The subtle glow from his skin backed his words. His life force was gathering.
“No—” My father’s voice broke.
“Malachy,” Grandfather turned. “With your compassion and kind heart, you will be a great king. Take my gift and rule as I know you can.”
Father couldn’t speak. Tears streamed down his face as he nodded.
Grandfather turned back to me, his eyes filled with a sorrow so deep it took my breath away. “I am so sorry, firebird. For everything. I hope you and Roderick live the long, happy life you deserve. And perhaps, one day, you can forgive me for the pain I caused.”
My anger and resentment had crumbled once we learned what Blackstone had done. “There is nothing to forgive, but if it eases your heart, we already have.”
He opened his arms, and Father and I moved into his embrace. I pulled Rod in, and for a moment, we stood there as a family united in grief and love. When he released us, his eyes held a clarity missing all these years.
Tears spilled down my cheeks as a complex tapestry of love, grief, forgiveness, and gratitude threatened to overwhelm me. How could I compress a lifetime of feelings into these final moments?
“I love you,” I whispered. “I always have, even when I was angriest.”
Grandfather’s amber eyes met mine, and for the first time since his capture, he looked truly at peace. “Live well, my firebird. Live for us both.”
“Thank you,” I managed through my tears. “For the greatest gift anyone could ever give.”
Grandfather smiled and nodded. “Contact your brothers,” he said to Rod. “I can’t contain the release for long.”
Rod nodded. Through our bond, I felt the others still there, waiting with desolate hearts. They were ready to mourn our passing as they anchored the spell to save the world.
The glow around Grandfather intensified, his body turning into pure energy. Rod prepared us to accept and channel the immense power we were about to receive.
The moment before his transformation, Grandfather looked younger, the centuries of burden lifted from his features. He’d truly found peace.
Then his body burst into golden flames.
Chapter Nineteen
Roderick:
Gold engulfed my vision as Ailpein burst into flames. Not the gentle transformation of a phoenix shifting form, but a supernova of raw energy. The king’s sacrifice exploded outward, washing over us in waves of blistering heat that somehow didn’t burn. The air vibrated with the unleashed power.
At the edge of my mage sight, I thought I saw Ailpein smiling and waving goodbye. Next to him was the image of a female phoenix, taking his hand and leading him away. It couldn’t have been real, but it had seemed so vivid.
Cinaed’s grief spiraled into me through our full mate bond. His emotion was sharp and jagged like shattered glass. His sorrow threatened to overwhelm us both, but we couldn’t afford to lose our focus. If we failed to shape Ailpein’s life force into a new ward, his sacrifice would be wasted.
Anchoring myself to the Earth, I pulled Cinaed back on task. We’d have time to mourn once we were finished. Every nerve ending in my body thrummed, alive with the massive amount of magic flowing between us.
“Stay with me,”I said softly, gripping Cinaed’s hand tighter. Linked at the most intimate level, Cinaed instantly understood why he needed to concentrate. His emotional center solidified, and he readied himself to gather the wave of raw magic heading toward us.
Ailpein’s life force rushed into Cinaed like water released from a dam’s spillway. In theory, the volume of energy should have killed us, but Ailpein had linked himself to his ‘firebird’ at a near-cellular level. I’d seen no suggestion it was possible. Looking deeper, I found the channel Ailpein had used to interrupt our mate bond. In an ironic twist, by barring us from completing our mate bond, he’d made it possible to save our lives.
Golden flames coalesced into threads of pure Earth magic, spinning around Cinaed like a cocoon of light before sinking beneath his skin. The amount of power the king had accumulated through countless renewals over his millennia-long lifetime was beyond what I’d imagined. He’d gathered bits from every phoenix and through his deep connection to the Earth. There was enough to power the spell and more.
Cinaed’s skin blazed with golden light as power coursed through him. Linked now, I saw his inner fire for the first time. It was beautiful and deadly. Flushed with the extra energy, flames flowed through his veins like molten gold.
Staggering under the weight of his grandfather’s sacrifice, Cinaed’s fingers clutched mine with desperate strength. Our bond vibrated, the pristine link humming with the long-promised connection. His consciousness trembled under the onslaught, struggling to maintain cohesion as ancient power poured through channels never meant to contain such magnitude.
Skepticism flickered into his thoughts, but he quickly tapped into the inner strength he used all those years while we wereapart. His eyes widened, the amber irises consumed by liquid light that spilled down his cheeks in luminous tears. I worried it was too much, but he refused to give in to doubt.
I pushed myself into his being, ready to shoulder this burden together. Our knees threatened to buckle, but we supported each other and stood firm. My confidence fueled his resolve, and together we created a bedrock of stability to corral the power needed to save the world.
My diamond mage stone pulsed hot against my palm, its facets glowing with intense heat. The gem resonated as I directed Ailpein’s life force into its crystalline structure, molding it into the contours of the spell. Phoenix energy was chaotic and primal, while magic was structured and precise. This was why it had to be Cinaed and me who formed the new ward. No other mage, not even Bart, could create the Great Ward. Katarina and Adelais understood this truth twelve centuries ago.
