Page 108 of Heart of the Cursed
“My beautiful daughter, you don’t need to worry anymore,”she said, pride shining in her eyes.“You made sure of that. I could never find the spell. I searched for years before you were born. But you found it, my clever girl, you found it and completely the spell. I always knew you were special.”
“What am I?”she asked, desperate to know the answer at long last.
“You, my darling daughter, are the rarest of them all,”her mother’s eyes gleamed with awe as she stared into Selene’s eyes.“You are a rainbow phoenix. The most beautiful and powerful creature to ever walk any of the realms. There is nothing you can’t do.”
She kissed Selene gently on the forehead like she used to do when she was just a child. Warmth spread through her at the familiar touch of affection. When she dropped her hands and stepped back, she began to disappear.
“Please don’t leave me,”Selene had begged.
But her mother just smiled sadly.“My time is over, I must go, but I’ll always be with you, in here.”She placed a hand over Selene’s heart.“As long as I live here, I’ll always be with you.”
As the last word left her mouth, she vanished completely. Tears flowed freely down Selene’s face as her heart broke again for her mother. She missed her so much, it was a physical pain that she lived with every day. The only person who eased the pain was Arun, and now he was gone.
No! He isn’t gone! He’s right next to you, holding your hand.
Pulling out of the memory, she focused on her magic. Gathering it within her, she used it as an anchor to the physical world.
She could hear Arun calling her name, trying to wake her, but she was already awake. She was just stuck inside her mind.
As the magic built inside her, she tried imagining a phoenix rising from the ashes. But no matter how hard she tried, the image wouldn’t stay. It kept swirling around in brightly coloured lights.
Then she remembered her mother’s words. She wasn’t just any normal phoenix; she was a rainbow phoenix. As soon as the thought entered her mind, the image crystallized, and she could see the phoenix as clear as day.
“She’s glowing,” she heard someone say nervously.
“Why is she glowing?” someone else asked.
“Is she okay?” another person asked, this time it was a male voice that she recognized.
Selene blocked out everything around her, except for the feel of Arun’s hands on hers. She concentrated on the light inside her, making it shine brighter and brighter until it was almost painful to look at. Then, with one final push, she broke through whatever barrier that had kept her locked inside her mind. As if a weight had been lifted, her eyes opened, and she was able to move.
“Shit!” someone shouted.
“Fuck me! That was bright!” another said.
Several complaints went around the room as each person blinked rapidly, but Selene didn’t care. She was too happy to care about anything. Arun was there. She could see him crouched next to her bed, and he was looking at her with a smile on his face.
“You’re awake.” His voice was filled with the same joy and happiness she felt at seeing him.
“You’re still here,” she said, her heart bursting. “But how? Didn’t the spell work?”
His smile grew wider. “The spell worked. I don’t know how we’re still here, but the spell definitely worked.”
That’s when she realised Taredd and Dain were in the room with them, and so was Natalia and Amberly. The two females must have been the ones she’d heard talking when she was locked in her mind, and they weren’t alone. All the females from Agnarr’s harem were crowded in the room with them.
“What happened?” she asked. “I remember performing the spell, but nothing after that. I must have blacked-out or something.”
“You were amazing,” Natalia said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Amberly nodded enthusiastically, and so did several of the other females.
“You were so pretty. Not that you’re not normally pretty,” she quickly added. “It’s just, you were glowing.”
“In the shape of a bird,” Lacie added.
“A Phoenix,” she corrected without thinking.
“Yes, it was a Phoenix,” Taredd agreed. “But not like any I’ve seen before.”
