Samson smiled. “You don’t believe it.”
Elena hesitated. Ash still lined her fingernails from the funeral pyres. All night, she, Kruppa, and a few soldiers had dug out the bodies, Ravani and Jantari alike. They had burned the Ravani, buried the Jantari, as according to their different customs, and sung prayers for the dead.
But those prayers were meant for the Phoenix, and the Prophet would have found them blasphemous. She studied Samson, measuring her words.
“I don’t believe the Phoenix was a lie,” she said carefully. “At least, not fully. Not yet. Gods, even fake ones, are hard to kill.”
“Did you sing songs of the Phoenix when you lit the funeral pyres, then?” He was examining her hands, and Elena tucked them behind her.
“We did,” she said. “The Phoenix is our faith, Samson. Even as Prophet, you can’t change that. Maybe in time, people will come to understand and love your Great Serpent too. Maybe they’ll find the Phoenix to be a lie.But they need proof of the lie.” She paused, looking to the Eternal Fire. “I need proof too.”
“Like what?” He gestured to the mountains, the Eternal Fire, the ruins. “It’s all around you.”
“You can’t drag every faithful Ravani here and demonstrate your powers.”
“Why not?” He toyed with the fire on his wrist. “It would be convincing.”
“You need proof for the Ravani. We’re a fervent and religious lot, and simply calling our god a lie won’t be enough.
“My mother studied the Phoenix. And she was a preeminent scholar, far more than any priest. She wrote me a letter saying that Alabore created his kingdom with a different power. A darker power. But she also said the Phoenix would still rise. She believed that the Phoenix would return. Do you see, Samson?” She stepped closer. “Even after uncovering Alabore’s truth, my mother stillbelieved. That’s what you’re dealing with. Whatwe’redealing with. An unshakable faith.”
She did not mention her hope. The hope that if her mother had still believed in the god, then maybe the Phoenix was true. Maybe her kingdom wasn’t a lie after all. Elena felt it flutter against her chest, small and fragile, an ember barely given the ability to breathe. But it was there.Hope is an ember you must keep alive in the dark, her mother had said. Behind her back, Elena fastened her hands together as if to hold on to it.
Samson sighed. Slowly, the fire around his wrist withered away. “She jumped into the fire, didn’t she?”
Elena nodded, fighting against the sudden tightness in her throat. “She did.”
“Unshakable, indeed.” He ran a hand through his hair, considering. “If you can gather proof that the Phoenix was a lie, then will you reveal what you’ve found?”
“Of course.”
“To everyone. Even your own people?”
“If my kingdom was built on a lie, I want to knowwhy. I want to know how.” She met his eyes. “They deserve to know it too.”
He did not flinch from her gaze but held it. She wished she could decipher his expression, the deepening of his eyes, the slight tightness in his jaw, but his face was a mask. Samson Kytuu was a man of many masks. Suitor, soldier—savior. She had made a mistake by disregarding thatearlier, but now, as he stood before her, Elena felt the urge to peel back that mask. To find what truly lay beneath.
Finally, Samson nodded.
“Fine. Saayna is around somewhere. Why not start with her.” He began to turn to the blaze but stopped. “Did your mother mention anything else in the letter?”
“She said there are three types of fire. That I’m one of them.”
“She knew you were of Agni, then.” Samson shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “Why do I get the feeling your mother must have run circles around Leo?”
Elena did not reply. Something nagged at her.The Phoenix shall awaken, and She will seek Her Prophet and other brethren, her mother had written. What had she meant bybrethren?
But before Elena could speak, a flame of the Eternal Fire suddenly shot up.
It arced through the air, vivid and viciously bright, a weeping scar against the perfect blue skin of the sky, and then whipped around, barreling toward them.
Samson reached for his urumi, but Elena was already moving, curving her arms and framing her hands into lotuses. She caught the stray flame in her arms, but the impact nearly knocked her over. She gasped, stumbling back as the flame fought her control, its sparks spitting against her hands as if spittle from a beast. Elena felt its ferocious heat, its burning desire tokill, and for a moment, she was bewildered by the savage strength of that desire. With a grunt, she threw the flame back. It hurtled straight through the Eternal Fire, parting the flames like a knife, and collided against a broken pillar.
The pillar snapped. A large chunk fell into the Eternal Fire, and the flames swelled forward.
“Get back!” Samson cried.
But she only widened her stance. She was not going to allow it to burn this mountain. Not again. Elena faced the approaching flames, her heart thundering, her Agni a battle cry in her ears, when Samson whipped his urumi with a roar. The inferno stumbled, as if hesitating. He slashed down, and with an almost imperceptible groan, the flames rolled back.
