Page 213 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Mareena glanced sideways at him and sighed again, clearly irritated that he had not yet grasped her meaning.
‘My father would not support Alina Acheron,’ she said slowly, ‘if he did not believe she could achieve what she intends.’
‘But your father didn’t support her,’ Kai replied.
Mareena’s lip curled faintly. ‘Did he not?’
‘No.’
She lifted one elegant brow. ‘Then why am I here?’
Kai stilled.
Mareena turned back to the arena below, where the two women clashed, their blades rising and falling in swift, violent arcs that rang against one another.
‘Do you truly think my father would not send an army to retrieve me?’ she said lightly. ‘Do you truly believe no one has noticed my absence?’ She gave a soft, derisive snort. ‘If I am here, it means House of Sun wishes it so.’
Kai leaned forward slightly. ‘Then why lie about it? Your father made us believe he would not help. You pretended to defy him, to follow Alina against his wishes. If he truly wants her to succeed… if he truly wishes her to fight the witches… why not simply say so?’
Mareena turned to look at him then.
In that moment, Kai understood what Alina saw in her. The phoenixian princess was strikingly beautiful, her red eyes brightwith something ancient and knowing.
‘Because, Kai Blackburn,’ she said softly, ‘a phoenix becomes most powerful when it is reborn from its own ashes.’
…
Alina was growing tired.
No matter how many hours she had spent training, it was exhausting to face such a relentless opponent. Her face burnt where Saren had flung sand at her, the open wound stinging fiercely, grains of grit lodged cruelly in the torn flesh.
But Alina refused to stop.
Through the haze of pain she caught sight of the staff lying some distance away. For a fleeting moment she considered running for it, drawing upon the magic stored within. Yet she pushed the thought aside.
She wanted this victory to be hers alone, earnt by her own strength, by her own hand.
Still, her muscles trembled with fatigue, and her breathing grew harsher with every passing second.
Hessa appeared once more beside her, the phantom form materialising as though conjured from memory itself, those pale eyes shining with quiet hope.
Before Alina could rise, Saren drove her foot hard into her chest, sending her crashing back onto the sand.
Alina did not get up.
She lay there, chest heaving, the world spinning around her.
‘I can’t do this,’ she whispered to the apparition hovering above her.
‘Yes, you can, amira,’ Hessa said gently.
‘But I can’t.’ Tears blurred Alina’s vision as the last of her strength seemed to drain from her body. ‘I was foolish to think Icould…’
Hessa knelt beside her, brown fingers brushing softly along Alina’s cheek.
‘Believe in yourself, amira,’ she said. ‘We will do this together. We will defeat our enemies, and you will rise victorious. Find that strength.’
Hessa rose and held out her hand.
