Page 4 of A World of Ruins

Flames charge through the winter air as a few phoenixes fly towards us, stopping me from entering another self-doubtingconversation with Gus. As they land, I realise my brothers and Link are atop them. Having the Aerian headquarters be airborne on floating landmarks meant you had to travel within Aeris by riding with phoenixes or dragons, many of which Gus had managed to save.

Illias is the first to jump off a phoenix’s back as its gold- and scarlet-feathered tail thrashes against the grass. Illias then jogs over to me, his arms out, and squeezes me into an embrace, and I chuckle, rocking us back and forth on our toes. ‘How is training coming along?’ he asks.

I open my mouth, but Gus answers before I do. ‘She is getting there. She has the fighting down thanks to her time as a Trapper and Venator trainee, but in terms of power, she just needs to stop doubting herself.’

Offence takes refuge in my chest. ‘That is not—’

‘Give her time, Gus,’ Idris cuts in, his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘It was only a year ago she was still trapping pixies and carving flowers out of wood for a living.’

‘Not to mention falling for a shifter.’ Illias chuckles and shakes his head as he steps away from me. It seems I have no say in this matter. Everyone is speaking for me.

‘Are we forgetting she is a reincarnation of Solaris?’ Iker adds, still in disbelief since he first heard about it months ago. ‘Our sister is a deity – who would have thought!’ He frowns. ‘I wonder what that makes me? Semi-powerful?’

‘Nothing,’ Idris deadpans. ‘It makes you nothing.’

‘If it helps, Nara,’ Link says, a small smile colouring his lips as he comes up beside Illias, ‘I always felt there was something special about you. It was just a matter of time before we figured outwhatexactly.’

I smile, having missed Link’s soft reassurances. That is until I hear the landing of a creature behind me and Rydan’s voice as hedismounts a sleek black Umbrati dragon with shadows curling around its talons.

‘And alas, my heart breaks, for I was not chosen to be your other half, Ambrose. But I suppose sometimes even the deities can make mistakes.’

I turn to him and cock a brow, only for him to wink back at me. ‘Maybe you should try explaining how you would woo me in the bedroom again?’

Idris starts coughing uncomfortably, and I bite my lip so that I don’t burst out laughing.

Rydan shakes his head, pulling off the tips of his gloves. ‘Unfortunately, not today, Ambrose.’ His expression turns sour. ‘Hira would like to see you; they are all holding a meeting right now in the common area.’

Any tinge of laughter or humour drains from my body. I look over my shoulder at my brothers, acknowledging the worried glances they share with Gus. I turn and give Rydan a nod as I head towards Gus and ask him to take me to the meeting.

He accepts and shifts before I mount him and slide my hands over his leather skin. No matter how much time passes, I can never get used to not seeing Darius’s unique silver scales. Letting out a sigh, I pat the side of Gus’s neck, and he takes off into the sky towards the Aerian headquarters. Fog ahead shields the grand open spaces of the palace, where Aerians flash into flames and become phoenixes. Despite the chaos spreading across Zerathion with Aurum’s return, I’m still able to take a moment to admire the Aerian architecture. Roofs made of red stone and marble curve around the entrance to the balcony, while gossamer leaves that shimmer in emerald hues hang from the surrounding trees.

As Gus lands, I hop off and rush inside before he can return to his human form. I half jog and half walk past spacious rooms glowing in the winter light. When I reach a set of golden doorswith a phoenix engraved on them, I push through and into the great hall where Freya, Leira, her wife Aelle, and a few Phoenix warriors are waiting. Gus catches up to me, shaking his head, though he is now used to me escaping him.

My mood further deflates when my eyes snag on russet hair as Lorcan looks up at me from across the round glass table.

I ignored him for three months, making sure he couldn’t come anywhere near me, but lately, it’s harder to avoid him when we all live in the same place, especially now that I know . . . he isn’t a Rümen any more.

Recalling the moment I found out Lorcan was alive, my vision fogs up, and I’m suddenly back in that hallway where I bumped into him.

‘—I cried for you . . . I mourned you.’ My voice cracks uncontrollably as I stare at Lorcan after having pushed myself off him. ‘Darius mourned you.’ Agony ruptures through my heart as I think of Darius and how he is not here to soothe away all the rage I feel, and for one blinking moment, I let myself picture him. I let myself believe he is beside me, his eyes burning into mine with that golden fire.

I run my hands through my hair, frustrated, as I bite down on my tongue to make the image fade.

Lorcan looks at the ground solemnly when he says, ‘I know.’

You do not know. You do not know the half of it. ‘How . . . how is it—’

‘I did die that day.’

Intense silence cuts through the frostiness of the hallway.

‘And I accepted it.’ Shame takes over his expression as he looks up. ‘But the leader of the Aerian warriors . . . she took my body back here, Nara. She felt something in me – something alive and worthy.’

Staring at him, I’m not sure where he is going with this.

‘See, they have this belief.’ The apple of his throat moves visibly as he swallows. ‘A belief that life can be reborn.’

A rebirth from the ashes . . .

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