Chapter 47 A Breather
He buried his face in her neck, his breath hot against her skin. “Klishei… I don’t deserve you. I hurt you. I almost…”
“Hush,” she interrupted, pressing a kiss to his temple. “We don’t have time for this. Angus is out there. He’s growing stronger. We have to stop him.”
He pulled back, his eyes hardening, a flicker of the old Alpha returning. The blue was vibrant now, clear and resolute. “What happened to Suneia? And Naelyr? And Angus… why would he do this?”
“Angus always wanted power, Yeseus,” Klishei explained, her voice grim. “He felt overlooked, relegated to a minor role among the Entities. He saw the Phoenix’s power, my power, as his opportunity. He used Suneia’s fear for you, her loyalty, to trick her into helping him. He made her believe that purging your memories of me, lifting the blight, would save you. But it was all a lie. He just wanted to control you, to use you as his weapon.”
“Suneia…” he murmured, his face clouded with pain. “She wouldn’t… not willingly.”
“She thought she was saving you, Yeseus,” Klishei clarified, her gaze softening. “She was desperate. She loved you, too, in her own way. Angus exploited that.”
He nodded slowly, a dawning understanding replacing the horror. “He played us all. He used my curse, my love for you, Suneia’s loyalty… he twisted everything.”
“Yes,” Klishei confirmed. “And now, he has an army. He intends to unleash them on Spasio City, on humanity. He believes the fairies will reign supreme.”
Yeseus pushed himself to his feet, his body still trembling, but a new resolve hardening his features. The gauntness remained, the matted hair, the torn clothes, but the Alpha within him was reawakening, roaring back to life.
“Where is he?” he demanded, his voice a low growl, filled with a primal fury that made the very air vibrate.
“He has a grotto,” Klishei explained, scrambling to her feet beside him. “Deep in the forest. That’s where he reanimated his army.”
Yeseus nodded, his gaze sweeping over the ravaged room, the broken sanctuary. “We need to gather the others. Naelyr. My grandparents. We need a plan.”
“My grandparents are outside,” Klishei informed him. “They came with me. They’re waiting in the car.”
A faint smile touched his lips, a flicker of warmth in his haunted eyes. “Always prepared, my Phoenix.” He looked at her, his gaze intense, filled with a silent apology, a renewed promise. “I remember everything now, Klishei. Every kiss. Every touch. Every word. And I will never let him take you from me again.”
He pulled her into another embrace, a fierce, desperate hug that spoke volumes. Klishei clung to him, feeling the familiar strength of his body, the steady beat of his heart against hers. The Phoenix within her pulsed, a vibrant, powerful presence, ready for the battle ahead.
They broke apart, a shared purpose burning in their eyes.
“First, we find Suneia,” Yeseus declared, his voice firm, his Alpha aura radiating, filling the ruined room with a renewed sense of power. “Then, we stop Angus. And then… then he will pay for what he’s done.”
He turned, his gaze falling on the shattered wooden table, then to the empty spaces on the walls where his ancient artifacts once hung. A flicker of something, a memory, sparked in his eyes. He walked to a section of the wall that seemed less damaged, his fingers tracing a faint outline.
“He didn’t take everything,” Yeseus murmured, a grim satisfaction in his voice. He pushed against a loose stone, and a hidden compartment clicked open. Inside, nestled in velvet, was a single, intricately carved wooden flute. Lo Garyan’s flute.
“My grandfather’s,” Klishei whispered, her eyes widening. “How…?”
“Angus wasn’t the only one with secrets,” Yeseus replied, a wry twist to his lips. “I always knew this place had hidden depths. This flute… it has a resonance. A link to the Phoenix’s Nest. It was a gift from your ancestors, Klishei. A way to call the Phoenix, to guide her home.”
“But the Nest… it’s a portal to the Cosmos,” Klishei said, remembering her conversation with the Phoenix, her grandparents’ ritual. “It’s where the Phoenix returns.”
“And where she can be awakened,” Yeseus added, his eyes gleaming with a sudden realization. “Angus… he needs the Phoenix’s full power to truly reanimate his army, to make them unstoppable. He won’t just harvest tears. He’ll try to force the Phoenix to manifest, to use her as his ultimate weapon.”
Klishei’s blood ran cold. “He’ll try to force me to give birth to his army.”
Yeseus’s jaw tightened, a muscle clenching in his jaw. “He won’t succeed. Not while I draw breath.” He held out the flute to her. “This is yours, Klishei. It’s your heritage. Your power. We will use it, not to send the Phoenix away, but to control her power, to harness it against Angus.”
Klishei took the flute, its smooth wood warm against her palm. A faint hum, a resonant vibration, pulsed from it, echoing the Phoenix within her.
“But first,” Yeseus continued, his gaze sweeping over the ruined room, “we need to clean up this mess. And you, Klishei, need to rest. You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, though a wave of dizziness washed over her. The pain in her arm, her back, the lingering ache in her throat… it was all secondary to the urgency of the situation.
“No, you’re not,” Yeseus countered, his voice gentle but firm. He reached out, his fingers brushing against her scraped arm. A faint blue glow emanated from his touch, and the cut, though shallow, began to knit itself together, the pain receding.
Klishei gasped, staring at her arm in amazement. “You can still… you can still heal.”
“My connection to you,” Yeseus explained, a faint smile touching his lips. “Even when I was… unwell, our essences were still intertwined. Your presence, your fighting spirit, it invigorated me. And now that I remember… the blight, it’s receding. Your love, Klishei, it’s healing me.”