A Flame of the Phoenix by Chloe C. Penaranda

Here is a summary with spoilers for A Flame of the Phoenix by Chloe C. Penaranda

Reylan has been taken by Marvellas, and even though he is suffering in prison, he would make that choice again and again if it means that his beloved mate Faythe is safe. Marvellas plans on breaking Reylan and attaching a ruin to him, making the two of them bound together.

Meanwhile, Faythe is beside herself. She wants nothing more than to be with her mate Reylan. It scares her that there is not a clear path to him, and everyone around her has to tell her that she needs to stay calm and plan in order to get to him. She does get a reprieve when Nik shows up, and the two are able to share their stories of what has been happening the past few months.

Zaiana has just woken up after six weeks of recovering. Right before she wakes up, she has a strange dream with a strange man in it. She does not get much time to dwell on it, but will later find it odd that she keeps seeing him in her dreams. When she wakes, Maverick is there waiting for her, a man she can always rely on. But Zaiana is worried because her lighting magic is not there, and she does not know who she is without that magic. That night, she dreams again. The same man is there and knows her name, but refuses to tell his. He wants to teach her. The next day, Zaiana and Izaiah have been reunited. They need to come up with a plan. While they are technically loyal to Marvellas, they both feel like their loyalties are changing. Zaiana pushes for plans to go back and find Faythe.

Faythe has found a different type of phoenix, a black one, that she realizes she can use as part of their plan and use to her advantage to be even stronger. So when the opportunity comes up to sneak into Marvellas’ home and take Reylan back, Faythe does just that. As soon as she finds Reylan, it quickly turns violent as he attacks her, bites her, and drains her blood, causing her to pass out.

Zaiana makes it back to Marvellas just in time to witness Faythe get attacked by her mate. She realizes as she looks at Reylan that Marvellas has him under some sort of spell. He does not realize that Faythe is his mate. Kyleer and Faythe are now prisoners to Zaiana and Reylan. The four make their way back via boat, and Faythe’s only focus is trying to get Reylan to recognize her. When she briefly touches him, he snaps out of it and tells her to take the ruin out. But when their physical touch is gone, he returns to being cold toward her. Faythe has a magical outburst at this point, causing the four people to split up into two groups to get back to Marvellas. Faythe and Reylan travel together, and Zaiana and Kyleer do the same.

It is time for Faythe to be presented to Marvellas, where she tries to attack her. When she fails, Marvellas humiliates Faythe. After forcing her to undress, she then takes a ring from Faythe, a ring that Reylan gave her. She destroys it, and it makes Faythe incredibly sad, enough of a reaction that Reylan realizes there is something different about her, and he starts to feel a pull toward her.

Faythe then gets sent to the prison cell below the castle, where she meets another prisoner. He introduces himself as Rainyte Ashfyre, or Nyte. He is visiting from another realm. He does not realize why he is there until he finds out that Marvellas is in this realm. Nyte is the long lost son of Marvellas. The two come up with a plan that includes Faythe killing Captain Daegal, a soldier in charge of her while in the prison. Once Faythe kills the Captain, Nyte is able to occupy his body and move Faythe around. Zaiana at this point cannot decide which side to be on, and even helps Faythe escape, mostly because she wants to see how everything will play out. Faythe does not fully escape yet. She wants more info on Marvellas, and Dakodas, and Mordecai, plus she wants to get Reylan and the ruin. Kyleer is still stuck in prison as well, and Zaiana goes to talk to him often to tell him it was a mistake to fall in love with her.

Nik meanwhile hears that his mate Tauria might be close by, and he is willing to do anything to get close to her again. He is able to quickly find her, and the two are reunited after weeks of being apart.

It is Marvellas’ next step in her plan. She wants to use the ruin and attach it to Faythe and make it a transition ceremony. But it turns out the ceremony was not meant for Faythe, but rather Kyleer. Zaiana starts to panic because she believes Kyleer is too weak to withstand that. She watches as Kyleer drops, and she promises to find him in the next life and promises to be better to him.

Faythe is devastated by the death of Kyleer, but sees her opening to run. She finds Reylan and pours all her magic into him to destroy the ruin. When it is destroyed, Reylan finally looks at her as if he knows her. The two are finally reunited.

Zaiana is in full anger mode and filled with grief, but when she is left alone with Captain Daegal, he mentions that he is actually Nyte and that he has been working with Faythe on a plan, and they need her help. She tentatively agrees, but wants to see Kyleer’s body first. She finds him, and he is alive. He survived the transition, but now he believes he is a monster because he has wings. He also does not remember her or have any of his past memories. The two continue with their plan anyway. Zaiana continues to try to get Kyleer to remember her. She even goes as far as going into nightwalking and asking the mysterious man there for his help. When Zaiana is meeting with Marvellas, she briefly shows her a vision of Nyte, and Marvellas wants to know where her son is. They are interrupted when Nerida, the lost heir to the Lakelarian throne, arrives. With her arrival, a fight breaks out, and Nyte fully reveals himself to his mother. Marvellas is shocked and tries to convince him to join her plan and stay in her realm. Nyte does not want anything to do with her. He does not want to stay in this realm. He wants to get back to his mate.

After the fight with Marvellas, everyone manages to escape and then get reunited. Kyleer is there, and everyone is excited to see him alive, though he still does not remember any of them. While all are reunited at Nik’s castle, Zaiana realizes that the man teaching her to nightwalk is Nik himself. Zaiana is also now in charge of training Faythe with some of her powers and other training. Nyte meanwhile is trying to find a way back to his realm so he can get to his mate. He tells Reylan to watch out for his mate Faythe, because if she is the one to kill Marvellas, there is a chance that she will also die.

The group decides that they want to bring Marvellas out, and one way to do that is to have Nik and Tauria get officially married in front of the kingdom. Their plan works because Marvellas shows up and finds Faythe and breaks into her mind and breaks her. Reylan finds her out cold and helps her recover, though it leaves the group wondering why Marvellas did not kill Faythe.

With confirmation of Marvellas being close by, Zaiana decides that Dakodas and Mordecai must be close by and goes out searching for them. She quickly finds them and starts fighting them. Faythe and Nyte also manage to get in on the fighting, and Nyte tells them they need to focus on getting their dagger and ruins. During the fighting, Tauria ends up dying, but with some help, Nik is able to bring her back. Faythe and Nyte manage to get really close to Marvellas, who also just killed Jak, but right when they are about to make their move, Nyte yells at her and says he is going back to his realm, and disappears. While Marvellas watches her long lost son leave, she runs toward him, which is when Faythe grabs a knife and kills her.

As the fighting continues, Zaiana is in the front lines of it all along with Kyleer. They both watch as Izaiah dies, and that is what triggers Kyleer and his memories to come back to him. In a rage, both of them run for Dakodas and try to kill him. Mordecai manages to slip away. Faythe is the one to deliver the final blow, though it kills her to do so. Reylan grabs her and begs for her life to be saved, and miraculously she starts moving again.

In an epilogue, Faythe and Reylan are just happy to work together and create a better kingdom for their people and their friends. Zaiana refuses to be a part of it, though she does go and visit Maverick’s grave once a month. One day while she is there, a man shows up, Theron Osirion, and he wants to help her go find and kill Mordecai. Kyleer overhears their plan and wants to join them on their journey.