Page 56 of Wildfire Witch

His whole body quaked, but he didn’t move his hand.

“Ceridor, you killed him. Stop this,” I said more firmly.

Something continued to possess him. Madness, I feared, giving his permanent wedding vows to Nix one last twist to break him. Nix wouldn’t want this for him, so I had to do something. I latched onto his pointed ear, giving it a good chomp that he wouldn’t be able to ignore.

He gasped and leaned his head away, but the hostile air died down completely. His hand fell limp by his side, and his staff thumped into the grass, slipping from nerveless fingers. The glowing magic in his eyes dimmed, his gaze darkening to the hue of old steel. “Aodhnait,” he said with a sob.

The next thing I knew, he’d slipped me off his shoulder and crushed me in a hug. While he cried, the wind picked up again, howling his grief for all far and wide to hear. I leaned against him, patiently enduring the embrace. Human-shaped friends liked their hugs too much. “Stop this,” I whispered, reaching up to nuzzle under his chin. “I’m going to bring her back, Ceridor.”

He stared through me. The words sank in painfully slow.

“I’m going to bring her back,” I repeated. “It’s not too late.” I purposefully angled my beak toward his handfasting marks, which were a light gray as they continued fading off his skin. But they weren’t gone yet.

“You would…use your spark?” he asked, realization dawning.

“Yes,” I breathed.

He carried me to her body, kicking Lance’s carcass as he passed it. Rusty and Seth had gone to her the moment the shifter died, kneeling in the grass and tending to her. One of them had straightened her head and closed her eyes.

Seth had taken off his shirt and wetted it, starting the process of washing the ash from her bare skin. Beside him, Rusty was struggling to produce wildflowers with a wiggle of his fingers over the ground. Some were already woven into her hair. Both of the men looked weary and puffy-eyed when they glanced up at us.

Ceridor placed me into the grass and I hopped onto Nix’s chest, inspecting the wound. The strike was cleaner than expected, as most of her skin had cauterized. “I can try,” I said, feeling some doubt now that I saw how deep it was.

“Try what?” Rusty asked dully.

Seth’s mouth dropped open. He elbowed the shifter and whispered, “That has to be Nix’s phoenix.”

With a snort, Rusty bounced his fingers off his forehead. “Talking red peacock…I should’ve realized,” he mumbled.

My feathers puffed out in offense. “Exquisite bird,” Seth said overtop Rusty. “Magnificent crimson phoenix restored to her glory.”

“That’s right,” I said proudly, taking in the three of them as my tail swished thoughtfully. “I’m going to try to bring her back. Most phoenixes die when they attempt this, but I’m going to do my best…”

“How can we help?” Rusty asked, his dull grief transforming into attentiveness.

I did a hop and flap, returning to my spot on Ceridor’s shoulder. He didn’t utter any complaint when my talons dug into his skin. “Normally, you couldn’t help, but I think you all might like to.” At least, I hoped they would. “The way it works is, I give Nix’s body the spark of magic in me that gives me the power to resurrect. A tether forms between my living body and her spirit. Best-case scenario, I pull her back to life.”

“Let’s do it. I’ll pull with you,” the dragon shifter blurted.

“It’s not quite that simple.” I shifted on my feet, still nervous. “If she’s been gone too long, or her body is too damaged for her to return to without immediately dying again, her spirit will pull me into death, and that is the end of things. My spark will heal her body some, so I think…”

I shook out my wings, scattering a dusting of ash. “Anyway, the only way for you three to strengthen the tether is to bind yourself to the process, too. I will have to stay close to her for the rest of my life, as she will hold my spark as her heart. When she dies again, I die, this time permanently. You’ve already bonded yourselves by magic, through mating. But if you do this, you will also be tied to her life force. If she dies, we all would die too.”

“Like a mating circle?” Seth asked.

“Yes, exactly, but one you can’t back out of.”

There were a couple exchanged glances amongst them. Seth was the most hesitant, while Ceridor was immediate in his acceptance. He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a badly wrinkled piece of paper. “Would we put this to use?” he asked me. Unfolding it, he showed me the rough draft of a magical array Nix had made as a theoretical piece of magic back intheir Seattle apartment. It felt like I’d watched her sketch it out months ago, when it hadn’t been all that long.

It had a place for three people to stand, represented by the triangular symbols for air, water, and earth. I crackled deep in my throat as I looked it over again with approval. If these three mates of hers agreed, we would make a powerful tether together.

“Yes, we should use this,” I confirmed.

Ceridor bent, carefully picking up Nix’s limp form. “I will set up the ritual. Join me if you’re willing to do this for her,” he said. He’d expended so much magic, his voice held only wisps of chilled wind. But he held his head with fae dignity as he carried us to the ruin of the Carmine house.

The burned remains were ash now that the curse was gone, blowing away from the limp breeze he summoned. All that remained was the base of the house, with a pristine circle of unburned wood. The location of our original cursing, where she’d laid unconscious while fire poured uncontrollably from her, in her first life.

Ceridor placed her gently down on the grass and picked up the casting chalk she’d left on the ground. He tried to flatten the diagrammed array and began drawing the perimeter of the design.

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