Chapter 49 Finally Freeee
Rhea POV
I pushed out of the tent with Nox at my side, and the canvas flap snapped softly behind us.
The camp had shifted while we were talking. It always did when power changed the air. Wolves moved with purpose, not panic, but there was an edge to them now. Their heads lifted as we stepped into view. Firelight caught on armor and silver runes. Somewhere a blade rang against stone.
Rhett stood near the central fire with his arms crossed, and his posture was rigid. He was totally still hot though. I'm probably giving him more grey hairs. Oh well. They're sexy.
Korr loomed a few paces away. The man was massive even in human form, and his bronze eyes were sharp and assessing. And flanking him, unmistakable even without scales, were Gryn and Dryn. One leaned on a spear, and the other watched everything without blinking.
All four of them turned toward us at once. The air tightened. Rhett’s gaze went straight to my face, then to Nox’s hand brushing the small of my back, then back to me. “You look like you decided something.”
“I did,” I said.
Korr’s jaw flexed. “I felt it shift.”
Gryn grinned faintly. “She has that effect.”
Dryn snorted. “Understatement.”
I folded my arms sassily, and heat simmered under my skin in a controlled way, for now. “I’m done waiting. The rebellion hit one of your human deliveries, Korr. That means Maris and Solen were close enough that maybe I can track them. I’m not sitting here while people I love bleed and suffer.”
Rhett stepped forward. “We can move. But not recklessly.”
“I’m not asking for us to be fucking reckless,” I shot back. “I’m asking for us to go now.”
Nox spoke then, calm and precise. “She has a point. The longer this drags on, the more fractured every side becomes.”
Korr turned on him. “You don’t get to lecture me about fracture, vampire.”
“And yet,” Nox replied smoothly, “you are listening.”
Gryn chuckled under his breath. Dryn’s eyes flicked between them, amused and curious.
Rhett lifted a hand. “Enough. Rhea, tell us what you told him.”
I inhaled slowly. “Humans aren’t livestock. Not for dragons. Not for vampires. Not for anyone. If we want this world to stop burning, that ends. All of it.”
Silence hit like a dropped blade.
Korr stared at me as if I’d just suggested ripping the sun out of the sky. “You don’t understand what you’re asking.”
“I do,” I said. “Perfectly.”
“You weren’t there,” he growled. “When dragons crossed the realms and were hunted. When humans turned worship into war.”
“And I wasn’t there when wolves decided domination was easier than protection,” I shot back. “Or when vampires decided survival meant ownership. But here we are.”
Rhett’s shoulders sagged a fraction. “Rhea…”
I turned to him. “You know I’m right.”
He didn’t answer immediately. That told me everything.
Nox stepped closer, and his voice was low. “We require blood,” he said. “That truth doesn’t vanish because it’s inconvenient. But taking it doesn’t have to mean cruelty. We can build systems. Willing donors. Compensation. Protection.”
Gryn tilted his head. “He’s not wrong.”
Dryn nodded. “Our traders already barter heat stones for food. Humans would line up if it meant safety.”
Korr dragged a hand through his hair, and his frustration radiated off him. “You are all speaking as if my people will accept this.”
“I’m speaking as if they don’t get a choice,” I said quietly.
That got his attention.
Rhett swore under his breath. “She’s serious.”
“Deadly serious,” Nox agreed. His eyes were on me, and something like pride flickered there.
Korr looked at me for a long, measuring moment. Then he exhaled sharply. “Fine. We go to the last known rebellion site. We see what damage has been done. Then we go to Pyraen Hold.”
Relief hit me so hard my vision blurred.
Nox hesitated. “I cannot continue with you.”
I spun toward him instantly. “Why the hell not?”
“My court will feel the bond,” he said gently. “They already have. If I don’t return, they will tear each other apart. I have messes to clean.”
I didn’t like it. Not one damn bit. I grabbed him by the collar and kissed him, hard and possessive and unapologetic. When I pulled back, my forehead rested against his.
“You better come back to me,” I said. “You’re mine now.”
Something dangerous and delighted lit his eyes. He smiled and touched the glowing purple heart over his chest. “I will.”
He turned to leave, already moving like a shadow.
Around us, the camp exploded into motion. Garran was barking orders. Wolves dismantled tents and strapped packs with brutal efficiency.
Korr shifted his weight. “Gryn. Dryn. We fly ahead.”
The twins grinned in unison. I stepped back, suddenly needing space. Needing air. A thought hit me. Can I fly? I'm a damn Phoenix. They can fly.
I didn’t know if I could do it. But I had to try.
I walked away from the fires, away from the eyes, into the open clearing beyond the camp. The ground was cold beneath my bare feet. I closed my eyes and breathed. Heat answered. Fear tried to choke me.
I let it all go.
Flames erupted outward, violet and red, roaring up my spine. I screamed and the scream broke into something else entirely, sharp and ancient and powerful.
When the fire cleared, I wasn’t standing anymore.
I was flying.
My wings were wider than the damn clearing, and my feathers burned like living embers. My body was like, massive and light all at once. I beat my wings once and the ground vanished beneath me. The air rushed past, clean and endless.
Freedom hit me so hard it hurt.
I laughed, in a piercing cry that echoed across the valley, and climbed higher, and higher, until the world spread out below me like a map waiting to be redrawn.
For the first time since I’d died, since I’d burned, and since I’d been reborn, I wasn’t afraid.
I was alive. And I was done waiting. I spied the men below, and headed that way.
I hit the ground hard enough to rattle my teeth.
Dust and scorched leaves billowed around me as my talons scraped the earth, and my wings snapped wide to bleed off the momentum. Heat rolled off my body in waves, and the flames peeled back like they were being reeled in, and swallowed by my skin.
Then the fire vanished. And I was standing there. Bare, human, and breathing hard. For half a second, nobody said a word.
Then Korr growled. It wasn’t loud, but it was absolute. Possessive, and ancient.
“Mine.”
The word hit my spine like a spark. His eyes snapped down my body and immediately away again, and his jaw tightened. “Phoenix,” he said sharply, his voice rougher than before, “please cover yourself.”
Before I could open my mouth, his cloak was around my shoulders, heavy and warm, smelling like smoke and metal and him. He turned slightly, shielding me without even thinking about it.
I tugged the cloak closed, grinning despite the adrenaline still screaming through my veins. “Wow. Manners. I’m impressed.”
Rhett was… sputtering.
“What...how...did you...” He dragged both hands through his hair, and his eyes were wild. “Did you know you could do that this whole time?”
I shook my head, still buzzing. “Nope. Just had a thought and boom. It worked. I shifted.”
My laugh burst out of me, breathless and a little unhinged. “Flying is amazing.”
Gryn barked a laugh. “She’s not wrong.”
Dryn nodded solemnly. “Best thing in the world.”
I squared my shoulders under the cloak. “I’m flying with Korr.”
Korr’s mouth curved, just slightly. He was pleased.
Rhett’s head snapped toward me. “What? No. Absolutely not. I can’t protect you in the air, Rhea.”
Korr turned, and his eyes burned. “I can. She will come to no harm.”
“She hasn’t bonded with you,” Rhett shot back. “I don’t trust...”
“I do,” I said firmly.
Silence. I stepped up to Rhett, pressing into him, and my hands fisted in his shirt. “I trust him,” I repeated. “I’m going, Alpha.”
His arms wrapped around me instantly, crushing and fierce. His voice dropped to a raw plea. “Please, Rhea. Please be safe.”
“I will,” I promised.
We kissed hard, and desperate, and the world fell away for one heartbeat.
When I pulled back, I turned to Korr. “Ready?”
Gryn and Dryn grinned like lunatics. “This is gonna be fun.”
As I backed away, Rhett shouted, “Korr! If you let harm come to her, I’ll chop your dick off!”
Korr paused, then looked over his shoulder, utterly serious. “I would die first, wolf.”
They locked eyes, both growling, neither yielding.
I rolled my eyes. Then I ran.
The ground blurred beneath my feet. Heat surged. Pain and glory and power crashed together as flames erupted outward, and my scream turned into a piercing Phoenix cry as my wings tore free again.
I launched skyward, higher and higher, and the wind ripped past me, and the world shrunk below.
Free. Absolutely, terrifyingly free.
The air split again behind me.
A thunderous whoomph rolled through the sky as Korr shifted mid-stride, fire and scale exploding outward as his massive dragon form tore free. Gryn and Dryn followed. They were twin streaks of molten gold and red slicing into the clouds on either side of me.
I laughed, wild and breathless, banking instinctively as heat and wind wrapped around us like a living current.
Then...
"FINALLY WE’RE FREEEEEE."
The voice slammed into my head, bright and loud and vibrating with joy.
I nearly spiraled out of the sky.
“What the...holy shit..” I squawked, as my wings jerked. “Okay, nope. Nope. That’s new.”
The voice laughed. A sound like crackling flame and chiming bells.
"Relax. You’re doing great. Wings steady. Yes, just like that."
“Oh my gods,” I breathed, leveling out. “You’re… you’re talking to me.”
"Obviously," the voice said, delighted. "We share a body now."
My heart thundered. All four of them.
“You’re my Phoenix,” I whispered, as awe flooded every vein. “You’re really… real.”
"Nice to finally meet you," she said warmly. "I’ve been waiting."
I laughed again, and the sound tore out of me, half hysterical, half ecstatic. “This is amazing. You can talk to me. I can hear you. This is...this is so cool.”
"I know," she said smugly. "I’m incredible."
“What’s your name?” I asked immediately. “Do you have one? Or do I get to name you? Because I have ideas.”
A pause. Then a hum of amusement.
"I have had many names," she said. "Most were prayers. Most were screams. But… you may call me Pyra."
“Pyra,” I repeated, testing it. It fit. Perfectly. “I love it.”
"I know."
I angled higher, and the sky opened endlessly before me, with mountains rolling beneath us like a painted map. The cold didn’t bite. The air didn’t thin. Fire lived in my lungs now, buoyant and endless.
“How long have you not been free?” I asked softly.
Her presence dimmed just a fraction.
"Since the Rift," Pyra said. "Since they caged us in flesh. Since fear replaced worship. Since fire became something to control instead of honor."
My chest tightened. “Four hundred years,” I whispered.
"Too long," she agreed. Then, bright again, "But look at us now."
I laughed, and tears of joy streamed back into the wind. “Isn’t flying amazing?”
Her joy surged through me, incandescent and wild.
"It is everything," Pyra sang. "And this time… no one will fucking take it from us."
I glanced sideways as Korr’s massive dragon form drew closer. His wings were steady, and protective. Gryn and Dryn looped playfully above us, roaring laughter into the sky.
I felt it then. Not just power. Belonging.
“Oh,” I breathed, smiling into the wind. “The world is absolutely not ready for us.”
"Indeed...they are not," Pyra purred in agreement.