The saber reared back and batted him with such force, his feet lifted off the ground, and he struck the wall. He slid down. Didn’t move.
Emmery yelled, felt her mouth shape his name, but the ringing in her ears drowned out all else as she stared up into those yellow eyes.
The end loomed near. She tasted it on the back of her tongue like a bitter demise. Because she’d been so close to all her dreams.
Answers lingered at her fingertips, but always out of reach.
She pleaded for her magic, sought the wave, the rush of it in her bloodstream, but the well had run dry. Desperate, she reached inside herself, down into that hollow part of her chest, and further into the swirling, living mark. The one she was afraid to even touch or think of for fear of its power.
She scraped mental fingers against the magic, pulled it free, and unleashed it. A sensation echoed through her body, flapping against her ribcage, and she recognized it from the day she relit thekhaosflame.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dez wobble to his feet, sword clutched in his hand. He surged forward, but not fast enough. The saber opened its jaws—
Emmery didn’t hesitate. Her back arched, spine bent like it would snap, tested her limits, and she roared.Screamed.
Maybe this was the end.
Maybe this would truly break her.
Then it exploded from her chest and knocked the saber off her.
Black and gold like a tainted sun, the beast ripped free of her ribcage with the force of a galloping horse. Shadows trailed the bird’s molten wings, both the black of death and gold of the stars threaded into its feathers.
The phoenix sang a song of new beginnings and a call for fate.
Its golden eyes stared down at Emmery as if to say,it’s about time.
Hungry for vengeance, the phoenix descended on the saber. Razor-sharp talons struck its massive head, ripped its flesh to shreds, and tore into its eyes. The saber fell limp and landed on its side, half of its body scorched, and the other half raw. Satisfied with the carnage, it soared back into the air and sought its next prey while fire rained down.
Golden chaos burned their world.
Emmery stared up at the phoenix, the beast that had lived within her all this time, and now flapped its wings as it inflicted thekhaosflame upon them. Above, the roof burst and metal and glass tumbled down, melting and consumed by the heat and flame before it reached them. The door shattered off its hinges and the walls crumbled to bits.
Like an unstoppable force, the bird sang the tune that lived inside her, the same one Dez had played, sad and somber, as if it didn’t want the world to burn, but had no choice, as the room disintegrated around them.
Dez stumbled and fell to his knees, his face bloody, and chest a raw, scarlet mess from the saber’s claw. Emmery blinked at him from where she lay, unable to move. Unable to get to him. She needed to heal him. Needed to—
But her body grew distant. Weak. Unattached.
On his hands and knees, he crawled toward her, wrists slicing on the unmelted glass, blood pouring off him, the thorns twisting and writhing inside him, until he kneeled at her side.
“Call it back,” he rasped. “Call it back!Call it back!”
She lay on the ground, unable to feel the stone beneath her. Blood clouded her vision and stung tangy and copper in her nostrils.
“No—” His voice broke, nearly a sob. “You need to call it back. Now. Please, angel, call it back. It’s hurting you.”
She tried to tell him she would be fine, but her numb lips wouldn’t move.
He took her hand, or at least she saw him do it.
She couldn’t feel her skin.
Couldn’t feel anything.
The red clouding her vision thickened, and she choked as blood bubbled and flooded her mouth. It didn’t hurt but—
Was it coming from her lungs?