Page 61 of Phoenix Chosen 3

That glimpse of him fades, like a flashlight running out of batteries, and somehow, I know that what I’ve seen isn’t just my imagination or even a vision of the future. It’snow.

Kalistratos is hurt. He’sdying. And he’s trying to get to me.

It feels like my chest is going to crumple inward on itself, along with the entire world around me. I want to cry out, but my breath is trapped by fear of what will happen if I do.

I’m so sorry, Kalistratos. I fucked up. I couldn’t keep our baby safe. I couldn’t protect your dream.

Is this it? Is this the end of us, after all the shit we’ve survived? Are we really going down to a goddamn dog and cat?

Am I going to die apart from you?

“Wait. Stop.”

I look up. It’s Jackson. He pulls up the front of his cloak, revealing his pregnant belly to the archer. Sparks and embers whirl behind him.

“Look at me,” he says. “You see this? I know what you’re after. I know the whole story. You’re looking for the Chosen and their babies, right? Well, ta-da. Yeah. I’m one of them. AndI’m fucking pregnant. Let him go, and you can have me. I’ll go willingly. You can spare yourself a fight that you’ll probably lose. You aren’t getting us both, so which will you choose?”

The archer looks at him. Her ears twitch as she digests what she sees.

“Jackson!” Airos holds up his palm, beckoning him to stop.

“Don’t worry,” Jackson says calmly. “This is a much less permanent solution than the alternative.”

The archer, still with her arrow aimed at my head, takes a step back. “Walk to me,” she growls at Jackson. “Slowly.”

When he reaches her, she steps behind him and, in a quick motion, releases the tension from the arrow. Gripping it like a knife, she slips her arm around Jackson’s neck and presses the tip to his throat. His body tightens in reflex as it touches him, like how a leg bounces at the knock of a doctor’s hammer.

“Shit on a shingle, that’s spicy,” I hear him say.

Jackson’s eyes connect with mine, and I can see the arrow is working its venom on him, draining the color from his skin. I’m stunned. Why would he do this? Doesn’t he know what’s going to happen?

He forces a smirk and nods at me. It’s a look of reassurance like he’s trying to tell me it’s all going to be fine.

No… He’s telling me he understands what’s at stake. Maybe he hasn’t exactly seen what we’re fightingfor, but he knows what we’re up against. And he knows what we’ll do for each other. We aren’t going to abandon him.

The fire spreads further. I cover my face as smoke wafts around us. I move to Airos.

“Kalistratos is hurt,” I tell him.

“How do you know?” he asks, keeping his eyes fixed on the archer.

“I saw it.”

The cat pulls Jackson backward, retreating from us through the burning trees to a clearing in the forest. We advance, maintaining the gap between us.

“First we’ll deal with her,” Airos says to me. “The fool has forfeited any advantage she had.”

“I don’t know, she’s got an arrow to Jackson’s neck.”

“And she needs him alive.”

But when we reach the clearing, the archer presses the arrow harder into Jackson’s flesh, drawing a trickle of blood. Jackson doesn’t flinch, but Airos and I freeze in our tracks.

Come on.

I’m searching for my phoenix, trying to find the source of the connection I’d felt, but it’s like I’m back in that pitch-black cave again. Goddammit!

I reach behind my back and place my hand against Eggy’s warm shell.

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