Phoenix Chosen #3 (The Phoenix Guardians #3)

4. Tyler

4

TYLER

K alistratos is there to catch me as I release the handles and slump backward. I’m not entirely there. I feel like a feather, drifting down through the air to the nest.

“How did I do?” I ask him, my voice hoarse and raspy. My throat is parched.

He brings me water and wipes the sweat from my face as I drink deeply. My vision returns to focus, and I see his eyes are misty with tears.

“What is that?” I ask dumbly.

He quickly pushes his palm against his eyes and looks away with an embarrassed smile. “It’s called crying, It happens sometimes when you witness something amazing.”

I chuckle softly and brush away a stray tear clinging to his chin.

Zona is cleaning her hands in a basin of steaming water. “Let me grab a flask,” she jokes. “You know, it’s said phoenix tears have the power to cure any ailment.”

“If you’re willing to take them as payment, I’d be happy to cry you a jar full,” Kalistratos says.

“No, you’re not worming your way out of this,” she says with a wave. “I’ll take the coin.”

“Damn.”

She kneels beside me and covers me with a blanket. “Drink this,” she says, tipping a shallow dish to my lips. “It will help restore your strength.”

“Thank you, Zona,” I say. “You’re a goddamn miracle.”

She replies with a smile. “This was a moment I’ve been preparing for nearly my entire life. My master was a Phoenikos.”

Kalistratos and I exchanged a stunned look.

“You were taught healing from a Phoenikos?” he asks.

“She taught me more than just healing. She was an oracle. She could see the future. ‘One day, you’re going to deliver a phoenix egg,’ she told me. ‘It’ll be the most important thing you ever do. The fate of my clan and the very light of the world will rest on that moment.’ A big burden to place on the shoulders of a seven-year-old girl.” Zona chuckles. “To think I was so close to turning you away. I doubt she ever foresaw Kalistratos and his bad habits.”

“Perhaps she just knew your generosity,” Kalistratos suggests.

“I’m still collecting on your debt,” she says, pointing at him as she turns away to where Xanthos and Xanthe are.

I hear water splashing into a tub and a new scent fills the air, like warm citrus and fresh lavender. They’re washing the egg and I sit up, eager and curious to see what I’ve just pushed out of my body.

Zona brings it over to me inside a basket lined with straw. Its shell is a beautiful pearl white that picks up the light from the shuttered window and shimmers with a hint of rainbow iridescence. Shaped almost like an ostrich egg, it’s surprisingly small, about the length of my forearm with my closed fist. The first thing that goes through my head is how funny it is that it’s an egg in a basket rather than a screaming baby. It’s like I’m being served breakfast or a giant Easter chocolate. But that thought quickly disappears when Xanthe picks it up and places it into my arms. The marble-smooth shell is warm, like a stone that has been out in the sun, and I can feel the little life protected within it with all of my senses and beyond. It’s a part of me, tethered by an invisible umbilical cord to my heart. The love I feel is immense and unique . I’ve never felt this kind of connection to anything or anyone before. Maybe it’s the kind of love you can only experience when you’ve created, carried, and sheltered a life within your body.

Kalistratos presses his cheek to the side of the egg and looks up at me with wide eyes.

“Can you feel them?” I ask.

“They’re glowing,” he replies.

“Hell yeah, they are.”

“How long?” he asks, turning to Zona. “When will the egg hatch?”

“My master used to say to me, ‘a phoenix egg will hatch when it’s ready to hatch.’ So, in other words, I have no idea.”

“Helpful,” Kalistratos says.

“Do I need to, like… sit on it, or anything?” I ask.

“It’s incredibly resilient,” she says. “The shell has mythical properties. It’s as strong as Chalkissian bronze, feather-light, and unaffected by all but the most extreme of temperatures. All you need to do is keep it close. The baby inside can feel the presence of its parents.”

I nuzzle the egg. “Oh, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Using a single length of cloth, Zona creates a wrap for the egg that I can wear in three different positions—on my back, nestled on the crook of my hip, and against my chest. The way it’s knotted allows me to transition through the different positions with a quick tug of my hand. Very convenient, and it feels as comfortable as wearing a backpack or a heavy messenger bag.

After, the twins guide me into a medicinal bath meant to help me recover from my ordeal. The wooden tub is on the roof of the building, beneath a shade canopy. I take the egg with me into the steaming fragrant water. Kalistratos sits on a stool beside the tub and stares out at the adjacent rooftops. There’s a small garden growing on top of the building across from us, and behind us, someone’s laundry blows like gray and brown flags on the line.

“There’s enough room in here for two,” I tell Kalistratos.

“No,” he says, leaning over the lip of the tub and kissing me on the side of my head. “You enjoy it.”

I sink in the water, hugging the egg against my still-swollen belly. “How much time do we have here?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “We were spotted flying over the city. Maybe there’s a chance no one will find us here… but they will be looking.”

“Then we need to leave the city and find the others.”

Kalistratos nods. “Yes. But first, we need you to recover as much strength as you can. So rest, relax. Let me do what I’m meant to do—protect you.”

I lean my head back to kiss him.

I have no idea how we’re going to find Airos and Alyx, let alone the two other omegas zapped to Circeana. After the nonstop insanity of the last day, I finally have a chance to gather my thoughts. There is one major question burning in my mind—if the other Chosen omegas were pregnant like me, did they also just go into labor?

They’re most likely out there alone, without anyone to help them. I just hope to God—or the Great Phoenix—that they’re safe.