Dead. Gone.
My parents hadn’t shattered. Their bodies were still there, serving as some macabre trophy for the madman leading the ceremony.
A madman who loathed abominations.
Abominations like Az. He was the product of two different types of fae—Paradox Fae and Phoenix Shifter Fae.
Constantine would have hunted him down and demanded his execution.
Which was why I’d seen it fitting to ask Az to end my life.
Yet he’d flamed me instead, filling me with renewed energy while telling me I wasn’t ready for the other side yet.
I’d been enraged.
We’d truly fought that day.
Then he’d nurtured me back to life in his own way. Not tenderly, not kindly, butviolently.
And we’d been friends ever since.
He stared at me now, his Phoenix darkening his irises from violet to black once more. “What has you perplexed?” he asked. “What concerns you?”
“You’re not my therapist, Az.”
“No, just a friend who wants to spar. But you’re lost in your mind. Why?”
Because I can’t save her, I nearly said, thinking of Emelyn.
Except…
The thought hadn’t been past tense.Can’t save her, notcouldn’t save her.
My brow furrowed.I can’t save who? Camillia?
Az drew a circle around me with his dangerous black fire, the flames hot against my senses.
I dispelled them with a wave of purple magic, killing the life within his enchantment by tainting it with death.
He smirked. “So it’ll be that kind of battle, hmm?”
The phoenix on his chest moved, drawing my gaze.
Then his fist slammed into my jaw, sending me two paces backward.
“Flames,” I hissed, furious with his distracting move.
I darted forward just as Az swung another fist laced with black flame. I caught it in my palm, wrenching him back so quickly that he didn’t have time to react as he landed straight on his ass with me on top and straddling him.
Rage made my fists fly, punching him in the jaw, the mouth, his rock-hard chest. He’d picked at an open wound with his words, darkening my mood considerably.
And I took it out on him.
I took itallout on him.
My helplessness. My failure. My irritation over this new development with Camillia and the odd sense of protectiveness I felt toward her.
I didn’t know her.
