The cold radiating from the starless night was not merely a temperature. It was a starving, malicious predator. Kael's roaring solar plasma kept the immediate center of the courtyard alive, but the outer edges of the golden dome were losing the battle rapidly. The wooden porch of the manor sat directly on the boundary between the Sun God's desperate heat and the crushing void.
Lucian stood entirely outside the safe radius. The Solar Phoenix was freezing to death in plain sight.
Valeria stared in absolute horror. The beautiful, brilliant white and gold feathers of his massive wings were rapidly losing their divine luster. The tips of his primary flight feathers were already rigidly calcifying. They were turning into a brittle, lifeless grey ash that flaked away and drifted to the frozen floorboards. His pale skin possessed a terrifying, translucent quality, and his lips were tinged with a deep, bruising blue.
