The Third Sun (Daughter of the Phoenix Book One)

by Victoria J. Price

  “Whether you fight now or later, it matters not. Before the third sun graces us with its presence, there will be many battles ahead of us.” Altair stood. He swung his cloak over his shoulder and strode across the chamber to stand beside his son.

  “Yahto.” His voice was low, almost a whisper, and Fia could barely hear his words. “This is greater than all of us. We can hide from it, ignore it, pretend it isn’t happening, and carry on with our lives.” He gestured to the room, his voice growing louder. “We can continue teaching our children to fish and make bread, and we can carry on mending our nets at the end of a day’s fishing. But we cannot stop what is coming. The sun is dying, and something deep within Ohinyan relishes that. Can you not feel it in the water, in the earth?”

  Fia felt it in her bones.

  Yahto’s shoulders slumped, and he shook his head. “Father, we cannot assist you.”

  …

  Fia stood looking out over Mizune from one of the busy bridges. The cold that filled every hidden corner of the harbour seemed to penetrate through her clothes no matter how tightly she pulled them around herself.

  She’d overheard Altair’s report to Alexander, and he’d met with Yahto several times to request the assistance of the Mizunese. He’d relayed their knowledge of the attacks, of the dying sun, the changes in Ohinyan, of Erebus, and how the effect of his whispers could be felt even at sea. But still, Yahto would not help. He refused to put his people at risk. Fia couldn’t blame him. Before she’d arrived to Ohinyan, she’d have seen it as black and white. People needed help, and the Mizunese could give it. But she’d seen what the burden of responsibility meant, the way it weighed on Alexander, and even Altair, too. To be responsible for the lives of so many was not something she envied.

  A group of Nords rested by the harbour, their distinctive silver armour scattered in heaps beside them. Maab was the most difficult to spot from this distance, his white fur disguising him amongst the ice. As a magnificent tiger, he had a much gentler way about him than as a man, more playful and carefree. He dived into the icy sea, black stripes disappearing out of sight, then returned minutes later with a seal, limp and lifeless in his great jaws. He scored down its belly with a razor-sharp claw, the steaming insides oozing onto the ice around it. A low rumble escaped Maab’s bloodied lips, and in moments Enne was by his side, white fur against white fur, as they devoured the seal together. Fia looked on as Enne, feline and gentle, licked Maab’s fur until it was no longer pink from seal blood.

  A snowball hit her foot and she looked away. A group of Mizunese children were playing. They were having a snowball fight of sorts, directing the motion of the snowballs through the air, as if they were held by unseen cords. One feigned left and right before hurling it at another with squeals of delight.

  “It does not do well to be still out here for long.” Fia hadn’t noticed Altair join her. He was incredibly light footed for someone so great in stature.

  “It’s fascinating to watch them,” she said. “It’s as if the water is part of them, as if they are connected to it by an invisible thread.”

  “It is as Yahto told you, child. Every living thing comes from water. So yes, in that sense, they are connected. We all are.”

  “So anyone could manipulate the water this way?”

  “Perhaps, with time. The Mizunese are taught from the moment they can sit up that the water is a part of them, so it becomes as familiar to them as the act of speaking. It is said the great ice giants taught the Mizunese their affinity with water.” He sighed. “Their power was not always this great. It grew in response to the Makya at the coming of the second sun. But at a great cost. I understand Yahto’s hesitation to assist us. There were once ten times the number of Mizunese you see here.”

  A boy hurled a barrage of snowballs at a girl half his size, and just as the snowballs were about to hit, she sent a wall of ice shooting up like a tower in front of her. Fia let Altair’s words unravel themselves in her head. Ice giants. Of course there are ice giants.

  “What is it that troubles you, child?”

  Fia rolled the little bird charm between her fingers. “What doesn’t?” she asked, fidgeting with the little pouch around her neck and worrying about the Lady Noor. She hadn’t known her for long, but long enough to know she was good and kind, and that she had risked her life to save another.

  Below them at the dock, Alexander laughed with Maab and Enne, human once more, as they moved crates from the ships to the shore.

  “I still don’t really understand why I’m here—you all seem to be pretty well united without my help. But…I don’t think I want to go back to Earth anymore,” she said. Not think…know.

  “Ohinyan has changed you, child,” Altair said. “You are not the same young woman that I healed when you fell through the window.”

  Fia remained silent. It had only been a few weeks, but he was right. She did feel different.

  “Since you returned to us in Ikothea, I have felt very proud to have you amongst us,” Altair continued. “My home is wherever my people are.” He followed Fia’s gaze to Alexander. The day was drawing to a close, and the sun had already dropped behind the icy cliffs leading from the sea to the harbour. The soft grey light of dusk fell around them.

  “Do you think you will ever stay in one place?” Fia asked, turning back to Altair.

  “I doubt it. We move with the seasons. A forest that is cold and cruel in winter becomes lush and full of life in spring. When the ice melts and gives way to fresh water, ripe fruits, and animals for hunting, we can eat, drink, and feel blessed by it.”

  It sounded so simple. Life back in London was always so complicated, even when there was nothing in particular to complicate it at all. Fia exhaled through pursed lips, watching the little vapour cloud of breath drift away from her. She caught Alexander’s gaze as he made his way back towards the cabin they shared with Runa and Malachai.

  “What is of most importance,” Altair said, placing a hand on Fia’s shoulder, “is not how we move from place to place. But whom we move with, and who we let move us. It has been the people who have come in and out of my life that have shaped it, not the mountains I have climbed, or the oceans I’ve crossed.” He shook his head, his old, evergreen eyes looking down at her. “I do not have answers for the questions I know you wish to ask, but the witches do, and we are very near to the coven Alexander has spoken of.”

  With a gentle hand to her back, Altair left, leaving Fia alone in the dusk. She blinked herself out of her daze. This was absurd. She should tell him. She should just tell Alexander how she felt, because if she went back to Earth without saying something, she knew she was going to regret it.

  Fia paced down to the cabin, pushing the door open with much more force than she meant to. Runa and Malachai were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Alexander. The main room was empty.

  So much for her grand declaration. She peeled off her coat and pushed through the door into her bedroom, flopping down onto the bed.

  The door creaked open, and Alexander stood in the doorway. “Can I come in?”

  Her room was cramped, and his wings filled the small space where he stood. Fia sat up and cleared her throat. “Of course.” Her voice came out much smaller than she meant it to as she tried to think of everything she wanted to say.

  Alexander sat down beside her, his wings moulding neatly around him as he sat. This time she didn’t hesitate. She ran her fingers softly down a wing, the silkiness of his feathers passing between her fingertips.

  Fia traced a thumb across his bicep, and his blue eyes flashed up to meet hers. She bit her lip as he held her gaze. She rose up on her knees, wrapping her arms around his neck, with barely an inch between them.

  Her movement broke the stillness, and within a heartbeat, Alexander rolled onto his back and pulled her with him. She couldn’t breathe. Her eyes rose to meet his and then lowered to where his lips parted slightly in the middle. The familiar stir of electricity clouded the air around them as
he brushed her lips with his, and then his hands cupped her face, and he drew her in for a deep, open-mouthed kiss. Fia pulled back to catch her breath, and Alexander’s eyes never left hers. She pulled her shirt over her head and held his gaze for a moment, his chest rising and falling with his ragged breathing.

  And then Fia melted into him, all of her at once touching every part of him. His hands tangled in her hair as he kissed her fiercely this time, a quiet moan escaping from her, as his tongue found hers.

  Alexander held her face in his hands, his eyes on hers, as they paused to share a breath. And then his mouth was on hers again, hungrier than before. His warmth flowed through every inch of her as she tasted him everywhere, with equal urgency. She didn’t just want him; she needed him.

  His breathing was fast as he grazed her neck with his lips, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders, breathless, as the electricity pulsated through her. Alexander rolled her gently onto the bed, the rhythm of their bodies intensifying as they fit together perfectly, like two fragments becoming whole.

  …

  The shadows of flickering oil lamps danced against the wall of Fia’s bedroom.

  Alexander pressed a kiss into her hair, his fingers entwined in hers.

  “There’s something I think you’d like to see.” He was on his feet, passing Fia her bundle of clothes from the floor. “We need to hurry,” he said with a warm smile.

  Fia pulled on her clothes and smoothed her hair, and Alexander yanked her to him, playfully kissing her neck.

  “Are you ready?” He took her hand in his, and they stepped out into the cold air of Mizune.

  They moved quickly, across ice bridges and past traders packing away their goods for the day, down through the docks, and past houses. Lights flickered on inside the windows of homes. Soon, they were out of the town onto the bare ice stretching outwards on either side towards the cliffs, blue, capillary-like ribbons streaking across it.

  “Where are we going?” Fia asked. It was getting darker, and the moons were already visible in the sky. Alexander urged her onwards, over ice that gave way to rocks and a pathway of stone leading up into the cliffs.

  “Alexander, really, where are we…” With one more step, they were high above Mizune, on the cliffs where they’d first seen the guards standing watch, the flickering oil lamps of the town far below them. In the other direction, the moons cast a milky glow on the still ocean. Ice stretched far to the east and west, powdery blue in the moonlight. The stars reached out as far as they could see, far brighter than the oil lamps of Mizune, glittering like fireflies in the endless inky sky.

  “Just a few more minutes,” Alexander said, pulling Fia back against him and wrapping his arms and wings around her. She breathed him in, savouring the feeling of his body pressed against hers, as her mind wandered to their warm bed back down in Mizune.

  Moments passed, then a single note carried quietly to them on the breeze. And then another, and another, chiming melodically, until the sky filled with bands of colour flickering in time to the music. Hues of green, pink, purple, and blue flashed before them as the chimes became voices and then chimes again.

  It was like a waterfall of light dancing before their eyes. Fia felt she could reach out and touch it. “It’s so beautiful,” she said, leaning deeper into Alexander’s embrace, the scents of the forest drifting from his hair and wrapping around her.

  The whole sky in every direction brimmed with colour. Like a gentle smoke screen, the stars and the moons glistened beyond the ribbons. “What is it?”

  “They are sky spirits, and they are very, very old.”

  “They? Older than the angels?”

  “Much older. They protect the skies above Ohinyan, and they can harness the power of air, much like the Mizunese can with water. But most importantly for me, they protect my home.”

  Alexander pointed to their left, and Fia looked out at the streams of rose, lilac, azure, and ruby. As the ribbons rippled, gently, Fia could see… She wasn’t exactly sure what she could see.

  They looked like upturned mountains, with loose rocks and boulders floating nearby, and atop of the upturned mountains were forests, lakes, and hills. As the ribbons of light flickered, Fia could see more clearly.

  “Is that...is that a city?” Even amongst the colours of the sky spirits, it was golden, as if the sun was at the very centre of the city, and its rays burst from every opening.

  “Alythia. My home. It moves through the skies above Ohinyan under the protection of the sky spirits, never remaining in one place. The sky spirits guide us home,” he said.

  “You can understand them?”

  Alexander turned Fia around to face him, and she felt the chill of the night air fill the empty space between them. She tugged gently at his hair, at the strands that curled under at the ends, as she examined the contour of his lips, the way they rested in a firm line when he wasn’t speaking.

  “Understanding is a complicated thing,” he murmured, holding her hand in his. “We hear their song, and it guides us home.”

  “And the Makya?”

  Alexander shook his head.

  “So they’ll never find it. They can’t?”

  “Not unless another angel leads them to it.”

  Oren. Alythia flickered in and out of sight. “Why do they want to reach it so badly?”

  “For what it represents. A city in the sky above all of Ohinyan…a place of great power from which the wrong person could govern all of its inhabitants. But if Erebus is behind their search, then that’s something different altogether…”

  “And do the angels govern them? The people of Ohinyan?” She traced a thumb over his lip as she bit down on her own, and she felt the familiar sensation of longing pulsating through her.

  Alexander shook his head. “No, we listen.” He pressed a soft, teasing kiss to her lips.

  “I can hear them, too, the sky spirits. A little, anyway. It’s so strange. Sometimes, I just hear words, sounds. With some of the races we’ve met, even more. But it’s not like learning a language it’s…it’s something more, it’s like you said, understanding is…complicated. Am I the only one like this?”

  “Loquere,” Alexander said. “Very loosely translated, it means ‘one who speaks.’ I have only ever heard of one other here in Ohinyan, but they died long before I was born. It is a very special gift, Fia.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I never meant to lead you here. It wasn’t right. It’s not fair to ask this of you—”

  “But what can I even do? You all seem to have it figured out without my help. I’ve just been in the way the entire time I’ve been here.”

  Alexander shook his head. “You haven’t been in the way.”

  Fia rubbed her forehead and let out a soft whistle between tight lips. “I need to know more, Alexander, about so many things. And I need to know if Noor will be safe. Please, it’s time for me to go to the coven. And then I can make my own decision. You don’t get to choose for me, even if you’re trying to protect me.”

  The breeze picked up, and Alexander brushed a few strands of hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear. “Of course, I never meant to take anything from you,” he said.

  “I need to do this…alone. Tomorrow then?”

  “If it’s what you want. The moment the sun is up.” He glanced up one last time towards Alythia. “We should go.” He held out his hand, and together they made their way back down the stone path to Mizune.

  Chapter Twenty–Two

  Alexander

  In the early hours before Fia left to seek out the witches, Alexander received news from a sentry regarding the activities of the Lady Noor. It was time for a visit home.

  Malachai and Runa joined Alexander in their ascent to Alythia. Perched high on a series of rock formations that cut their way gracefully through the skies above Ohinyan, Alythia was a cluster of islands floating on a sea of clouds. Long vines hung from some of the rocks whilst others held waterfalls cascading off their edges, pouri
ng clean, crisp water into the sky below. In a certain light, the waterfalls created rainbows, revealing glimpses of forest amongst the rays of sunlight. Some of the smaller clusters of rock sat at different heights, others were linked together by old, crumbling bridges uniting a mountain range as it rested in the air.

  It had only been a few hours, and already he felt the absence of Fia’s warm body against his. He longed to show her Alythia, to have her flying beside him above the clouds, but she’d chosen to go to the witches alone and he had to respect her decision.

  Being intimate together hadn’t been as it had with other women, not simply because it was his first time with a human. It was unlike being with any angel. But he knew it was more than that, more than her humanness or the novelty of a woman without wings. It was the hum of the air around them when he pulled her close. It was the spark in her eyes and the sound of her hungered breathing matching his. It was the way they’d both laughed at Fia running her hands over his wings and her quiet whistle when she’d rested her head on his chest.

  “Are you ready to find out Oren’s fate?” Malachai asked Runa. They passed over a waterfall, and Alexander forced his attention back to their journey.

  “We’ve already lost him, no matter what happens,” Runa replied, and they flew on in silence.

  Alythia was lush with forest and running water. As they approached the centre, nature overtook the structures, as if there had been a battle over time and nature had won. The lush green ivy and crawlers wrapped tightly around the magnificent buildings. Each edifice shone with a golden lustre in the light of dawn, brilliant and majestic, as they stretched upwards into the clouds. Home.

  Alexander was the first to touch down on the largest and grandest of all the structures in the heart of Alythia, a cluster of towers supported by great columns of marble, Ehnalia. Several guards stood waiting for them as they landed on a glistening platform, stretching out across Alythia.