Chapter 17 #2
“ 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.”
“— decorum is not a prerequisite for bonding , as you can tell . Neither is humility — and you clearly lack both .”
“Wow. You sure know how to make someone feel special.”
Dawson’s head swung between them, trying to keep up with only one side of the conversation.
“ Do not think that because I’ve been bound in corporeal form I do not know you ,” Solflara continued. “ I have felt every pulse of your anger , your restless drive , your grief and fear . Celestials choose who we imprint on .”
“Great,” Alaire muttered, folding her arms. “An all-seeing phoenix. That won’t complicate my life at all.”
Solflara stepped closer, her tone softening. “ Despite your obstinate , abrasive demeanor , your inclination toward violence , your thirst for vengeance, and your foul mouth ”—she paused deliberately—“ and a list of many more ?—”
Alaire smirked, interrupting the phoenix again. “Such a confidence builder this discussion has been.”
Solflara snorted a ring of smoke. “ Despite it all , I disagree with your view of yourself . Your parents would be immensely proud of the woman you have become . You defend those who cannot defend themselves with a ferocity I respect . Beneath your bony exterior , you have a slobbery puppy-dog heart . Bigger than you ever show the world . Or admit to yourself .”
Alaire looked away; Solflara’s words cut through the easy banter, striking a chord deep within her. The armor around her heart trembled, and heat pricked behind her eyes.
“ Whatever the future , gods , destiny , or fate have in store for us , we will face it together .”
“Aw, going all soft on me, Solfy,” she said, trying to distract herself from the medley of emotions roaring through her.
“ Do not call me that .”
“How about Solf?”
“ Equally atrocious .”
Alaire began pacing the length of the clearing. Despite her protests, she was now bonded to a celestial. She rubbed her temples. Bonding a phoenix had never been a remote possibility when she accepted Professor Ross’s proposal to come to Aeris Academy.
Did he know?
The thought nearly made her stumble.
Dawson leaned into Beck’s flank, gaze locked on Solflara with a steady, unreadable expression, as if trying to decipher the long-lost celestial. His eyebrows furrowed, eyes narrowing. His jaw clenched.
Sensing her stare, he looked at her—and then slowly, deliberately, took her in. The weight of it made her look away, swallowing hard, focusing instead on the impossible events of tonight.
Alaire stopped mid-step, hands on her hips. “All fae of House Ashfyre wielded fire. Is that why I was able to summon a flame?”
“ Yes , but a block within you prevents access to the full force of your magic . The bonds have loosened , but only just . When or how they break , I cannot say . I felt the first spark of your magic earlier — and tugged on it to direct you to me .”
“The pull in my chest was you?”
“ No . It’s your magic , your connection to the aether from your bloodline .”
Alaire stared at her bare palms, willing flame to appear, but her mind was too tangled in revelations to focus.
“ We will figure it all out together . It will take time , but we will get there .”
She nodded, still studying the calluses on her hands.
One glance at Solflara told her there would be no hiding for either of them now.
She was already marked as other by her peers at Aeris Academy.
If she fled, the Consortium would descend on them both, and her talons weren’t yet sharp enough to make them bleed.
She’d complete the trials. Learn everything about her magic and history.
If she stayed, her bond with Solflara would wield influence—especially with Dawson at her side, another fae royal who could legitimize her identity when the Consortium inevitably questioned her.
She knew nothing about being a royal, not with so many memories still missing, and the prince was an invaluable tool in her arsenal.
A plan began to form. Something was coming; she could feel it. Aeris Academy held answers buried beneath stone, mist, and shadow, and she had this year to uncover them. The files in Professor Ross’s office proved that much.
She had made mistakes, but she would protect and defend Solflara with everything she had. She’d been foolish to think she could deny the bond etched into her very marrow.
“ I am with you until my final breath . You will never be forced to endure anything alone again ,” Solflara said down the bond.
Alaire bowed her head, a tumult of emotions rolling through her.
She had tried to reject this bond only moments ago, but Solflara was as stubborn as she was.
Relief swelled through her, warm and unyielding.
She wasn’t alone anymore. Whatever came, they would stand together—until the bitter end. Forever unyielding.
“ It will be my honor , even with your slobbery puppy heart ,” Solflara teased.
“You can read my thoughts too?” Alaire smacked a hand over her mouth.
Humor twinkled in Solflara’s eyes.
“You know, there’s a thing called privacy.”
Solflara’s beak tilted upward. “ Listening to your constant stream of consciousness isn’t ideal either . Your oscillating emotions are exhausting .”
Alaire gaped at her. “ Rude ,” she huffed, speaking directly down the mental bond.
“ Get on .”
“ On your back ?”
“ How else do you expect to fly your bonded creature ? You already traveled on the griffin .”
“ Well , Beck wasn’t on fire !”
“ My fire will not burn you .”
“ It won’t ?” she sputtered, hesitating. For a long time, she had feared flames—reminders of everything she’d lost. They could destroy as easily as they gave life. But fire wasn’t singularly evil or good; its intentions were shaped by its wielder.
“ No , it will not . Hurry up . I do not wish to remain in this clearing any longer . I require rest .”
“ Okay , grumbling Gladice ,” she muttered. “ Let me talk to Dawson first .”
She stepped back from the phoenix and walked toward the prince.
He pushed off Beck, eyes sweeping over her, then Solflara, and back to her with scrutinizing intensity. “I wasn’t expecting all of that.”
“That’s an understatement.”
He stopped a few paces away, jaw tight. “You truly didn’t know?” His aquamarine eyes were hard, drilling into her.
“Obviously not. Did it look like I knew?”
“No,” he said solemnly.
The vampires. The Consortium. Her classmates. The target on her back had just gotten bigger—the downside of finding out you’re a long-lost princess.
“ Not princess . A queen .”
Alaire staggered a step, throat constricting. A queen. Only hours ago, she’d been no one.
“ You’ve always been someone ,” Solflara reminded her.
Dawson reached out to steady her. “You alright?”
She closed her eyes, using her breathwork to rein in the storm of emotions. Slowly, she blinked with each exhale, unwilling to let him see her panic.
“Fine, fine.” She waved him off. “Just a little woozy from everything.”
He narrowed his eyes, his grip lingering longer than necessary. “A phoenix,” he murmured. “You bonded with a fucking phoenix.”
“I noticed.”
He let out a harsh laugh. “Do you have any idea what this means? That makes us—” He dragged a hand through his hair, pulling strands loose from its tie. “This changes everything, Alaire. Everything.”
His posture stayed rigid, fists clenching and unclenching. He studied the shadows gathering at the tree line before glancing at her again, shoving his hands into his leather pockets.
It seemed like he wanted to say more.
“Dawson?” she prodded.
He shook his head, dragging himself out of whatever thought held him.
“I have to go.”
“What? Go where?”
“There’s something I have to take care of.”
Before she could press him, he turned and walked away. With one last glance over his shoulder, his voice came so softly she almost thought she imagined it:
“Alaire, earlier, you said you deserved to be here. And you’re right—you do.”
Then he mounted Beck and shot into the sky.
Without warning, a tail swept around her waist. Alaire braced for pain—but despite the heat radiating from it, there was no scorch, no burn. Fire that didn’t burn. The paradox stole her breath. Gently, she was deposited onto Solflara’s broad, blazing back.
The feathers beneath her cooled instantly for comfort. She gawked at the phoenix’s control over flame, hope kindling in her chest that one day she might wield her magic with the same precision. Solflara could make her fire sear like Lysia’s sun or soften to a gentle, embracing warmth.
She couldn’t stop the grin that bloomed. That kind of power would be fun.
Solflara clucked like a mother hen.
“It can’t be all work and no play, Solf,” Alaire said out loud now that they were alone.
Solflara harrumphed as she rose to her full height.
As Alaire adjusted her balance atop the living hearth beneath her, she noticed a loose braid of feathers at the base of the phoenix’s neck, knotted to form a natural handle. Genius.
“ It appears when a Celestial Familiar bonds with its flier ,” Solflara explained. “ Along with magic to shield your eyes while flying. ”
With a secure grip, Alaire tightened her calves against Solflara’s side.
The phoenix bent—and then launched forward with such force it hollowed out Alaire’s cheeks.
She felt like an arrow launched toward the sky.
Cassiopeia Forest, Cielore, the world itself blurred below them as they climbed higher.
Wind tore at her hair. The land beneath shrank to a patchwork of shadow and shape. Tears streamed down her cheeks—not from the wind, but from the weightlessness in her chest. She had longed for this feeling all her life. Freedom.
Solflara’s wings beat once, twice, and they soared into a steep ascent. For a heartbeat, they hovered in a pocket of silence. Then the phoenix banked sharply and dove.
Alaire shrieked, exhilaration flooding through her.
Solflara flared her wings just before the ground rushed up to meet them, then climbed again, spiraling on the way down.
Leaning forward, Alaire wrapped her arms around the burning bird. For all her aloofness, Solflara was a gift wrapped in fire and feathers—a tether to something greater than herself, the best thing the universe had ever given her.
This was a new beginning. Baptism by flame. A reckoning waiting to unfold.
Where the ocean met the sky, Alaire Vallorian was born anew. Gods forbid anyone who stood in her way.
In answer, Solflara loosed a stream of fire that streaked like a shooting star across the sky.
From ashes to flames. A reminder of how far she’d come. Maybe—just maybe—she could rise from the ashes too.