by Tamsin Baker
The palace gates creaked open and the tigers flung themselves through.
There was a pause, like the stillness before a sky-wrenching crack of thunder.
A great black mass poured out of the gates, swirling and roiling, then the gates slammed shut. It was a black that spoke of gaping chasms to other realms, and jagged lightning coiled in its belly. An otherworldly thundercloud, it streamed forth to meet the ball of sun and fire.
Hana clapped a hand over her mouth and her knees buckled at the stench. The invisible power of despair and darkness she had experienced in the laneway and Scales’ dining room was but a shadow to this beast. This was nightmare made solid.
Logan gripped his arm around her waist, urging her to her feet again. “We must flee from here.”
She saw Logan grit his teeth, try to move against the terror that assailed them both. Perhaps the tigers had borrowed a little strength from this terrifying being, but it was the master. His arms were rigid with effort around her. He gasped, getting his legs to move at last, jostling her into against the palace wall. They cowered there, Hana peering out from the circle of Logan’s arms, watching as the thundercloud clashed against the ball of fire.
The ball of fire reared up, and Hana saw with awe that it spread wings, and a great cascade of fire-feathers made up its tail. Hisses and roars of outrage came from the compound walls.
The Phoenix were here.
Chapter 40
The phoenix swung its flaming tail into the thundercloud and lightning exploded around it.
The thundercloud whipped out thin cords of lightning, seeking to wrap them around the bird’s neck, but the phoenix opened its mouth and screeched out a great gush of fire.
The lightning whips retreated to the body of the cloud. It rumbled and flashed, testing the bird from different angles. The phoenix dipped into the breeze, rode an upstream draft and lifted shredding claws to the underbelly of the cloud.
But the lightning was waiting for it, and seemed to trap the talons that scraped over its belly.
The phoenix screeched and cried, his mournful song echoing in Hana’s chest.
“No!” she shouted. “No. Logan, we’ve got to help!”
Logan peered up at the beast, assessing.
Hana could see that the phoenix was being sucked into the belly of the terrifying entity, piece by piece, as his screeching filled the air. They couldn’t let the creature that had saved them to his own devices.
Instead of pushing at the barrier that the terror instilled in her mind, she let herself be pulled by the phoenix song. Let the cage within her open up to it, to his cries for help, finding a tether there, a link between herself and her kin. She tugged on it, letting the creature know.
I’m coming. The Phoenix are coming. We are with you.
She felt the tug back, the gratitude. Then she was running, Logan close on her heels.
“Hana!” he yelled.
She could no longer see the phoenix; he had been completely swallowed up by the darkness. But she could feel him hanging on by a thread.
Fight, she urged him. We don’t give up. We are Phoenix.
Hana ran up the incline until she was under the great, stinking mass of the thundercloud. She shivered with the fear it instilled in her bones, but still she stood there. She felt Logan at her side.
Tigers prowled the compound wall, watching them with cruel amusement. They didn’t bother coming back down to deal with them, as they had confidence enough in the thing above them.
Soon, two more figures were sprinting up the hill toward her. Jyll and Alessio. They watched wide eyed as Hana raised her hands to the thundercloud.
“Give him back!” she screamed, letting the fire and rage build within her once again.
She could have sworn the thundercloud laughed at her, its roiling body pulsing with light a few times. As her shield of flame and light hit it, lightning pulsed and forked right for them. Hana gasped, tumbling out of the way.
“Jyll, with me. Alessio, you’ve got Hana’s back.”
Alessio grinned. “Yes, boss.”
“What?” Hana yelled above the cracking and splitting in the sky.
“Shield us, Spitfire,” he said with a feral growl, and he and Jyll leaped into the sky, and with a flash of light, two beautiful, gleaming teal dragons flew where the men had been.
The larger of the two, with a spattering of sapphire scales along the ridge of his back, the same colour as the Fae male’s eyes, turned his head to gaze at her, an amused glint in his eye.
As the smaller male gained his flank, he turned to the thundercloud above them, and streamed right into its belly. Hana flung out the shield of sun and flame, desperately urging every piece of her new magic to help her protect her friends. Her—whatever Logan was and would be to her. Could be, should they get through this day. She found she desperately wanted to find that out. To explore that path together.
She shielded the dragons as they battered the underside of the cloud, each collision leading to more strikes of lightning. Alessio, beside her, had shifted into Tiger form. Hana barely blinked an eye at him, after witnessing the day’s events, and he nudged her this way and that, an eye on the whips of lightning the cloud sent forking for them.
The dragons worked in perfect concert, like an orchestrated dance as they soared above the cloud, plunged down to breathe their own fire at it, banked at the very last second to ram its sides. They were careful never to get as close as the phoenix had, not to be drawn into the depths. Hana shouted as she saw a glimpse of scarlet and gold, finally, on the edge of the cloud.
The large teal and sapphire dragon heeded her. How he could hear or see her from the distance, she didn’t know, but she concentrated her shield around them, panting, gasping with the effort. She couldn’t hold it much longer, felt the fire burn in her fingertips, felt the heat escalate unbearably inside herself. If she held on much more, she was going to lose control of it, give up her whole self to the flame. Is this what happened to the younglings who burst from their own skins?
She gritted her teeth against the searing heat inside, focussed it on protecting her friends just a little longer. They must get the phoenix out of there. She would not let one more Phoenix fall to the Tigers. Would not let one more person die to protect her. It was not happening.
So, she set her feet wide again, Alessio growling at her, concern in his eyes. The dragons intensified their efforts, ramming at the place where she’d glimpsed the phoenix. And there—he shot free, soaring into the air with a burst of flame. His wing beat was slowing, tired. Injured, perhaps gravely. But he was out.
The smaller dragon gave chase, the larger dragon swooping down toward her and Alessio, and she kept the sputtering flame alive just a few seconds longer, her vision fading, until she had only the impression of flashing teal and sapphire and a band of coarse leather closed around her waist.
The teal dragon, Logan, was carrying her and Alessio away. Away from the dark cloud that peeled back into the Jade Palace, the band of his talon wrapped around her scorched skin.
Chapter 41
Logan carried Hana and Alessio in his dragon’s talons above the city in wide circles as he tracked the failing phoenix. As the power fled the creature, his sun-fire became duller and duller until his form was revealed as no bigger than a bird of prey. His vibrant feathers were torn and ragged, bloody upon his body, the sheen seeming to fade as Logan followed him.
Jyll, also in dragon form, trumpeted a warning.
Find a safe place for him, Logan urged. Not the penthouse.
Perhaps…
But the phoenix was descending in ever smaller spirals now. It seemed to be seeking out somewhere in Turtle quarter.
Follow him, Logan urged.
What about you?
His crazy, brave Fae female dipped in and out of consciousness in his talons. He could feel the heat of her pulsing out beneath his leathery skin. He snapped and snarled his distress at it.
She was about to flame
out, he could sense it. Not if he could do something to stop it.
I need to take Hana somewhere…water. She needs water.
He spied a waterhole at the mouth of the Indigo, where it met the ocean. Far enough from downtown that they should be safe. For now. He watched the phoenix, wings outspread, shaking with what looked like a final effort as it continued its downward spiral. A final flame of sun slipped from the phoenix’s tail as he gave a mournful cry, and Hana’s golden eyes flickered open.
She watched, half-conscious as the flame glided its way towards them. Logan held them in place, flapping his wings to keep in the updraft. He watched in wonder as the flame wreathed around Hana, spiralling down, smaller and more concentrated until it settled in place on her uncovered calf. It looked very much to Logan like the flame was absorbed by her body, and he thought a new marking spread in its wake.
A single tear slid down Hana’s face as she listened to the phoenix song, but the tear hissed and evaporated, barely wetting her skin.
“Quan,” she whispered, her eyes closing again.
Logan wasted no time after that, spearing for the river mouth.
For an hour she remained unconscious in the shallows of the river mouth. An hour while he paced and stalked beside her, back in his usual body, wanting to hold her, but not wanting to disrupt the water’s soothing, cooling effect.
It had been so strange to wear the dragon’s skin after so long. He’d thought his wings might have been stiff and unwieldy from disuse, but he’d slipped into his other form with no difficulty. He felt alive for the first time in decades, and he knew that he had the female who lay burning in the pool, to thank for it. He wondered what his Phoenix would make of his dragon form.
He stalked around the clearing, keeping all his senses attuned to her, should she stir, and collected some berries, shoots and cool, fresh water to revive her. After that hour, almost the longest in his long, long life, she sat up, eyes glowing and golden.
He couldn’t keep the possessive growl from his lips at seeing her, still in her Fae form, beautiful high cheek bones, the delicate arch of an ear he wanted to nip at, the delectable spot where her neck joined shoulder that his canines ached to mark. It didn’t help that the shirt she wore clung to her skin, transparent enough to let the glow of healthy, tan skin, marked up in her Clan colours show through.
“If this is your attempt to get me naked, it’s pretty pathetic, Dragon.” Her voice was rough, ragged.
He let his lips tilt up for her, though he doubted his attempt at a grin reached his eyes. Helping her into a sitting position, he brought the leaves he’d fashioned into a waterskin of sorts to her lips. She sipped, coughed, and sipped again.
“When I want you naked, you’ll know about it, Spitfire,” he growled.
“The others?”
“Jyll and Alessio made it back to the rooftop above Q Den.”
“The rooftop—”
She hissed as she sat up straight, pushing out of the hands supporting her. She turned her leg to examine the calf muscle. Sure enough, wrought as though in glimmering gold and ruby, a new marking had appeared. The fierce phoenix, wings spread wide and glorious. Its golden eyes joyful and free in flight. Hana ran a hand over the marking, drawing in a sharp breath.
“Quan.”
Chapter 42
“Quan is on the rooftop, being tended to by Jyll and Alessio. They’ve called a healer, someone discreet…but Hana…”
She stifled the sob that Logan could see threatening.
“I know. He waits only for me.”
Logan nodded.
“How do you feel?”
Silver lined her eyes. “Thank you for bringing me here. Cooling me.”
“I wasn’t sure it would be enough. I think most of it you did from within yourself.” He reached out a fingertip to brush it across the arch of her cheekbone. The stunning, strong Fae features. He didn’t know whether she even realised she’d kept her Fae form. Whether it was a conscious decision.
“Please, take me back.”
She stood fast in front of him as he shifted back into his dragon form, wondering at the way she inspected every inch of him with her unwavering gaze, unafraid. He doubted any of the thousands of Clan members in Jade City would have been as steadfast. On the field of battle, all cowered before him, even those in their Fae skin. But not this woman. This female.
When she held out her arms from her body, inviting him to grip her waist again, he circled her gently in his grasp, and they flew.
He scented the adrenaline that raced through her body, the excitement and thrill, laced with the edge of panic. So, she was sane, after all. Just. Had their errand not been so grave, he thought she might have whooped with joy. He wished for her to grow into her ability so that she may also join him in the air to experience the freedom of soaring and diving through the sky, sunlight warming his scales. The caress of a cool morning breeze. To see the inky black night sky, spread wide from on high, stars spanning all the way to the edge of this world.
He wanted to show it all to her.
He wished for a time when it would be safe for a Phoenix to fly above their city—all the cities of the southern continent. The phoenix who’d saved them from their ill-fated mission to the cemetery still sang on the rooftop. Hana stumbled onto the cement of the rooftop as they landed, and he willed his talons to turn to hands to steady her.
She made no noise as she fell to her knees beside the phoenix that sang and cried its pain and despair.
Logan looked to the boundaries of the rooftop, eyebrows raised in question to Jyll and Alessio, who stood leaning against the courtyard wall where they’d kept watch over the phoenix.
“The glamour and shielding holds,” Jyll murmured, and Logan nodded his thanks, coming to stand behind Hana, should she need him.
“Quan,” she murmured, voice breaking. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She had not known, then, that he was Phoenix? The last of them, whom he gathered had worked together to protect the most vulnerable of all the Clans in the city, both of them Phoenix, but in their exile not daring to share that dangerous secret.
Lonely. The word vibrated through Logan’s bones. His Phoenix must have been very lonely, for a very long time. No more. She would never have to do anything alone again. Not if she willed it otherwise.
“Why?” she breathed, smoothing the ragged and bloody feathers with shaking fingers.
Alessio cleared his throat. “The Healer said he has stayed in this form to hold off…what will happen if…when he…”
A moan came from Hana’s lips. “Then stay as you are, my friend. Stay in this form until you are healed…”
But before their eyes, the feathers faded until they were the colour of skin. Limbs formed where wings had been…blood seeped through the fabric of the old Den Master’s clothing, hiding what Logan knew were mortal wounds. Hana reached out to grip his hand, the one part of him that was undamaged.
“Well met, Quan Firestorm,” Logan murmured, as the old man gazed up at them from a face twisted in pain.
“Look after my Hana,” he murmured.
“Quan,” Hana said, exhaustion and despair weighing heavily on her. Her phoenix was small and quiet inside her. “Please. Why did you do this?”
“I made a promise to your grandmother, Hana,” he rasped. “Kamala was the great love of my life, even if we could not be together. They would have known, you see. Our phoenix would have come…”
Hana gripped his hand tighter. She thought she understood, though it broke her heart into pieces. Quan and Kamala had denied their love, to keep their phoenix buried deep within them. To accept it, would be to accept their heritage, and neither of them would have lived through that.
It would have ended in flames, or death by Tiger.
“I would always…protect…you.” His eyes sought out Logan, and his men beside him. “But you have others now…to help with your work.”
Hana laid her head beside his.
&nbs
p; “Please, Quan, don’t—”
“Finish this,” he breathed. “Child of the Phoenix.”
Chapter 43
Logan stayed beside her on the rooftop as they shrouded Hana’s mentor. She refused his offer of drink and food. Logan had installed Jyll and Alessio as managers in the club below, casting a glamour that convinced anyone who walked into the club that Quan had a special training assignment at another gym for a few weeks.
While the place was shielded to keep it from notice of the Tigers and Dragons, Logan didn’t want to take any chances. Not while they worked out their next move. Right now, they needed to keep a very low profile. His Phoenix needed to grieve. He didn’t know how much time he could give her, but she deserved these hours, this night to honour her fallen.
They kept the vigil into the wee hours of the morning. Hana leaned on Logan’s shoulder where they sat against the courtyard wall, dozing from time to time. She shuffled as the moon passed overhead.
“I don’t understand. All this time he was Phoenix, and yet—”
He kept silent, sensing there was more.
“I knew my grandmother trusted him, they worked together. All this time he loved her? How could he keep that inside him? And today. He became that phoenix to save us.”
She snorted.
“And you. You can turn into a dragon?”
He smirked, the dragon preening.
“I would say the time for hiding is done. For Quan. For me. For all of us.”
“You’ve been hiding?” she murmured.
He bowed his head, shame coursing through him.
“For centuries.”
For centuries he’d hidden behind duty and orders and done the Tiger Queen’s bidding. He’d used battles and wars and missions as a balm against the loss of his Tiger love, an outlet against ancient anger and injustice. This female in front of him threatened to burn through all of that until there were no more excuses left.
She just stared at him. Not afraid, not his Hana.
“And now?”
“And now, someone has shown me there are things worth fighting for. Things worth standing up for. Someone has lit the fire of rebellion within me.”
