Page 168 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“Not yet,” another said with a giggle.

“You stand in between,” the third finished.

I blinked. “In between…what?”

“Between what was,” one began,

“And what will not be,” another finished.

My irritation flared, proof that I was, in fact, still alive. “Can you people speak in anything but riddles?” I shook my head. “If you’d just told me everything last time, we might not be in this mess.”

The fog flared. “We warned you,” one said, anger in its mystical voice.

“We told you the sacrifice would be too much.”

“We urged you to give up while you still could,” the one with the high-pitched laughter crooned.

I licked my lips. “Yeah, well, a quick ‘the Elders are sadistic murderers and you need to kill them’ would’ve done the trick.”

A chuckle reached my ears, and fingers trailed up and down my neck. “Oh, you cannot kill them, child.”

“But we can stop them,” all three Fates said as one.

My eyes widened. “How? They’re becoming immortal as we speak. Or…maybe they already are, I don’t know.” I brandished an arm. “Their ritual⁠—”

“We know of their ritual,” one said.

“But they will fail,” another said, fog rising at their words. “The ritual only works if they still have a vessel from which to draw magic.”

“A living vessel,” another added. “Until they claim the last ounce of your life as their own.”

Hope sparked in my chest. “So you’re here to save me?”

“And give them a chance to use you once more?” The fog breathed out, as if sighing. “We’re sorry, little phoenix. We’re not here to save you.”

I closed my eyes. “You’re here to kill me. To make sure they can’t finish the ritual.”

There was a pause. “We must preserve the balance.”

“The High Elders cannot take this immortality. It was not meant for our descendants, and we regret the power we brought into this world.”

“It must end,” the three said together.

Maybe it was the fact that I had already accepted my fate twice tonight, but hearing their plan didn’t make me angry. It didn’t make me want to beg for my life. They were right: the High Elders couldn’t be allowed to live forever with that much power. And if it meant I had to die, truly die, then I couldn’t stop it. I had vowed to bring them down, and maybe this was how it had to happen.

By scattering them in my ashes.

“Don’t stop fighting, Songbird.” Everett’s dying words filtered through my mind unbidden, pulling at the threads.

I didn’t, I wanted to shout back. I fought until the very end. Everett was surely dead, and now I could end this for good and join him.

But he’s not the only one you’re fighting for.

The thought blazed to the forefront, along with memories of Kieran and Odessa, still at the mercy of the Elders. Of Tessa, who didn’t deserve such a horrible death. Of the rebels hiding away. Of Nox and Mama, who would never know how sorry I was for leaving them. Who would never know the truth—not that their love wasn’t enough for me, but that I thought I wasn’t good enough for them.

“Wait,” I cried out.

The fog rippled. “You cannot change our minds,” the higher-pitched voice said.