I grit my teeth, grab my horse’s reins, and pull myself onto the mare’s back.
Typical Aleksander. He thinks he can just order me around, and I’ll obey.
Curse him!
I dig my heels into my horse’s flanks, and she bolts forward. Wind whips past my face, tears at the hem of my surcoat as I encourage my mount to move faster and faster.
Without warning, silver flames erupt around us in ghostly tendrils. My mare whinnies as we’re yanked backward through the air, and we slam to a stop right where we started—next to Aleksander’s smirking face.
How?
The question dies in my throat as I spot Brathen, his masked face tilted toward me, silver flames dancing between hisraised fingers. He lowers his hands, and those fucking flames disappear.
Bastard!
Anger flares through me as I lash out at him. “How dare you?”
“I do dare,” he says in an erringly calm voice.
“Now, now, Annora,” Aleksander says, his voice screeching through my ears. “Settle down.”
“You settle down, coward!”
Instead of lashing out at me, his face hardens as he speaks. “Go to the village. Use your Phoenix and destroy it.”
My muscles seize as my body moves without my consent, my mind emptying of everything except Aleksander’s cruel command.
I turn my horse toward the House of Crimson village nestled in the valley below, its thatched roofs and winding dirt lanes oblivious to the violence about to be unleashed.
Aleksander, Brathen, and the rest of the masked Watchers follow me. When we reach the wooden gate circling the village, the Watchers quickly smash it open with a battering ram.
The moment the gate falls, the Watchers storm inside and cut down anyone who tries to resist. Cries of panic fill the night air as the villagers scramble to escape.
I slide from my saddle, my feet hitting the ground with a thud.
“Emberdione, I need you,” I rasp, my voice foreign to my ears.
She materializes in a swirl of sparks, her wings glowing crimson in the darkness.
“Destroy it all,” I order.
She obeys without hesitation, lashing out with her magic. Thatch roofs ignite in an instant, the flames greedily swallowingeverything. Walls blacken and crack as the fire races from house to house.
I stand motionless as the Phoenix’s destruction spreads—unable to stop it, unable to feel anything but the empty space inside my chest.
The Watchers hunt down everyone trying to escape. They slaughter the men and capture the women and children.
Emberdione soars overhead, every beat of her wings sending another wave of fire crashing down, engulfing homes, carts, and the remnants of ordinary lives.
A house collapses nearby, the thatched roof caving in as embers shoot into the sky like angry stars. A man rushes toward the burning building, calling out names I can’t make out. He doesn’t make it far before a Watcher intercepts him and cuts his throat. The man crumples, his outstretched hand inches from the door.
My heart screams as a child darts past me, her face streaked with soot, eyes wide with terror. She trips and falls, scrambling to get up as Emberdione’s shadow looms overhead.
Stop.
Please stop.
Emberdione’s flames rain down like molten tears, each droplet igniting another piece of this village.
