"I saw Hazel today," Roxanne said. "She is pregnant."
The room went still. Shock moved across both their faces simultaneously.
"She told me it was a transfer," Roxanne continued. "Fiona was carrying two children. One belonging to Vangelis and one belonging to Phoenix. She had been with both of them." She paused. "When Hazel was brought in, Phoenix's child was transferred to her to prevent Fiona from dying under the weight of both."
Corrine was quiet for a moment then something shifted in her expression.
"I knew something was wrong from the beginning," she said. "The day after Vangelis and Fiona's wedding I noticed her eye colours. They carried Vangelis's shade. But the moment Phoenix came close they changed entirely. I said nothing because I was not certain. I was also threatened by Phoenix to keep whatever I saw."
"If they both claimed her," Corrine said slowly, "Phoenix's mark should be visible alongside Vangelis's. But only Vangelis's mark shows."
"You underestimate Phoenix," Cassius said. "He takes what he wants by whatever means necessary".
"You are both forgetting something," Roxanne said. "Fiona is a hybrid. Phoenix bonded with her witch form. Vangelis bonded with her vampire form." She looked between them. "In her normal and wolf state Vangelis's mark appears even though she carries Phoenix's power alongside his in that form. But in her witch form Phoenix's mark surfaces." She paused. "I noticed it the day Hazel knocked her out preparing her for Nymortix."
"The real question is whether Hazel is on our side," Cassius said.
"I doubt it," Corrine replied.
"She told me herself that she does not know what lies ahead of her," Roxanne said. "She is blind in both eyes. Her power has gone dormant because of the pregnancy. She wants her revenge but she wants to take it her own way." She paused. "She is not with us. But she is not against us either. She is moving independently."
"That explains why no one has come after us," Corrine said. "If she had turned against us she would have given up every name involved in Fiona's abduction long ago."
"She feels different now," Roxanne said quietly. "I sensed six distinct energies from her when we spoke. All of them dormant for now. But the moment she delivers that child and those energies surface fully, whatever side she chooses will feel it."
Cassius reached behind him and held out a book.
"Then it is urgent that we secure her before that happens." He looked at Roxanne. "Before you go take this. It is a compiled collection of spells specifically designed to advance your cultivation. They will strengthen your mind, your body and your ability to channel your power more naturally."
Roxanne looked at it for a moment then took it.
"Thank you," she said. "And make sure Liora reaches her hometown safely. She helped me without knowing it. I have already fulfilled my end for her."
Corrine and Roxanne left together.
"You are leaving already?" Valeria said, stepping forward. "You only arrived yesterday."
"There is much to attend to at Redlunar," Phoenix said. "We are expanding and it requires my presence."
"It is a good decision, taking your kingdom seriously," Valeria said warmly. "Take good care of yourself."
Phoenix bowed and stepped into the carriage.
He settled into his seat.
Hazel turned her face toward him immediately.
"I told you yesterday that you run too warm for me to be comfortable near you," she said.
"That was yesterday," Phoenix said. "Today I am thinking clearly." He settled beside her without moving away. "My natural body temperature runs lower than most because of my power. If anything I should be cooling the air around you not heating it."
He sat beside her and said nothing further.
"Why did you stop Korran from staying with me?" Hazel asked.
"He made a mistake once," Phoenix said simply. "I will not give him the opportunity to make it twice."
Hazel laughed, genuinely and fully, the sound filling the carriage before she could contain it.
"That is rich," she said. "Coming directly from the man who crossed a line with his own sister in law."
Phoenix looked at her.
"After you deliver the child," he said, shifting the conversation without acknowledging what she said, "do you understand what your situation will be?"
"I always find my way out," Hazel said. "However long it takes."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Did you meet the Moon Goddess?" he asked.
Hazel turned her face slightly. "How would I meet the Moon Goddess? I am not one of her angels."
Phoenix said nothing further.
The carriage began to move and the rest of the journey passed in silence, the road stretching out beneath them and neither of them filling the quiet.
The pain arrived without warning.
Hazel turned toward the window and pressed her hand to her mouth, her teeth finding the same place they always did, biting down hard enough to keep the sound inside her. She felt the warmth before she registered what it meant.
Blood.
She had bitten through.
The restlessness moved through her in waves, her body twisting quietly against the seat, trying to find a position that offered anything resembling relief.
Then the crows came.
A large group of them, dark and circling, descending around the convoy without sound until their shadows moved across the carriage windows.
The scent reached everyone first.
It spread through the carriage like something that had no business being blood at all. Lilies. Clean and warm and strangely comforting, threading through the air until every soldier in the convoy was breathing it in without meaning to, their shoulders dropping, their expressions softening involuntarily.
Phoenix turned.
He reached across and took her hand before she could pull it away, pushing the sleeve back slowly.
Bite marks. Several of them. Old ones and new ones layered across the same skin.
He looked at her.
"What is this? What have you been hiding?"
"Nothing," Hazel said.
The impact came without warning.
The carriage hit something and the world turned sideways, tumbling violently down into the dark valley below, rolling multiple times before it stopped. The sound of it was enormous.