Her gaze darted left, right. Behind. No one was with her. Then something caught her eye in the distance. A shape. That of a male with long, pale hair. He was tall. Wide. The tallest, widest man she’d ever seen. Not fat, but muscled. Though he had no wings, he hovered in the sky, floating toward her.

His features came into view, and she could only gape. He was magnificent. Like a beam of radiant light, shining down with pure, undiluted beauty.

And yet, cold fingers of dread walked down her spine.

Fight? Or flight?

A friend of Thane’s, or a foe?

Couldn’t be a friend. Why block her from Thane?

Run!

No. No way. Never again. She stood firm.

As he settled a few yards away from her, she gawked. Handsome didn’t even begin to describe him. He was gorgeous. No, that didn’t fit, either. He was exquisite. Nope. Even that word failed to do him justice.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I am Darkness, Destruction and Doom. I am Death. Yours, at least.”

Her throat went dry. Her skin tingled. And not the good kind of tingles Thane caused, but some kind of get-out-of-Dodge-because-it’s-about-to-blow tingles.

“Why are you here?” Her stomach twisted as a terrible suspicion hit her. “Never mind. Just leave. Now.”

His grin was slow—and pure evil. “Oh, I have no plans to stay...not for long, anyway. But like you, your precious Thane will be dead before I go.”

The prince. This was the prince Thane, Bjorn and Xerxes had talked about.

She couldn’t let him get to the Sent Ones. But what could she do? She was weaponless.

Actually, no. She wasn’t. She swiped up one of the boulders beside the porch stairs. “You want Thane? You’ll have to get through me first.”

His grin widened. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Because you’re a fool!” She launched the missile, and he didn’t even try to dodge, as if he found her effort amusing. But when the rock smacked him in the chest, he blinked. Shock filled his eyes.

“You are strong,” he said.

“And ticked!” She swiped up another boulder.

Bjorn raced past her, catching her by surprise, and acting as her shield. He withdrew two short swords. “Go back inside, Elin,” he commanded. “Now.”

Not even if you pay me.

“But I’d like her to stay,” the newcomer intoned.

Suddenly, her feet felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds. She tried to lift one, failed, and tried to lift the other. Another fail. Her shoes had somehow adhered to the pavement.

“I’ve summoned my entire army,” Bjorn announced. “You may be a prince, Malice, but you cannot beat us all.”

The male shook his head, his hair so long it danced over the flowers on the ground. “I can. I will. I’ll just have to work quickly.” His voice was a whisper on the wind, and yet, it was now laced with screams of anguish.

Elin cringed, certain her ears were bleeding.

For seemingly no reason, Bjorn’s legs collapsed, the bones in his calves snapping and pushing through his skin. As he bellowed with pain, he threw one of his swords at the prince.

Rather than take the blow, as he’d done with the boulder, Malice easily glided out of range...

...and both of Bjorn’s arms broke.

Another bellow sounded. Elin crouched and reached for him, thinking to grab Bjorn and yank him behind her. She would be his shield.

Malice laughed, and though the screams were thankfully absent, the gleeful cadence of his voice scraped at her nerves. “I didn’t expect to have this much fun.”

“Stop,” she shouted. “Enough.”

He smirked. “Is it?”

Crack.

Bjorn’s neck twisted to an unbearable angle. His chest stilled, no longer rising and falling.

“No!” she screamed. He was...he was...

Dead?

Unlike the Phoenix, he wouldn’t regenerate. But a Sent One couldn’t be killed so easily, could he?

Acid replaced blood, rushing through her veins. “Free my feet and fight me. Or are you too much of a coward?”

His gaze raked over her, and he tsked. “So brave...with so little reason to be. Let’s see what we can do about that.”

The next thing Elin knew, she was being lifted from the ground, floating closer and closer to the prince. Instinct demanded she flail and try to stop the motion. But she didn’t. She balled her fists, ready to throw the first punch when she got to him.

Of course, he stopped her just out of reach.

“Is the big, bad warrior afraid of a girl?” she taunted.

He pursed his lips. “You’re beginning to bore me, my sweet.”

“I’m devastated. Really.”

“Not yet. But you will be.” He glided forward, and just when he was within reach, he managed to immobilize her arms without even touching her. “I’m going to do Thane both a favor and a disservice. I will make you fully Phoenix, giving you an eternity with him...but he’ll have to watch me kill you over and over again.”

Fully Phoenix equaled fully immortal. It was what Thane desired for her more than anything. Once, she might have worried that he would freak out over the Phoenix aspect. Now, she knew him better. He loved her, no matter her race.

“Do it,” she gritted. “Make me stronger. See what happens when I unleash my wrath against you.”

He chuckled as he held out his empty hand. A syringe appeared in the center of his palm, crimson liquid swirling in the belly. “I had to trade a few favors for this. I know the Sent One has come to accept your heritage...but I doubt he’ll be so forgiving of Kendra’s ability to enslave. Unlike the princess, you won’t be able to turn it off at will.”

What! “No!” she shouted, twisting and turning, contorting her body to avoid the needle. Not the poison. Anything but the poison. Because he was right. Thane could get over anything—except that.

Grinning, the prince held her steady and jabbed the needle into her neck. In a blink, fire spread through her entire body. Screams reverberated inside her skull.

“Blood from the strongest of the Phoenix, as well as Kendra, with a little something extra from me to help speed the process along.” He brushed a fingertip along her jawline, making the pain ten thousand times worse. “You will come find me when you revive.”

“No.”