The Phoenix Born (A Dance of Dragons #3) Read online

  Jinji almost felt sorry for what she would do next.

  "I must speak with King Whyllem."

  The only response was a terrified silence. A few brave souls cocked arrows in their bows, watching her with apprehension. First dragons and now flying ships? It was no wonder they were afraid, but she wished they weren't. It would make everything so much easier.

  Jinji gave them one more second to respond, hoping someone might recognize her as Rhen's companion, might take her willingly to the king. But listening to their strangled silence, she had no choice but to act. With the flick of her fingers, a gust of wind blew in from either side, knocking the men over, flinging them away from the entrance. Jinji tried not to wince as she stepped forward, keeping the wind strong, so even as they fought to reach her, they could not break through the wall the air created. Janu followed a step behind.

  Jinji pushed the doors to the side, taking her time, knocking anyone aside who dared try to stop her. With little effort, she reached the throne room. Putting her hand to the towering wooden door, Jinji burned it to ash beneath her fingers, watching as it crumbled to dust before her eyes and fell like a gentle rain to the ground.

  The trick worked. She would not be ignored.

  King Whyllem sat in his throne, eyes narrowed. But they widened when they landed on her. Surprise and recognition flooded his gaze. Before he had time to utter a word, a dozen arrows flew toward her, released by the guards on either side of the royal family. The men acted on instinct before their king could say no.

  It didn’t matter.

  Jinji lifted her hand.

  All twelve arrows stopped, hanging in the air as though frozen in time, and then one by one they fell to the floor, each click deafening in the silence of the room.

  "Lady Jinji," King Whyllem said, voice stronger than she thought he might feel.

  Behind her, boots thudded down the hall. The guards she had left in her wake were struggling to catch up. Without turning, Jinji wove the spirits, picturing that the door she had burned away was rebuilt and that an iron bar was latched across it. They wouldn't bother her now.

  "You might not believe it at this moment, King Whyllem, but I come in peace, and I come to help. I could not wait for an audience with you, so I had to take your time in the only way I know how. Call your guards off, because I assure you I can do more harm to them than they can do to me."

  She hardly recognized her own voice. It was hard and commanding, far more confident than she felt. But this was what Jinji had to become because she knew what came next. After finding Leena, after awakening the water dragon, she would be healing these people—not just those loyal to Whylkin but the Ourthuri and the traitors on the other side of the wall too. In the fight against the shadow, the world of kings did not matter. Jinji couldn't erase the voice's vision from her mind—the black cloud of ghosts that would swallow the world whole. An army of phantoms from the shadow world, an army she had to find a way to defeat without killing her brother, a task that would take the help of every living soul available. Before that war began, King Whyllem would come to understand that she would be obeyed whether he liked it or not, the fate of the entire world depended on it.

  The redheaded king of Whylkin glanced to either side, looking so much like Rhen that it made her heart hurt, and called off his men. They stood down, lowering their weapons, but not relaxing entirely.

  "What can I help you with, Lady Jinji?"

  She swallowed. "Princess Leena, is she here? Or did you send her away?"

  "That question is harder to explain than you might believe," he said.

  "Harder to explain than a woman who can fly a ship through the air and catch arrows midflight?" Jinji asked.

  Whyllem nodded and raised his brows, as though to say, good point. "The princess was here not even half an hour ago, but she ran. My guards, I cannot explain it myself, they turned on her. One by one, each man tried to hurt her. They followed her. They were beyond command, beyond reason. And though they each remember it, not a single one can say who or what or how it happened. They say something else, someone else, commanded their actions."

  Jinji couldn't help it, her gaze slid to the man by her side who shared nearly the same profile as her. Sensing her eyes, Janu looked at her. She broke her gaze but not quickly enough, not before she saw the flash of disappointment in his eyes. The shadow had been here—not Janu—but deep down, Jinji couldn't help but lay some of the blame on him. And on herself too. If she had just been strong enough to do what she must, to kill the shadow, none of this might have happened.

  Jinji reached out, gripping Janu's fingers. Holding hands, her brother felt solid, felt real. She couldn't hurt him.

  She wouldn't.

  "Where is the princess now?"

  Whyllem shook his head. "If she survived, your guess is as good as my own."

  Jinji glanced behind Whyllem to the expansive window taking up the entire wall behind the throne. The city below was in shambles. Smoke still rose into the sky. Bodies were buried beneath buildings, strewn across the streets, probably burned beyond recognition in the flames. And Leena could be anywhere. Alive or dead, it would be nearly impossible to find her.

  A commotion outside the door caught her attention. Someone was shouting. Screaming. And somehow, deep in her gut, Jinji knew. Twice before, Princess Leena had been brought to her by fate. First in Da'astiku, where the princess had mistaken Jinji for her deceased love. Second in Rayfort, when the princess had miraculously saved Jinji from the sea. And now this.

  It was more than a coincidence.

  It had to be.

  Jinji spun, waving her hand, and the door to the throne room disappeared. Everyone in the hall stopped, shocked. It gave Jinji just enough time to take in a man she recognized carrying a body she did not.

  "Cal?" Jinji asked, surprised. Rhen spoke of his childhood best friend so much that Jinji had no doubt it was he. And if that hadn't been enough, she had met him in Rayfort weeks ago, before the king had sent her and Rhen away.

  But Cal was beyond answering. His bronze eyes were wide, his sandy brown hair was matted to his head with sweat, and a frantic aura surrounded him. Without pausing, he ran into the room, dropping to his knees, laying the body at Jinji's feet, speaking so fast she could hardly make out the words.

  "You must help. You must save her. I found her in the water. I heard the men say a guard had followed her. I knew where she was running. I knew the only place she could possibly go, but I was too late to save her. She's dying, and I was too late to save her."

  Jinji glanced down, realizing exactly who it was. The tattoos along her arms were barely recognizable beneath the burned flesh of her body. But the long black hair singed at the tips, the olive tone of her skin, the large eyes now closed in sleep—it was Leena. It was the princess.

  "I saw you," Cal said, still mumbling nearly incoherently. "I saw you, Jinji. I saw your ship, and I knew. You can help her. You must help her."

  Jinji lowered, sitting beside them both. "Let me hold her, Cal. Let me save her."

  He nodded, transferring most of the princess's body into Jinji's arms, but not all of it. Jinji couldn't help but notice that he held on to Leena's hand, cupping it gently in his and not letting it go. She said nothing.

  Leena's head rested on her lap, and Jinji stroked her burned cheek before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "I'm here. First, you saved Rhen. Then, you saved me. And now it is my turn to save you."

  With that promise spoken, Jinji closed her eyes, embracing the spirits in the air around her and focusing everything she could on Leena's broken body.

  Heal.

  It was all Jinji thought.

  Heal.

  Live.

  Survive.

  As the spirits wove tighter, Jinji sank deeper into the process. Every scrape, every break, every bruise she felt and mended, starting from the inside out. But it wasn't long before Jinji got a surprise.

  A baby.

  Not very large, barely a
nything at all, but Jinji sensed life in Leena's womb, perhaps young enough that not even Leena realized it was there. An innocent little soul, a flame so weak one puff of air would blow it out. A little girl, clinging to life just like her mother, a fighter just like her mother. And like her mother, Jinji would try to heal her too.

  The outside world disappeared as Jinji continued to work. She forgot the king, forgot Cal, forgot the throne room. The burns were extensive. The damage was deep. But Jinji forgot all of that too.

  Before she could heal Leena's body, she had to win the fight for her soul. Part of the shadow was still alive on the other side of the ether, the space between the shadow realm and the spirit world. And that part of him was tugging on the other side of Leena's soul, trying with all of his strength to yank the princess into the world of the dead, to tear her from the living. But Jinji refused to let that happen.

  For the second time in her life, Jinji found herself transported into the ether, back into the body of the spirit dragon, fighting the shadow. The sensation was all too familiar—she remembered it and she didn't. Back when the Whylkin lords had rebelled against their king, back when she watched as Rhen's own mother stabbed him in the gut, back before she knew the shadow was Janu, back when she had first touched the shadow in the dining hall of the castle, Jinji had been brought here, to a fight that had been going on for centuries.

  The last time she was in the ether, she had won. Jinji remembered now, the memory flooded back. It was how the spirit had been released into the world, how she had awoken with a voice inside of her head. And if she had done it once, she could do it again.

  Jinji whipped her tail, slashed at the ebony dragon with her claws, going for blood. The body of the beast felt as natural as her own, just as familiar and just as deadly. Her jaws snapped around the shadow dragon's neck, and her wings pumped, carrying them higher, closer to the spirit world, the living world.

  In that world, Jinji couldn't fight the shadow, couldn't fight her own brother—not yet. But here, in this space between, she would do everything she could for one win, for one way to let the shadow know he hadn't won.

  Not yet.

  Not ever.

  2

  RHEN

  ~ THE GATES ~

  Rhen had only one thought on his mind—finding Jinji.

  Okay, two.

  Finding Jinji and the army of phantoms he had seen in the dragon's vision. Correction—the unstoppable army of phantoms he saw wipe out thousands of men in the blink of an eye in the dragon's vision. That army. And it was coming back. Soon.

  "Come on," he whispered into the ebony scales blazing beneath his fingers. The wind whipped against his cheeks, hot from the flames encircling him and his dragon. It felt odd to think of them like that—as a rider and a dragon. To Rhen, they felt as one. One breath. One body. One soul. The wings pumping against air felt like Rhen's limbs. The snout always ready to breathe flames could be his own mouth. And they shared something else too—one mind. A mind forever changed.

  Every time he closed his eyes, Rhen saw them. The people burning in his flames. Their pain was a part of him—it cut straight through his heart. Their cries still haunted his ears, and even now, he heard their howls in the wind. Rhen had made a promise to himself and to his dragon—never again. And he meant it. From now on, he was Rhen. Just a rider and nothing else. No allegiances to anyone aside from the beast below him, the woman he was trying to find, and the entire world he was trying to save. All people, not just some of them.

  The peak of the Gates stood out against the clear-blue sky ahead. Pure ivory. He had no idea what waited for him there. Had Jinji found the shadow? Had she defeated it? Had she been defeated?

  Rhen shook his head—he would know if she were dead. He would feel it in his gut. Yet still, he pushed harder, flew faster, unable to deny the doubt and fear building in the back of his mind.

  He had left her.

  Rhen had left her.

  He had found his dragon, realized what it meant for Rayfort, and he had vanished almost without a second thought. Sure, Jinji had left him first, alone in that boat. Sure, she hadn't woken him to fight the shadow with her. But still, what if?

  Rhen knew Jinji was strong, stronger than he was. He trusted her to be able to take care of herself. She didn’t need him, no matter how hard that was to admit. But he loved her. They hadn't said it, but he knew it deep within his soul. And the idea that she might have needed him, that he wasn't there for her, terrified him more than anything else could.

  Rhen brought the dragon down in a giant swoop, landing hard against the white stone courtyard nestled into the mountains.

  "Stay here," he murmured as he slipped from his dragon's back, stroking his side gently in parting. Unlike Ember, his unruly horse with a mind all her own, Rhen had no doubt his dragon would listen.

  "Jin!" he yelled as soon as he was inside the castle walls.

  Silence answered.

  "Jin!" he tried again as he raced up the steps, taking them two at a time. But the castle appeared deserted. No bodies. No blood. No weapons strewn across the floor. Not even a chair tipped over or a curtain hanging out of place. The entire space was frozen in time. If Jinji had fought the shadow, it wasn't here.

  But still, Rhen continued exploring, weaving in and out of rooms just in case he had missed something. Some sign. There was a dining area, bedrooms, living quarters with a fireplace, what appeared to be training rooms with desks and books. The more he wandered, the more intrigued he became. What had this place been used for? It was half a palace and half a guardhouse. There was even a courtyard that grew plants. It was overgrown and wild, but it held berries and foods all the same.

  He found his way to a balcony near the top tower, and he looked out, spotting his dragon resting in the courtyard below, stark ebony against so much white stone. As though sensing his eyes, the dragon looked up, lifting his long neck, turning a red pupil on his rider in question. Rhen didn't even have to speak, as soon as he thought, come, the dragon was already unfurling his wings and lifting into the sky. As he neared, Rhen perched on the balcony rail. And then he jumped, not a single doubt in his mind that the dragon would catch him. Their bodies were one, always sensing where the other half would be at any moment.

  As they flew higher, aimless at the moment, Rhen looked down at the mountain peaks below. Four openings spotted the stone, so unnatural. One was empty, but the other three held slumbering bodies just waiting to be awakened. One a silvery blue, one a dirty evergreen, and one so close to the color of the white stone Rhen could hardly make the body out—the air dragon, he was sure.

  Rhen knew where Jinji had to have gone.

  She was searching for the riders. She realized he had left her, and she went searching for the riders without him. Maybe the shadow had never been here after all. Maybe that had been needless worry all in Rhen's head. Maybe she had been fine all along.

  A nagging doubt in the back of his mind couldn't be ignored.

  Something had happened. Rhen was sure of it.

  And he intended to find out what.

  "Do you know where she is?" he whispered to the dragon.

  Rhen didn't need to explain further. They changed directions almost immediately, wings sweeping in a large arc, heading south. Rayfort, he realized. Of course, she was in Rayfort.

  As they flew, Rhen let his fingers brush over the rocky scales beneath his skin. Almost like coal, ebony black and rough to the touch, burning bright at the edges, revealing the inferno always raging within his dragon's core. Even now, without trying, a trail of flames lit up the sky behind them. Rhen pulled the fire beneath his skin, bringing the blaze to his hands and yanking the heat in, letting it fill him up.

  "You need a name," he said suddenly, releasing the flames. The wind carried them back and blew them out.

  The dragon didn't pause his flight, but Rhen felt uncertainty stir to life in the back of his mind, a foreign thought and yet a familiar one.

  "Yes, you need
a name," he repeated, patting the side of the dragon's neck with his hand the same way he would Ember, soothing the beast, making a connection. He enjoyed talking to his animals as though they were people, and no animal had felt quite so human as the one beneath him now.

  Leaning down, pressing his whole body against the dragon's neck as though in sleep, Rhen listened to the heart beating deep within the animal's chest. The sound echoed in his own heart. And while Rhen couldn't say for sure, the dragon felt male, felt just like an extension of Rhen himself.

  "How about Blaze?" he whispered.

  A disgusted growl purred from the dragon's snout releasing hot flames that smacked Rhen directly in the face. Maybe he's more like Ember than I thought, Rhen mused, sitting up to think.

  "Coal?" Rhen questioned, noticing the rocky scales beneath his hand.

  The dragon dropped suddenly at a sharp angle, making Rhen lose his seat for a moment, suspended in air. He grabbed on tight, raising a brow.

  "A simple no would suffice," he muttered and adjusted in his seat. "Okay…okay. Let me think."

  It has to be strong, Rhen thought.

  Reading his mind, the dragon gave a subtle approval. Rhen tried to push the beast out of his head for a moment.

  And grand.

  The dragon shot a little flame into the sky, flying faster with excitement. Rhen was on the right track. He thought back, mind unwittingly brought to Rayfort, to the damage Rhen had done on the back of this dragon, to the flames that had engulfed the enemies of his city, an unstoppable force. They had come from the sky, blazing down like a raging inferno, pouring flames across the battlements.

  "Firestorm," Rhen said suddenly. "How's Firestorm?"

  Rhen knew what the dragon would do a moment before he did it, so he held on tight, sinking low as the wings flattened against his dragon's side, sending them racing toward the sea below. Right before they slammed against the crystal water, the dragon changed directions, spreading his wings to flatten out and skim along the surface. And then they surged up as a thunderous roar erupted from his throat, sending a ring of flames in front of them, filling Rhen's vision. They flew directly through the fire, blue sky disappearing as angry orange and reds consumed his vision.