“Leave?” Darcy questioned sadly and he nodded.
“You will stay here until you have unlocked the secrets of your kind and learned to fight like your ancestors once did. In fire, blood and bone. The Phoenix will always rise.”
Those last words rang with a toll of truth to them that had my hair standing on end as the creature within me awoke, raising her head to the challenge that had just been laid out for us.
“How long will that take?” I asked and Gabriel concentrated for a moment as he sought out the answer from the stars themselves.
“It’s hard to tell. A month, a year…the power will take time to understand and accepting it is half the battle. There are lessons you must learn here and it is up to you how fast you do so. Find your inner Fae and listen to them. The guiding star will bring you to a place of peace and when the time is right, you will emerge ready to fight on.”
“A year?” Darcy balked. “We’re in the middle of a damn war, Gabriel. And I don’t want to be away from everyone for that long.” She was clearly thinking of Orion and I felt the exact same way about Darius. We’d only just gotten our shit together, I didn’t want to be away from him for who knew how long.
“Yeah, that’s insane,” I said, taking a step away from the gates though that cord which seemed to be trying to draw me through them yanked harder at my resistance. “We can’t just disappear for some ridiculous amount of time while Lionel is out there doing fuck knows what-”
“This is important,” Gabriel said firmly. “If you turn from those gates now, they will close forever. The stars are offering you this one chance and if you turn from this path, I see only darkness in your futures. You need the knowledge hidden here. You need to finish growing into the Fae you must become if you ever hope to take the crown and rule with the true grace and power of queens deserving of it.”
“But…there’s nothing here. No one has lived here for a thousand years - what are we supposed to eat?” I asked because this place might have been beautiful and fascinating and all that jazz, but a luxury holiday destination it was not.
“The stars will provide,” he replied mysteriously, and I narrowed my eyes on him because that was bullshit.
“The stars have only ever provided me with grief,” I muttered as Darcy looked around at the gates again.
“I can feel the power of this place,” she said in a low voice. “Do you think we can really learn all there is to know about our Phoenixes here?” I could see the hope glimmering in her eyes and I knew she was thinking of the curse, wondering if this was the place where we would figure out how to end it for good so that she could return to her full strength, ready to ride into battle and rip Lavinia’s damn head off in payment for landing her with it.
“I can feel it too,” I agreed, my irritation over the ridiculousness of us having to stay here for some extended period of time without coffee melting away as I began to wonder if this really could be where she needed to come to end the curse. We were working daily to burn through it, but she had read that a tribe of Phoenixes could do that. We weren’t a tribe, we were only two. Maybe here, we could find some stronger power to help us. To help her.
“It’s time for you to claim all of your strength,” Gabriel said firmly, and I blew out a long breath as I looked through the golden gates to the cobbled courtyard beyond. There was an open doorway on the other side of it set between two pillars which held more of the golden bricks, casting the interior of the palace into shadow so that we were unable to see what lay within. But I knew we couldn’t investigate any further than that. Stepping beyond the threshold of this gate would be us making a choice, and I got the feeling that we wouldn’t be able to change our minds once it was made.
“Tell Lance not to worry about me,” Darcy said, making up her mind. “We’ll work hard to learn everything we can here and return quickly.”
I nodded my agreement, swallowing thickly as I prepared myself to step over the threshold.
“Do you have a message for Darius?” Gabriel prompted me and my skin prickled at the idea of that.
“Just…tell him not to be a dick while I’m gone,” I muttered.
“Seems unlikely, but I'll tell him,” Gabriel replied. “Shall I pass on a message of your unending love too or just the dick thing?”
I cut him a narrow eyed look and he broke a laugh.
“Fine,” I huffed. “Tell him I love him and he can’t be a dick while I’m gone. Good enough for you, asshole?”