Page 24 of Dance of the Phoenix
“Yet my mother never got the chance to do that,” Jada continued, and I returned my gaze to her. She was looking at the ground with a pained expression etched on her face. “Because the moment I set foot inside her apartment and my eyes met Chanjomaron’s, everything changed.”
I waited for her to continue, but her gaze seemed far away, as though she had been thrust into the memory and refused to leave. “Jada?” I asked, softly touching her knee. “What changed?”
She blinked, and I saw tears that made me go still. “One of the reasons Malachi don’t meddle in our realm’s business is due to a ...phenomenonthat can occur if they set foot here.” She sucked in a breath. “AphenomenoncalledAlara Morreh.”
Wiping the tears away, she said, “Alara Morrehis a human who was quite literally born to become a Malachi’s soulmate.”
Oh, shit.
“Every Malachi has such a human,” she whispered now. “But it is forbidden for the Malachi and humans to even interact without ahigher-up Malachi—aSeraph’s—permission. And consummating with a human is not just forbidden, but outright nefarious.”
She gave me a sad smile. “I was, and still am, until the day I take my last breath, Chanjomaron’s Alara Morreh. And that means our souls are so connected that if he dies, while physically I won’t die, my soul will forever be lost, leaving me an empty, walking shell.”
Chapter 11
Aileen
I never got to ask Jada all the questions I had because a knock on the door put a stop to Jada’s story, and Yelene’s voice came through, saying, “Aileen, the morning training is in five minutes.”
Jada jutted her chin toward the door. “Go,” she said, looking more worn-out than before with her tearstained cheeks. “You know most of the story now anyway.”
“Jada—”
“Don’t.” She shook her head, scowling at the pity I couldn’t quite hide in my voice. “I’ll be fine. I’ll get over him threatening to turn me into a fucking zombie somehow. So just ... go.”
I had nothing to say, so all I could do was give her shoulder a squeeze and leave for the training, hoping I didn’t make things worse.
Everything that Jada told me, along with my own startling conclusions about the Tefat and the Realms of Oon, circled around in my head while George ordered us to do pull-ups. I was so out of it that I failed to complete the set first and thus was sent to run laps again.
Which was just as well, since I needed to clear my head, and a good jog was bound to do that.
At least, until George called for me to stop and said, “Today, you’re going to duel one another.”
I felt a headache coming. This was the last thing I needed right now.
“CJ and Zoey, you’ll start,” George said and motioned to the bench at the back. “The rest of you sit down and watch.”
Once we were seated, George turned to Zoey and CJ and said, “You have five minutes. Use everything you know, every trick up your sleeve, to defeat one another. The loser will be determined by which one of you is forced to yield first.”
When they started the duel, I was physically watching, but my mind had traveled back to Jada’s room. And it seemed like I wasn’t the only one unfocused on the duel, because next to me, Yelene leaned over and whispered, “You talked to Jada.”
I glanced at her and nodded.
Yelene’s face seemed to relax. “How is she?”
“Not fine,” I murmured back. “But I hope it changes soon.”
“She allowed you to enter her room,” she said quietly. “That’s progress.”
I glanced at her again and saw her giving me a small smile before she returned her eyes to the duel. I did the same, and this time, I forced myself to focus on CJ.
I’d noticed it before in the mock battle during the talent show, but the way CJ moved was both graceful and swift. It reminded me of Tansy’s ballet dance from the Auction on one hand and Ragnor’s fighting techniques on the other. It was a strange mix of the two, but CJ executed his moves as if he’d done it hundreds of thousands of times before.
It made me wonder how old he was. Scratch that—if he was a Malachi, how was he a vampire now? Could Malachi become vampires? What was a Malachi’s lifespan?
Whatever the answers were, Zoey stood no chance. The duel was over in less than one minute, with CJ’s hands wrapped around Zoey’s neck as he pinned her to the floor.
George nodded for them to part, and they did. “Zoey, your reaction time is great, but you leave yourself too open while you’re attacking,” he said now, pointing at her stomach, which she seemed to massage while wincing. “You might’ve landed that kick to his upper arm, but you got punched in the gut in exchange. If it was a Hecatomb battle, your adversary could’ve easily aimed for your chest and torn your heart out.”
