The flames hissed. Leo sat back in his seat and wearily pulled out Aahnah’s necklace from underneath his kurta, studying the finely carved pendant.
No one had told him he would have to sacrifice the one he loved when he came before the Eternal Fire for his crowning. His father had hidden the truth, only revealing it to Leo the day of his coronation.
Leo had been furious. He had refused to sacrifice Aahnah. The flames had tried to rip him apart in response.
Miraculously, he had survived. And he had lived under the delusion that the test was over, that the Eternal Fire was satisfied.
Aahnah was the one to discover it was not. She had found the truth in the scrolls.
Elena was but seven suns when they went to the temple for an Ashanta ceremony. The Eternal Fire had been hot, angry. It had snapped at him, and Leo had stumbled down the steps of the dais to escape, but the fire was faster. It had grabbed his ankle and would have tugged him into the pit when Aahnah, face resolute, had jumped. Within seconds, the Eternal Fire devoured her.
One moment, she had been there, holding Elena, and then she was gone, leaving Elena alone by the dais.
After her sacrifice, the fire had fallen back, quiet, satiated.
Only then did Leo realize why his father had hidden the truth. He wanted to protect him—just as Leo wished to protect Elena now.
To become the ruler of the Fire Throne, to claim the title of the Phoenix King, the heir needed to make a sacrifice. Either one of blood, or one of love.
It was a closely guarded secret, spoken only on coronation day, and never again. If the people had ever remarked why a member of the royal household had suddenly gone missing, stories were woven.
He got drunk and lost his way in the desert.
She traveled to the first continent and died of illness.
At least it was no secret that madness ran through the Ravani royal blood. His enemies liked to harp on it.Why should Ravence be ruled by a mad king?
Royalists pitied it.They lose themselves in service to the Phoenix. What better worship than this?
At first, the stories of madness had been part of the ruse to cover the far deadlier truth, but somehow, the stories themselves had become reality. The Ravence family had become mad. His father,hisgreat-uncle before him, and on, and on. But had they become mad because they hid the truth, Leo wondered, or because that’s what happened when one lost their anchor in the world?
Leo knew the sorrow of fire. And Phoenix Above, he did not wish for Elena to know of it too.
But there is another reason, isn’t there?the flames seemed to whisper, and in their crackle, he heard Aahnah’s voice.Oh selfish, selfish Malhari.
Slowly, Leo unrolled the scrolls again. Though he could not translate the message of the runes, he thought he understood them. The Eternal Fire had given him a warning—a reminder of his transgression.
But he would protect Ravence until his dying breath. Without him, the nation would fall into chaos. Elena would be alone to fend off the hyenas.
Leo called for Muftasa.
“The girl,” he said. “The one with the hair of starlight. Bring her to me. Let’s see if she burns.”
THE LAST PROPHET
—from the historical records of the Fire Order
When the Phoenix rose from the temple, She spoke to the priests in a voice made of ash.
“Why are they fighting for this land?”
As She spoke, armies waged war at the foot of the mountains. If one walked to the front steps of the temple, one could hear the faint sorrows of battle: the clash of metal and the short-lived screams of men. The Phoenix looked from priest to priest, but none could meet Her eyes—not only because of their shame, but also because they could not see past the clarity of Her flames.
All except one.
A priestess met the golden eyes of the Phoenix and spoke in a small yet steady voice.
“It is because they do not realize their mortality,” she said.
