life to free her from the handfast. She had never known that kind of love. And she had friends. Every day was a gift.
Night Magic: A Wing Slayer Novel Page 33
