Crown Of Fire 3 by Kathy Tyers

Author:Kathy Tyers [Tyers, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

And she'd turned away from Brennen tonight when he gently tried to warn her.

Of all the nine Powers, Pride was the only one Dabar and Mattah rebuked. It was her birthright and her burden. It was the Adversary's claw, caught in her soul.

—By her own permission. She'd forsworn too much of her upbringing to cling to that as an excuse, when it came down to pride.

"From myself," she admitted. The relief of honest confession balanced her pain.

Maybe pride fueled that flaming, dark taint on her soul.

Pride brought you here, my child.

He did not disown her. He still called her His child.

Silence rang, a grand pause deeper and longer than Firebird could bear. She whispered to break it. "Forgive me, Singer. I wanted to save Netaia myself. I wanted—I still want to catch the Shuhr who murdered my niece, Destia." And there was more. "I want to be seen and admired, and respected . . . saluted." She'd explained to everyone that she came to serve Netaia's people, but deep in this dream, her buried reasons clamored for recognition.

Without truth, said the Voice, you are vulnerable.

"And . . ." Would this dream never end? She couldn't bear this. "You may have called Brennen here to get the intelligence he needs, but you didn't call me. I ...

wanted ... I still want," she managed, "revenge. For Destia and her family."

Revenge is mine, sang the Voice.

"But I do want to help my people," she insisted. "I want to save them." She knew what she must add. She resisted. Disappointment hung in the heavens, so keen and loving that she couldn't hold back. "... Myself." She let it out, almost choking on that admission. "I want to save them myself, without giving anyone else the chance to do it."

The sky rejoiced again, billions of molecules dancing to music she could not hear.

"But, Singer, you brought me into this royal family. You gave me this longing to achieve and the abilities I would need. I could help the common people. Truly, I could." As she argued, her chair rose higher, and loftier, until the sky around her darkened toward black. The fall, deadly before, now looked twice as terrifying.

Pride, sang the voice, brings a long, long fall. But never so far I cannot catch you.

You are mine. Forever, I have called you. The final price is mine to pay.

But the consequences are yours. I shatter the proud heart, so that you may wear my image.

Slowly, the gilt chair tipped forward.

But I give grace, and true peace, to the humble and contrite. To the obedient.

The chair kept tipping. Firebird scrambled around to seize its ornate back. The farther it tilted, the harder her cheek pressed against the starred-shield Angelo crest.

Her body slid, first a few centimeters, then farther. "Singer!" she pleaded. "Help me!"

Know this, sang the Voice. Even in tragedy, I am God. I am not surprised.

She woke in a puddle of sweat.

Brennen lunged for the nightstand, where he'd concealed a blazer.

"No," she groaned. She touched his arm.

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