“NO!”
A stabbing pain pierces my heart watching the ashes disappear into the wind. It feels like I’ve lost her all over again, but this time I can’t push down the feelings growing in my chest. Shadows rip through me, covering the sky in darkness as the mountain shakes beneath my feet. I drop to my knees, digging my hands into the snow as if it will help calm me, but it doesno such thing. Birds flying by burst into nothingness as the mountain across from me disintegrates, leaving a valley in its place.
Death and destruction. That is who I am. That is what follows me, and Reign was collateral damage. I could’ve taken her to the Shadow Lands. I could have set her free, but I was selfish. I didn’t want to be like my father. I wanted to prove to her that I was different. I gave her the choice to fight back and now she’s dead because of it.
Guilt eats away at me as flashes of her olive skin and loose curls run wild in my mind. I’m so lost in her memory that I barely register the floating orange embers starting to form in front of me. A cluster of them appear just off the mountain’s edge. I quickly get to my feet, preparing for a fight. A surge of excitement shoots through my veins at the thought of killing someone.
The illuminating embers begin to swirl around, creating a tornado of red and orange. I hate that the image of it reminds me of the one person I want to forget. It’s as if the universe wants me to suffer. I start to conjure my sword of shadows but pull it back, deciding my fists are the only weapon I want to use right now.
As the tornado grows in front of me, I think about reaching my shadows out to whoever is hiding behind it but instead, decide to wait for them to come to me. All of a sudden, a burst of flames forces me to shield myself. The heat coming off of them trail along the outside of my shadows as if to stroke them.
I almost pity whoever it is they belong to for picking a fight with me. Their death won’t be quick and painless today. Violence is the only release from the chaos threatening to suffocate me and unfortunately for them, killing is in my nature. I wait another moment before slowly starting to drop my veil ofshadows, but the second my eyes see her they immediately fall away.
Impossible.
I take a step forward as if doing so will somehow make everything make sense.
“Reign!”
Her eyes remain closed like she’s in a deep sleep, but I can’t take my eyes off of her.
How can this be? Did the Verenite Stone somehow work?
I look up at her floating in the space just off the mountain’s edge. Flames mold to her body, hugging every curve of her as if it were her skin. They dance around her like she’s a candle in the wind. Sweat crawls down the back of my neck and the sides of my face as intense heat radiates from her.
The sight of her fiery hair blowing wildly makes the corner of my mouth curve slightly. Wild and free is how she was meant to be. Not caged like an animal, forced to live a life at the control of another.
When her eyes fly open, I instinctively retreat a step. They aren’t the green eyes that make me want to fall to my knees, but the fiery ones that resemble the sun. The ones that warn everyone around her to run the other way. But something about them looks void. It’s as if she’s looking right through me.
She lifts her arms away from her sides and waves of flames flare out around her. Another burst of fire erupts from her core, and she slowly leans her head back, surrendering herself to the power. Minutes pass by as she levitates in the air. The flames continue to whip around her as she remains in some sort of unconscious state. With each passing second I can feel myself growing more and more impatient.
She’s right there. She’s only feet away from me.Alive.
Fuck it.
I reach my shadows out for her, ignoring the burning sensation clinging to them. I won’t let her slip away this time. She can burn every inch of me until there is nothing left if she must. Death is a price I will gladly pay if it means she gets to live.
My ribbons of shadow, which are now set ablaze, are just about to wrap around her when a blast sends me flying back into the side of the mountain. Snow falls from the impact, putting out the flames that had claimed my shadows as their own. The feeling of relief it brings almost stops me from noticing the intense throbbing coming from the back of my head. When I reach back to assess the damage, my hand is instantly coated in thick blood.
I grip the side of the mountain, which now bears a Ryder-sized imprint, and wait for the dizziness to ease before I try to stand. The throbbing only intensifies, but I welcome the pain it brings. Once I feel like I have my bearings again, I turn back around.
For a moment I think the head injury has me imagining things, but there’s no denying the image before me. Flames flicker along the edges of her bird-like wings as they flap against the cold mountain air. I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face seeing her like this. My mind knows it’s impossible, but my heart knows it’s true. Everything about her makes sense now.
She was born from The Mother. Her power knows no bounds. She didn’t receive her gifts her tenth year like every other witch. She destroyed the ERV like it was nothing more than a fragile vase.
The Oracle had said immortality is one hell of a loophole for death. It knew this would happen. It knew her fate. It hasbeen written in the stars this whole time. She never needed the Verenite Stone to save her because she was never a witch. She was never ordinary.
She was a gift from The Mother. An immortal.
A phoenix.
Chapter 18
Reign
Death feels different from how I thought it would. I expected it to feel peaceful like floating on water. I expected to see my mother or to be greeted with rays of white light. I expected to feel lighter from no longer being weighed down by life’s burdens. But that is not what death feels like.
Death feels like waking up from a deep slumber. It feels like when the sun comes out after a week of rain. It feels like being reborn.
