Page 71 of Wings of Ash & Flame
All of it was too much. She couldn’t?—
“You made a mistake,” she blurted, voice shaking. “You can’t be bonded to me. I wasn’t—I can’t—there must be someone else.”
Solflara hissed. “Excuse me.I do not make mistakes.”
“Take it back.”
The phoenix tilted her head. “And how would you like me to do that?Reverse time,curl back into an egg,and wait centuries for someone else?”
“Yes. Wait. Can you?—”
Solflara leveled her with a deadpan stare. “I’m not dignifying that question with an answer.Alaire Vallorian,I have been waiting for you for years.”
“I’m sorry you’ve wasted all that time,” she said, forcing her gaze away. “But you’ve chosen wrong. This can’t work.”
She had dreamed of this moment as a child, prayed for it every night. It was everything she’d ever wanted. She ran a hand through her tangled, wet hair. But wanting something didn’t make you worthy of it.
Behind her, Dawson stood rigid, forearms tense, Beck’s tail curled around his ankles. She hadn’t even noticed him descend into the sinkhole.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.” Gods, she wanted this. Wanted her. But deserving Solflara was another thing entirely. “I didn’t ask for this,” she mumbled, hands restless at her sides. “I can’t… I don’t deserve this.”
“Fate does not weigh desire,”Solflara said, each word striking like a bell.“It is not the way of destiny.Like your kin before you,you were born to rise from the ashes—not remain amongst them.You were born to wield flame,to burn as bright as the stars.”
“Before burning out like a supernova,” she bit out, turning away. “You don’t understand. I’ve stolen. Lied. Cheated. Sold pieces of my soul just to survive. My parents died…” Her voice broke—a jagged reminder of the life she could’ve had. A family. A safe home. The scars of the past—loss, grief, and the choices she’d made—had etched themselves deeply into her soul. “All I am is a disappointment. A stain on everything the Vallorian name once meant.”
The whispers slithered back in, hissing that she didn’t belong, that she wasn’t enough—until they drowned out everything else.
She gripped her hair. “You’re sacred. The last phoenix. You deserve someone worthy of what you are, not some gutter rat who?—”
“Alaire,”Solflara interrupted gently,“this is your birthright.Let’s go home.”
“No,” she rasped. “There’s nothing left there except death. I have no right to claim anything—not after what I’ve become. I have no home.” That final thought shredded her heart.
Over the years, her heart—once full of love—had hardened into something unyielding, shaped by fear, anguish, and anger. Survival had come at a cost. She’d learned to endure, but it had left her propelled by fury and cut off from everything else.
The shame of what she’d done to survive was written in the scars on her back. She wasn’t worthy of the Vallorian line, not fit to wear the crown she had once adored, and not deserving of a phoenix’s bond. That was a sacred honor.
She was a disappointment. A stain on her family tree. A criminal.
No—she could never go back.
Solflara studied her as Alaire squared her shoulders. She would not budge.
“I can see you’re stubborn.Then we’ll stay here—for now.” She dragged out the last words. “But I cannot and will not bond to anyone else.We are linked now,you and I.”
Alaire’s gaze drifted to Dawson, leaning against Beck with one eyebrow raised in silent question:What are you doing?
Turning back to Solflara, Alaire’s voice was brittle but steady. “Solflara, you have to understand—I will never go back. The version of me that belonged there… she died with them. That life is gone.”
Twin slashes of flame lowered above Solflara’s eyes.“Do not insult my decisions. I know exactly who you are,Alaire.You are intelligent,shrewd,and sly?—”
Alaire arched a brow. “Sly?”
“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted, which I hope will not become a habit?—”
“I make no promises.”
