Free The Phoinix: Age of Demigods by S. L. Mancuso

the
passage and remembered feeling betrayed by her best friend and
worrying for her family while she searched the cold wall for an
exit back to them. Finally, Bre felt her weakness before she passed
out. Fear overcame her, but Leora controlled the amount. She only
needed to feel enough to remember what Eoghan wanted her to
see.
    “Blue and white smoke clouding my
vision, so much fear…” said Bre in a weak and distant
voice.
    “ Look through the smoke.
Tell me what you see,” Eoghan said as he reached down and grabbed
her hand. He gently rubbed it with his thumb.
    Breanna shivered at his touch. “It’s
too thick, I can’t.”
    “What do you see in the smoke?” Eoghan
repeated aggressively.
    Eoghan’s frustration increased Bre’s
anger and allowed her to see through the smoke. Once her vision
cleared, she could see the throne room as if looking down from the
ceiling. In the room, Bre’s father, King Remus, and his soldiers
lay on the ground. Brian and Cailean stood apart with their palms
facing each other. Breanna understood they were casting a
protection spell, a strong and old spell. Blue light emanated from
the two men to surround the room. Then, Brian and Cailean collapsed
after shouting her name. She knew at that exact moment she too was
passing out in the hidden room.
    Bre flung open her eyes, ripped her
hand out of Eoghan’s, and jerked away from Leora.
“Enough!”
    “You needed to remember. Brian and
Cailean tapped into your powers. You do not realize how strong you
are or how to use your powers. Your mother is a…”
    “I said enough, Eoghan!”
    Eoghan furiously stood up and yelled
at Bre, “I am not one of your subjects, Breanna! You do not command
me!”
    Eoghan turned away and ran his fingers
through his hair as he tried to regain composure. “Listen to me,
Breanna,” his voice almost pleading, “right now you need to accept
that I know more about you than you do. I am trying to help, but
you’re acting like a brat, a brat that I am tempted to strangle.”
He gritted his teeth on the last word and made a strangling motion
with his hands. Eoghan’s Celtic accent came through thickly when he
was angry, rolling his R’s in a profuse burr.
    Breanna stood up outraged at Eoghan.
Before she could yell back, a red light charged towards her. The
light crashed into her chest slamming her into the Oak tree. She
leaned against the tree holding her head. A dizzy, overwhelming
sense of mourning filled her chest.
    “Noooo!” Bre screamed as she fell to
her knees. Her heart pounded in her ears, breaths shallow in her
chest, and a searing pain surged in her head. White smoke
reappeared with swirls of emerald and silver.
    Leora rushed forward and tried to
lessen Bre’s pain but Eoghan held the tiger back. A warm cushion
caught Breanna as she fell backwards. Clover came to her
rescue.
    Before she completely passed out, she
heard Eoghan whisper, “Happy birthday, Your Highness.”

Chapter 8
    Prolonging the
Foretold

    R emus ran to his friends. He could not bear to lose his wife
and his best friends in the same day. He would raid Hades to save
them if he had to. “I swear upon the gods, o’Conaills. If you leave
me in this mess I will hunt you in the Afterlife...whichever hell
you fall into!”
    “No need to make idle threats, Remus,”
Brian groaned as he sat up. He nudged Cailean with his foot and
scoffed lightly at his brother laying in the fetal position. “Oi,
Cail, wake up. No time to rest.”
    Remus helped the brothers to their
feet. “Why did you call out my daughter’s name? Is she in
danger?”
    Brian and Cailean examined Remus
carefully to find the right words until they realized he was not
looking at them, but instead around the room.
    Remus expected to see a young warrior
whose skills surpassed any Etrusci or Gàidheal soldier, a man who
rarely left the ó Conaills’ side. Eoghan MacBeatha was one of the
most loyal men Remus had ever met. He was shocked Eoghan was not
there when they