Chapter One Nara

C HAPTER O NE

N ARA

‘You need to concentrate, Nara. You’re overthinking it.’

I squeeze my eyes shut, then open them and turn to face Gus, who is standing a few metres away from me in the Aerian training fields. He has his arms crossed over his chest as he analyses my stance, sensing how discouraged I am that I don’t seem to possess any source of power, despite what I thought after we found out three months ago that I was the reincarnation of Solaris.

‘I’m starting to believe I am no Solaris,’ I huff, flexing my gloved hands in front of me as if that will conjure up my power, or at least summon an animal like I have done in the past.

Gus cocks his head to the side and smiles through his thick beard. ‘And yet only yesterday you were grinning at the fact you beat a shifter – one who has never trained in combat before – in a sword fight.’ My silence makes him breathe out a sigh. ‘Have you considered that perhaps you do not want to accept this change?’

I shrug, even though I know he is not entirely wrong. Changing means that I am no longer who I once was. It’s too much pressure, too much of a burden, to see others place their hopes in me.

Flames charge through the winter air as a few phoenixes fly towards us, stopping me from entering another self-doubting conversation with Gus. As they land, I realise my brothers and Link are atop them. Having the Aerian headquarters be airborne on floating landmarks meant you had to travel within Aeris by riding with phoenixes or dragons, many of which Gus had managed to save.

Illias is the first to jump off a phoenix’s back as its gold- and scarlet-feathered tail thrashes against the grass. Illias then jogs over to me, his arms out, and squeezes me into an embrace, and I chuckle, rocking us back and forth on our toes. ‘How is training coming along?’ he asks.

I open my mouth, but Gus answers before I do. ‘She is getting there. She has the fighting down thanks to her time as a Trapper and Venator trainee, but in terms of power, she just needs to stop doubting herself.’

Offence takes refuge in my chest. ‘That is not—’

‘Give her time, Gus,’ Idris cuts in, his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘It was only a year ago she was still trapping pixies and carving flowers out of wood for a living.’

‘Not to mention falling for a shifter.’ Illias chuckles and shakes his head as he steps away from me. It seems I have no say in this matter. Everyone is speaking for me.

‘Are we forgetting she is a reincarnation of Solaris?’ Iker adds, still in disbelief since he first heard about it months ago. ‘Our sister is a deity – who would have thought!’ He frowns. ‘I wonder what that makes me? Semi-powerful?’

‘Nothing,’ Idris deadpans. ‘It makes you nothing.’

‘If it helps, Nara,’ Link says, a small smile colouring his lips as he comes up beside Illias, ‘I always felt there was something special about you. It was just a matter of time before we figured out what exactly.’

I smile, having missed Link’s soft reassurances. That is until I hear the landing of a creature behind me and Rydan’s voice as he dismounts a sleek black Umbrati dragon with shadows curling around its talons.

‘And alas, my heart breaks, for I was not chosen to be your other half, Ambrose. But I suppose sometimes even the deities can make mistakes.’

I turn to him and cock a brow, only for him to wink back at me. ‘Maybe you should try explaining how you would woo me in the bedroom again?’

Idris starts coughing uncomfortably, and I bite my lip so that I don’t burst out laughing.

Rydan shakes his head, pulling off the tips of his gloves. ‘Unfortunately, not today, Ambrose.’ His expression turns sour. ‘Hira would like to see you; they are all holding a meeting right now in the common area.’

Any tinge of laughter or humour drains from my body. I look over my shoulder at my brothers, acknowledging the worried glances they share with Gus. I turn and give Rydan a nod as I head towards Gus and ask him to take me to the meeting.

He accepts and shifts before I mount him and slide my hands over his leather skin. No matter how much time passes, I can never get used to not seeing Darius’s unique silver scales. Letting out a sigh, I pat the side of Gus’s neck, and he takes off into the sky towards the Aerian headquarters. Fog ahead shields the grand open spaces of the palace, where Aerians flash into flames and become phoenixes. Despite the chaos spreading across Zerathion with Aurum’s return, I’m still able to take a moment to admire the Aerian architecture. Roofs made of red stone and marble curve around the entrance to the balcony, while gossamer leaves that shimmer in emerald hues hang from the surrounding trees.

As Gus lands, I hop off and rush inside before he can return to his human form. I half jog and half walk past spacious rooms glowing in the winter light. When I reach a set of golden doors with a phoenix engraved on them, I push through and into the great hall where Freya, Leira, her wife Aelle, and a few Phoenix warriors are waiting. Gus catches up to me, shaking his head, though he is now used to me escaping him.

My mood further deflates when my eyes snag on russet hair as Lorcan looks up at me from across the round glass table.

I ignored him for three months, making sure he couldn’t come anywhere near me, but lately, it’s harder to avoid him when we all live in the same place, especially now that I know . . . he isn’t a Rümen any more.

Recalling the moment I found out Lorcan was alive, my vision fogs up, and I’m suddenly back in that hallway where I bumped into him.

‘—I cried for you . . . I mourned you.’ My voice cracks uncontrollably as I stare at Lorcan after having pushed myself off him. ‘Darius mourned you.’ Agony ruptures through my heart as I think of Darius and how he is not here to soothe away all the rage I feel, and for one blinking moment, I let myself picture him. I let myself believe he is beside me, his eyes burning into mine with that golden fire.

I run my hands through my hair, frustrated, as I bite down on my tongue to make the image fade.

Lorcan looks at the ground solemnly when he says, ‘I know.’

You do not know. You do not know the half of it. ‘How . . . how is it—’

‘I did die that day.’

Intense silence cuts through the frostiness of the hallway.

‘And I accepted it.’ Shame takes over his expression as he looks up. ‘But the leader of the Aerian warriors . . . she took my body back here, Nara. She felt something in me – something alive and worthy.’

Staring at him, I’m not sure where he is going with this.

‘See, they have this belief.’ The apple of his throat moves visibly as he swallows. ‘A belief that life can be reborn.’

A rebirth from the ashes . . .

Recognition of what he now means tightens a coil around my chest. ‘You’re a phoenix.’ I don’t pose it as a question; it is more of a statement that I need to hear myself say.

He nods slowly as if conscious of admitting it. ‘Aerians believe my ancestry dates back to them, that perhaps my mother was never exactly mortal, and that is why I became Erion’s first successful Rümen.’

‘Nara,’ Hira speaks, pulling me out of my memories with a welcoming smile. She moves her long raven hair to the side, showing off the typical Aerian armour she wears – a burgundy chestplate over leather attire, to match the banners inside the hall. If I have learned anything from the past few months staying here, it is that the three Aerian leaders take great pride in being warriors. Since I first met Hira that night at the Noctura ball, she made sure to impress that onto me, despite now knowing who I was.

‘Thank you for joining us,’ she says. ‘We appreciate, with all the training you are undertaking, that you have enough time to spare and give us a chance to speak with—’

‘Any news?’ I interrupt her, anxiety dripping from my words.

Her lips thin into a closed smile as she gestures for me to take a seat. I remain upright, causing her to awkwardly clear her throat as she walks around the table and plants her hands against it. ‘We have received word from the princesses of Terranos that Aurum is no longer there.’

My hands begin to clam up. ‘Where is he?’

‘Princess Arlayna believes he has returned to Emberwell to finish what Sarilyn started.’

Hope blooms inside my chest, and my breath comes out in short bursts. Excitement is taking over at the prospect of good news for once. ‘Then if he is there, we can find a way into the castle and free Darius.’ I glance at Freya and Leira. ‘How is the preparation for the unbinding spell coming along? I assume that is why I was brought here to this meeting, right?’

Freya grimaces, biting her lip as she looks at her aunt and Aelle for guidance. Leira seems at a loss, and I do not like it one bit.

‘Even if Aurum is there with Darius,’ Hira’s voice ripples across the room, ‘Freya and her aunt are beginning to believe the spell wouldn’t work. Aurum used his blood in the Isle of Elements to bind their souls together. Our research tells us that simple witchcraft cannot sever that tie.’

My eyes slide to where Lorcan shifts from his statuesque pose. He stares at the floor with enough focus to burn a hole through it. ‘So, what then?’ I say to Hira and begin to tap my fingers against my thigh.

‘Aelle has been able to locate where Aurum is hiding the Elemental Stones inside the castle through her scrying. In the meantime, I’ll have Leira and Freya keep searching for a way to free—’

‘But that’s not good enough!’ I lose all patience, raising my voice. I have kept myself busy and let everyone else take the reins so I could focus on building up my strength, but I can no longer hold in my frustration.

‘Nara—’ Gus touches my shoulder, but I shrug him off, taking a step forward.

‘I have waited three months,’ I say. ‘ Three months where I have had to suck it up and listen to everyone tell me that it won’t be long until he is back here with all of us. How much longer must I wait while he is stuck with his deranged uncle, who is likely torturing him right as we speak?’ Guilt wraps around my heart, imagining the terrible things he must be going through. I don’t want to believe the worst has happened, and I don’t want to think we will never get him back. ‘The longer we spend planning what to do next, the more Aurum gains control over everything else around him. He did it three hundred years ago; he did it in Terranos with me and Darius, and he will do it again.’

‘We understand your frustrations—’

‘No, you don’t understand!’ My lips wobble, and I bite down hard. ‘Darius probably doesn’t even know I am alive,’ I whisper, and everyone inside the room takes turns looking at each other and then at me pitifully. I do not want pity; I want everything to go back to normal. ‘If it were him in my position, he would have done everything to get me back by now.’

I just know that he would have torn the whole world apart and wouldn’t have waited just because others told him to. I feel like I am failing him right now.

‘We are trying everything, Nara,’ Freya says quietly, and I don’t even realise she is now at my side. My gaze locks with her hazel eyes, and for a second, I feel as if I am drowning in something I can’t control.

I need to get out of here.

Backing away, I mouth my apologies to her before I cast everyone else one final stare and storm out of the room.