Page 36 of Cry of the Firebird

Yvan's shoulders relaxed, and his arms slowly went around her. "Thank you, Anya. For what it's worth, I'm glad it was your house I hatched in."

"Even with Vasilli chasing us and weird prophecies and me having no idea what to do about my magic?"

Yvan let her go and reached for his bedroom door. "No one said friendships were meant to be easy."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Anya woke the following morning, disorientated and fighting her nightmare. In the dream, she was twelve years old, hiding in the hayloft while Trajan was in the barn arguing with Eikki.

"You can't sendme away, Eikki, not now that her magic is getting stronger. You are too old to hold back the people that the Darkness and Illumination will send to try and recruit her," Trajan said. "I swore an unbreakable oath to Ilya to protect his family."

"And you have served that oath. I'm releasing you of it. Do you think Anya will believe she's normal if she has a protector shadowing her every step? She is already too attached to you, and she's becoming a woman. That will confuse her more," Eikki argued. He put a hand on Trajan's shoulder. "Once her memories are gone and magic suppressed, we won't have to worry about anyone coming for her. I'll make it known that she is like her father with no magic. They won't want her. You won'tbe needed to protect her. It's a chance for you to have your own life. That's what you wanted to be free for, wasn't it?"

"I don't agree with this, Eikki. I respect you, but locking away this part of her is wrong. She's a magical child. She won't know who she is!"

"But she will be safe."

"If you don't send me away, she will always be safe. I swear it, Eikki. I won't let anything happen to her."

"My mind is made up. Go, Trajan. I release you of your duty," Eikki said, his voice stern enough to make Trajan step back from him.

"Very well, gatekeeper. Just promise me that you will reach out if you ever need me."

"I will, old friend."

Trajan left the barn without looking back, long coat streaming behind him in the wind. Anya leaped out from her hiding place and tore after him across the paddock.

"Trajan! Wait!" she called and latched onto his waist to stop him from going any further. "You can't go."

Trajan crouched down beside her. "I have to, little one. I'm sorry, but your grandfather thinks it's for the best, and I have to obey."

"You're going for good? Like forever?" Anya had been taught not to cry, but the thought of never seeing her friend again hurt too much. Trajan took her hand in his.

"You'll see me again one day, I promise. In the meantime, you listen to your grandfather, and you stay safe." Anya nodded and then wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'll miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too, little one. Be safe for me."

The dream toreaway from her and jolted her into wakefulness. Anya's cheeks and pillow were damp with tears. She slowly sat up and placed a hand over her aching chest as the lost memory settled in her mind.

Trajan. Her special friend. She had barely talked to Eikki for weeks afterward until something had happened, and all memory of Trajan faded away.Oh, Eikki, why did you take my memory of him away?

Memories and feelings were rushing back over her, a floodgate of emotion for the thanatos she only just met. He had always been her friend. That was why she felt safe with him and knew she could trust him in her bones.

Anya got out of bed, showered, and dressed in clean clothes. Her mind was on fire from all the stories from the previous night, but something had also calmed inside of her. She knew that the strange bunch of people she had fallen in with weren't going to let her figure out her new and confusing world for herself.

Anya's need for coffee drove her out of her room and downstairs. She could smell the coffee and opened the door to find Yvan, Trajan, and Izryal already awake. Trajan was brewing coffee in a plunger, and when he smiled at her, her flush of memories came back to her.

"I had a dream about you last night," she blurted out excitedly.

"Oh, a sexy dream?" Izrayl asked from where he was scrambling eggs at the stove.

Yvan stopped buttering toast next to him and smacked him in the back of the head. "Don't talk to her like that."

Trajan offered her a steaming mug, his smile widening a little. "Don't mind them. Was it a good dream, at least?"

Anya shook her head, and his lovely smile slipped. "No, it was horrible. It was the day you left." She accepted the coffee and sat down at the table.

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