Heat of the Everflame (The Kindred’s Curse Saga #3)

Chapter 49

Chapter

Forty-Nine

I half expected Luther to be waiting in the same spot I’d left him, keeping watch from afar, but when Sorae touched down on the palace terrace, there was no sign of him.

There was no sign of anyone.

My bedchamber was empty, door ajar, parlor silent. I tried to remind myself the others had their own matters to address. No reason for them to be lingering at my beck and call.

No reason for me to worry.

I quickly changed into the fighting leathers I’d worn during the Challenging. They’d brought me victory when I needed it most, and today, I’d take all the help I could get.

Though my plan to raid the armory had gone awry, the supply of blades Luther brought me on my first night as Queen was still stashed in hidden nooks throughout my room. Gathering them brought a faint, much needed smile. I’d hated him more than ever that night—and he knew it—but he’d still been protecting me, trying to keep me alive against all the odds.

That task was about to get much harder.

I strapped on as many blades as I could fit, then pulled my hair into a tight braid that circled my head just below the floating Crown. I tucked my pendant safely under my neckline and strolled into the parlor.

“Your Majesty,” Perthe said in greeting from where he stood at attention by the suite door.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“The Regent came by. He was quite angry about something. He left with the High General, and the others followed.”

I frowned. Had Remis found out about my spectacle in Mortal City already?

“I thought you’d prefer that I stay with your brother,” Perthe added, inclining his head toward the closed door leading to Teller’s room.

“Yes, of course. I owe you a debt for taking care of him in my absence.”

“You saved my life. The debt is mine to repay.”

I winced. “Perthe, there’s something you should know. The night of the armory attack...” My eyes lowered. “I saved you out of guilt, not bravery. Weeks before, I made a stupid, reckless decision that made the Guardians’ attack possible. I didn’t know what would happen, but I cannot deny my share of the blame. You owe me nothing, and if that changes your desire to serve me—”

“It doesn’t change a thing, Your Majesty.”

I looked up. “It doesn’t?”

His sky-blue eyes crinkled with a kind smile. “I’ve been a member of the Royal Guard for many years. Risked my life for the late King many times. He was a good man, but he would never have run into a fire to save me, even if he was the one who lit the match.”

My chest warmed at his words. “Still... I don’t want you putting yourself in danger out of some sense of obligation for what I did.”

“Then let me do it to honor my oath as a Royal Guard. An oath I’d happily take again knowing the kind of Queen I’d be vowing to serve.”

I smiled and raised a fist to my chest. “You’re a noble man, Perthe. An honor to your family, and a credit to my guard.”

He inflated with pride and returned my salute, bowing dramatically low.

I took a hesitant step toward Teller’s room, then paused. “Is anyone... else with my brother?”

Perthe’s lips twitched up. “No, Your Majesty. Princess Lilian left. Prince Teller said he wishes to be alone.”

I blinked. “ Prince Teller?”

“Siblings of the Crown and their children are entitled to a royal designation, if they wish to use one.”

“And Teller does?”

“Oh, no, Your Majesty. Not at all. But I thought perhaps you might wish him to.”

“I do, indeed.” A mischievous smirk slowly grew. I strode toward Teller’s room and rapped my fist on his door.

He didn’t answer.

“It’s your sister. Let me in.”

I knocked again.

He still didn’t answer.

“Fine. It’s your Queen, and I command you to open. You can’t ignore that .”

“Yes, I can,” a muffled voice shouted back.

“I’m leaving town. Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”

The door cracked open. A sliver of Teller’s face appeared. “You’re leaving already?”

I grinned. “Hello, Prince Teller.”

His eyes narrowed. “Goodbye.”

I wedged the toe of my boot to stop the door mid-slam. “I think you should use the title. It suits you. You’re very princely.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want any of this,” he snapped. “I don’t want to be royal, I don’t want to live in this palace, and I don’t want guards following me everywhere I go. I never get to see my mortal friends anymore, and the Descended think I’m a Guardian now. I want my home back. I want my life back.”

My smile vanished. “Tel... I didn’t—”

“Nevermind.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking down. Like me, my brother was horrid at hiding his true feelings. Dejection was screaming from every pore. “I’m fine. Forget I said anything.”

I sighed. “Can I please come in?”

He let go of the door and turned away.

“I guess it went badly with Henri,” he muttered as I walked in.

“Why do you say that?”

“Your eyes are still puffy from crying.”

I stared at my feet, my cheeks turning warm.

He looked me over. “You’re going to get Mother, aren’t you? That’s why you’re dressed like you’re going into battle?” I nodded, and he let out a harsh breath. “Maybe... maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe you should just leave her there.”

I frowned. This wasn’t like him. Even when Teller was angry, he was never cruel. “You want me to abandon Mother?”

“This is Fortos , Diem. You’ll be surrounded by soldiers. If they catch you, they’ll kill you, and even if you don’t, you’ll be an enemy of the Crowns. Then they’ll arrest you and execute you both, and then I’ll be...” His shoulders crumpled. He sank onto the edge of his bed, dropping his head in his hands. “After your coronation, we didn’t know if you or Mother made it out alive. For days, I thought...” His hands clenched in his hair. “I thought I was the only Bellator left.”

My heart broke at the thick despair roughening his voice. He’d had so little choice in all that had happened. Even before I became Queen, he’d been a pawn in my mother’s plan. He’d put on a strong face through it all, but everyone had their breaking point, and I feared I had finally pushed him to his.

I sat beside him, my arm brushing his. “They won’t catch me. And if they do, they can’t kill me.”

“Come on, D. I know you’re strong, but—”

“Luther and I discovered something about my magic. I haven’t told everyone yet.”

His eyes darkened. “More secrets?”

“Yes,” I said, sighing. “But when you see, you’ll understand why.”

I took his hand and flattened it out, my brow furrowing as I focused on his palm. At the center, a single flame began to grow.

Teller jerked upright. “Is that...?”

“Watch,” I urged.

The flame twirled, then extinguished into smoke with the force of a tiny windstorm. A droplet of water wobbled in midair, then crystallized into an icy, frost-coated orb.

“That’s Ignios magic,” he breathed. “And... and Meros. And Montios.”

And Umbros , I spoke into his mind.

He jerked away and leapt to his feet.

“And Arboros and Fortos and all the others,” I went on. “The only one I can’t use is Sophos. Luther thinks it’s because I’ve never been there.”

His forehead wrinkled in that earnest way it did when his clever brain was puzzling out a problem. “Descended magic is tied to the soil of their terremère. They can’t use it if they’ve never set foot in the realm.” He looked me over slowly, like he was studying some new, fascinating creature. “But no Descended has even had two , let alone all of them.”

“It gets stranger. When Descended attack me with their magic, it doesn’t hurt me. It helps me. It’s like I’m stealing their magic right out of them. It even helps me heal faster, if I’m wounded.”

His eyes grew wide. “Mother said your birth father had a rare condition. Maybe that wasn’t a lie. If he could do this, too, that would explain why she tried so hard to hide you.”

“I’m going to get her and ask her that myself today.”

His look of wonder fell away, hardening back into his scolding frown. “This doesn’t mean you can’t be killed. Fortos has weapons. And godstone .”

“I’ll be careful.”

“You’re never careful,” he shot back. “We always joked you were lucky to be alive after all the things that should have killed you. It was never luck. It was all of this .” He gestured angrily at my body. “You’re not fighting weak mortal men anymore. These are real threats.”

“I will be careful this time,” I said again. “I’m coming back, and I’m bringing Mother with me.”

He stilled. “You’re going to bring her back here—to the palace?”

I nodded emphatically. My better judgment shouted at me with reservations, but I shoved them away, frantic to win back my brother’s trust. “We’ll have to hide her somehow. I’ll find a way. We’ll be together as a family again by day’s end. I promise.”

He eyed me with blatant doubt. “Are there any other big revelations I should know?”

“No. I’ve learned my lesson—no more lying to protect you.”

“Swear it, D,” he insisted. “Promise me there are no more secrets.”

I pressed my hand to my heart. “I swear on my life.”

He blew out a long breath through his nose, his face still etched with lingering hurt. We’d never had a rift like this, nothing more serious than fleeting sibling spats, and I was desperate to mend it. Teller was my one constant, the one person who had been there through it all and had never let me down. Losing his trust would destroy me.

His eyes shifted up above my head, his cross expression giving way to curiosity. “Your Crown...”

“It’s different, I know. It changed after the Rite of Coronation. I’m not sure why.”

“The new part of it...” His head angled to the side. “This is going to sound crazy, but it almost looks like...”

I let out a sudden groan as a wave of foreign pain and confusing shock knocked me to my knees.

“Diem!” Teller lunged to grab me.

I gritted my teeth against the visceral sensation seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at all. My skin glowed silver-bright as my godhood thrashed in search of some wound to heal, some enemy to vanquish.

“Are you hurt?” Teller asked.

“Not me,” I rasped. “ Sorae .”

The bond between us was engulfed with her panic. Somewhere, she was under attack.

Her physical agony mixed with her fury. And terror—not for herself, but for me, for fear that her attackers would come for me next.

“I have to get to her,” I choked out. Teller helped me to my feet, and we ran together through the parlor. An excruciating pain splintered through my chest. I stumbled to the ground just as Sorae’s enraged howl carried through the terrace archways.

“Your Majesty,” Perthe cried, rushing forward.

I clutched my throbbing side. “I think we’re under attack.”

Perthe pulled his sword and coated it with a corona of shadow. “I’ll come with you.”

“No—stay with Teller. If something happens to me, get him to Mortal City. Maura will take him in.”

Teller’s face blanched. “Diem...”

I didn’t wait to argue. I pushed to my feet and ran to the balcony. Sorae was missing, but I sensed her presence nearby. My eyes slammed shut as I slipped into her head like it was my own.

The world was vivid and shimmering through her golden eyes. I was momentarily lost in an ocean of colors I’d never seen, shades of light too delicate for my human eyes to detect. I felt the thump of every heartbeat in the palace and caught the pungent scent of every man and creature wafting on the winter wind.

And intentions. They blazed in the air around each person’s form, a halo of their heart’s darkest hates or brightest loves.

And everywhere I looked, I saw a hunger to kill .

She was writhing on the ground outside the palace entrance, struggling to get free, though something held her still. Her wings were bent at an awkward angle that sent bolts of agony down both our spines.

In front of her, a barrel of apples lay overturned, some half-eaten. I could taste their cloying aftertaste coating my mouth. A circle of both Lumnos guards and army soldiers surrounded her with long, metal-tipped spears, some of which were lodged in bloody gashes across her hide. A few guards clutched chains as thick as my thigh, and when they pulled taut, Sorae’s throat—and mine—squeezed closed and gasped for air.

I yanked out of the bond, sending her a wave of calm and a promise to get her free, and bolted for the corridor.

“Move,” I shouted at the horde of waiting guards. “Get out of my way!”

They closed their ranks. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” a woman said, stepping forward. “We’ve been ordered by the High General to keep you in your chambers.”

“Those orders are empty. Aemonn’s not High General anymore.” I tried to shove past her, but the guards tightened around me.

“The orders weren’t given by Aemonn.”

I went stiff. “Alixe did this? She’s the one hurting Sorae?”

“The gryvern is only being subdued, not harmed.”

“I can feel her pain,” I hissed. “And if you don’t get out of my way, I’ll make sure you feel it, too.”

The woman’s eyes glowed bright blue as her chin lifted. “Return to your chambers, Your Majesty. Don’t force us to harm our own Queen.”

“Don’t worry, there’s no danger of that.” I stalked forward and clipped her with my shoulder to force her aside.

Her arm swung out across my chest. She gripped me by the elbow, yanking me toward her.

I stilled. My gaze slowly lowered to my arm as my voice went soft. “Remove your hand.”

“Simply return to your chambers, and no harm will come to you or your gryv—”

Her words cut off as every guard in the hall was flung backward by the explosive force of my magical pulse. I’d only put a fraction of my power into it, but it was enough to crunch bone as soft bodies met stone walls.

I set off in a sprint. More guards spotted me, calling out demands to stop—only to find themselves pinned against the nearest wall with a searing rope of light or a razor wire of darkness.

When I reached the stairs to the foyer, thirty army soldiers were ready and waiting. They raised their weapons, and I raised my palm to condemn them to the same fate as the others.

Then I stopped. A few held weapons made not of dull grey Fortosian steel, but a telltale glittering black.

“You threaten me with godstone in my own home?” I snarled.

“And we’re not afraid to use it,” their commander barked. “Go back to your chambers.”

I slowly walked down the staircase, my rage boiling to a dangerous heat. I had to be careful—one reckless blast of my magic and godstone blades would go flying. If they did, there was no telling how many lives it could cost. Even a minor nick could be a death warrant.

I could use my Umbros magic to persuade them all to turn away, but then my secret would be out. If the Crowns wanted to question me before, that would make me enemy number one—if I wasn’t already.

My fists clenched at my sides. Until now, I’d been blunt-forcing my way through every battle, making up for lack of skill with sheer power and dumb luck. I was the magical equivalent of a toddler with a hammer—able to do enormous damage, but only if I was willing to smash everything in sight.

This required a delicate touch. Sophisticated precision, the kind of magic one only gained after years of training. And I’d been deprived of that chance by the progeny laws and my mother’s lies.

“Step aside,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re delusional,” their commander sneered back. “Even the King of Fortos couldn’t take us all.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize the King of Fortos was so weak.”

The commander narrowed his eyes—red, like his counterpart in Mortal City.

“Sheath your blades and fight me like a Descended,” I taunted. “I’ll level the odds for you—I won’t even raise my shield.”

He pointed his sword toward me, and I stared at the blade as it hovered inches from my face. The sunlight streaming through the palace windows cast twinkling specks on the onyx stone, like moonlight glinting off the choppy waves of a midnight sea. It was paradoxically beautiful for something so vile.

“I hear you’re a Guardian sympathizer,” he jeered. “I wouldn’t mind putting this right through your neck. Give me a reason, and I’ll do it.”

I held his stare and sent a wave of my magic rippling through the air. Not an attack, but a warning.

A warning their stillness suggested they were not inclined to heed.

“Diem?” Luther’s voice called from outside.

The door to the palace flew open, revealing my furious-looking Prince. His chest and thighs bore glowing armor of pale blue light, while barbed shadows coiled up and down his sinewed arms.

His eyes thinned to slits as they stopped on the sword now pointed at my throat. He raised his fists, forearms dark with swirls of roiling night.

“Touch her,” he snarled, throaty and vicious, “and I’ll peel every last vein from under your flesh and strangle you with them.”

Though I shivered at his words, my godhood was exhilarated at the sight of him. It pried at my ribs, yearning to be let loose and join him in battle.

Fight , its voice demanded.

Some of the soldiers whipped toward him, their dark blades swinging his direction. A panicked cry stuck in my throat.

“Luther, please,” I begged. “Go back outside.”

The commander looked between us, his mouth curving. “Ah. I see.”

I didn’t need Umbros magic to understand the plan forming in his head.

I shook my head in warning. “Don’t do it.”

He smirked. “You wanted us to fight like Descended. That means using every weapon we can get. Soldiers , take him down! ”

My protests drowned in the roar of the surge. Luther moved with the grace of a leopard, prowling expertly through gaps in their swings, but the godstone sliced through his shield like it was nothing. If he made one wrong move...

Fight .

I hurled a globe of blazing light at the commander. It burned straight through his armor and left a circle of charred flesh across his chest. His screams rang in my ears as I leapt past him and waded through a swarm of sparkling black blurs, a few missing me by inches.

“Diem, no ,” Luther shouted. He launched toward me, each of us turning reckless in our race to rescue the other.

The soldiers took quick advantage. They hacked at us as we passed, a deadly gauntlet we couldn’t survive for long.

I’m going to lose him , I thought, my heart breaking. The gods won’t let me save him again.

A soldier appeared at Luther’s flank, two black daggers in his fists. One blade punched forward.

Fight .

Destroy .

I screamed.

And I surrendered.

The room flooded with silvery light. Its blinding brilliance forced my eyes shut as a wave of frost and fire tingled down my spine.

Then... silence.

“No,” I whimpered. I clamped my hands over my face. I couldn’t bear to face the horror of what I’d done. All those soldiers, all those lives...

“What in Kindred’s name did she just do?”

My eyes popped open at the Fortos commander’s voice.

Luther sank to his knees before me. His lips parted, his eyes aglow with reverence. The air rushed out of him as he laid a palm on his chest.

“My Queen,” he breathed.

“How did she do that?”

I tore my eyes away to see the commander staring at his open palms—his empty palms.

Across the foyer, every soldier was gaping at their hands, looking lost, and every palm was empty, not a weapon in sight.

“How?” the commander demanded again. “Godstone can’t be destroyed.”

“Yes it can,” I protested. “After the war, the Crowns confiscated all the godstone weapons and—”

“—and stored them,” Luther finished. “The weapons were locked in a vault in Fortos, because even the Crowns couldn’t destroy them. No one could... until now.”

We gazed at each other, his face dazzling with wonder, mine fraught with shock.

“She’s too dangerous,” the commander said. “Capture her and bring her in. Use your magic—whatever it takes.”

I moved to raise my shield, but Luther beat me to it. With a twitch of his wrist, he surrounded us in a shimmering blue dome.

The foyer erupted. Outside our bubble, lethal magic clouded the air. Attacks teemed in a dizzying melee of chaos and violence. The soldiers screamed until their faces were red and beat their fists against the shield’s glowing wall.

Inside, our world was calm. Nothing could reach us. It was all so far, far away.

All the while, my Prince’s eyes stayed on me. Deflecting the full force of an entire army battalion didn’t even warrant a glance. He rose to his feet and curled a hand beneath my jaw, gazing at me like I was the brightest star in the sky.

“Some days, I pray for these surprises to end. I beg for time to stop and the world to still so I know that, at least for a moment, you are safe. Then you do something like this...” He laughed softly. “And I thank the Blessed Kindred I’m lucky enough to see it.”

I could have stayed there for an eternity, basking in the warmth of his love. He had a way of making me feel it—see it and touch it, nest it in my hands like a tangible thing.

Most days, my self-doubt felt as powerful a beast as my magic, but in the light of his gaze, all my uncertainty fell away.

But, desperately as I wanted to, I could not linger.

“Sorae’s under attack. We have to help her.”

His expression darkened. “I know. I was loading her with our bags when they lured her away. My father knows our plan to get your mother. He thinks he can stop us by capturing Sorae.”

“Oh gods, Alixe must have—”

“She didn’t tell him. It was Aemonn.”

I swore under my breath.

“You told him?” Luther asked, noticeably struggling to keep the disappointment from his tone.

“You were dying. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” I sighed. “I wanted to give him a second chance.”

“Like I said last night, your compassion knows no bounds,” he muttered flatly.

I scowled and took his hand. “Let’s go.”

Luther’s shield burst outward in an explosive arc, sending soldiers skidding across the marble floor.

Outside, a pack of Royal Guards crowded Sorae’s panting body. Her snout was locked in an iron muzzle while a contraption pinned her wings at her back. Heavy chains encircled her throat and trailed from shackles clamped around her limbs.

Eleanor and Lily clutched each other nearby, watching with sorrow. Taran was screaming at Aemonn and Garath, both of whom were eying Zalaric as he tried in vain to hold Taran back. At Sorae’s side, Alixe and Remis were huddled in discussion.

My gryvern’s eyes slid to me, and a mournful wail trilled from her throat. She dug her talons into the ground in a frenzied attempt to crawl to me. The guard holding her chains scrambled to pull her back, the metal links rubbing her scales raw where they squeezed her neck.

“Let her go,” I shouted at Remis. “You have no right.”

“I have every right.” He stormed toward me, his careful composure long since shattered. “The Lumnos gryvern serves the Crown, and right now, that Crown is me.”

“She’ll never serve you. She doesn’t even like you.”

Sorae swung her head with a wild snarl of agreement. She shoved to her feet and strained at her chains. A few of the spear-carrying soldiers closed in and jabbed their blades into her soft underbelly.

I let out a cry and hunched forward, feeling the blades as viscerally as if they were in my own side. Luther’s arms wrapped around me to hold me steady against his chest.

“That’s enough,” Alixe barked at the soldiers. “Your orders were to hold her down, not hurt her.”

My eyes locked with Alixe. Her expression was brutally severe, so unlike the warm friend that I knew. The message was clear: she would obey her orders, even if she hated it. I’d made her my High General for that very reason.

“Sorae will serve me,” Remis argued, “because you are going to order her to do it. If you don’t, she’ll be spending her future in chains.”

“No. She’s coming with me.”

“I heard about your plan,” he hissed. He stormed closer, lowering his voice. “Fortos? Are you insane? ”

I dragged my glare to Aemonn. “I gave you a chance, and this is the man you chose to be?”

A brief flash of shame surfaced before it twisted into something bitter and cruel, so much like his father. “You had me replaced as High General. Why should I be loyal to you now?”

“You’ll never be more to our fathers than a pawn,” Luther snapped at him. “Diem was the only person who ever saw good in you. You’re a fool to throw that away.”

Taran spat at Aemonn’s feet. “Coward. Always have been, always will be.”

Aemon jumped away and glowered at the three of us. He swallowed and straightened his jacket, then stomped off toward the palace, his chin hanging low.

I glanced at Luther. Can you get Sorae’s muzzle off? I asked into his thoughts.

His nostrils flared in surprise. He quickly gave a subtle nod.

Go , I told him. I’ll distract your father.

“Why do you care what I do in Fortos?” I asked Remis haughtily. I crossed my arms as Luther slipped away. “You’d be thrilled to see me finally meet my end.”

Remis scoffed. “You’ll be lucky if it’s only death. There’ll be no coming back from this.”

I shrugged. “I guess I’ll find out when I return.”

My eyes darted over his shoulder. Alixe had pulled her shortswords, and she and Luther were circling each other in a battle stance.

My muscles went stiff—surely she wouldn’t really hurt him... would she?

“Don’t even think about bringing your mother here,” Remis warned. “The Crowns will make a bloodbath of the realm, and they won’t stop until you’re on the gallows.”

I rolled my eyes. “The other Crowns can’t hurt me.”

“You better hope they can, because if they can’t, they’ll hurt everyone you love in your place. Your brother. My son.” He jabbed a finger in my face. “If you do this, at least do them a favor and don’t ever show your face in this realm again.”

I held strong to my facade of arrogant indifference, but his words had a stone sinking in my gut. A quick glance confirmed Luther and Alixe were still locked in combat, their spinning bodies a blur of blades and magic.

“Is that a threat?” I shot at Remis. “Do you know what I do to those who threaten my family?”

“I am not the threat to your family, Diem. It’s you . It has always been you.”

I flinched. “If anything happens to my brother, Remis, you cannot fathom the hellstorm I will bring down on your head. There will be no place to hide from my wrath.” My eyes narrowed. “I don’t care whose fault it is. It will be your head that rolls. Understood?”

“Diem,” Luther shouted. “Now!”

I held Remis’s stare a beat longer, letting him see the depth of my vow, before breaking away and striding toward Luther. He sliced the straps from Sorae’s muzzle in between thrusting out volleys of glowing arrows that sizzled into the flesh of the surrounding guards.

I caught sight of Alixe and halted. She was lying on the ground, a pool of blood spreading around her at a terrifying rate. In a panic, I ran toward her. Luther lunged to snatch my arm.

“We need to leave now.”

“She’s hurt—I have to heal her.”

“If you do, Remis will think she was in on our plan.”

I hesitated, staring at Alixe. The healer in me rose to the surface, analyzing her injury, her blood loss, her chances.

“She’ll be fine,” Luther said, quieter. “I know how to wound without killing.”

Shadows crept into his eyes. His careful mask slipped, giving a glimpse of a tortured darkness that lurked deep inside.

A group of army soldiers came riding on horseback through the palace gates. Atop the lead horse sat the red-eyed commander I’d battled in Mortal City.

“Stop her,” he yelled, pointing toward me. “She attacked my battalion!”

Luther raised an eyebrow, and I swore under my breath. “Fine. Let’s go.”

He nodded. “What about Sorae’s chains?”

“Oh, she’ll take care of those all on her own.” I untied the bags Luther had secured to her side as he sliced away the last of the muzzle’s leather straps. The second the iron cage slid from her snout, her thunderous roar exploded over the palace grounds.

“Go,” I shouted at the soldiers holding her chains. “If you want to live, run now! ”

A low rumble built in Sorae’s throat, and the air turned blisteringly hot. Remis staggered backward, his face turning a sickly pale.

“Run,” he hoarsely echoed my order. “ Run! ”

As one, their eyes grew wide. The soldiers dropped the chains and scrambled to get away. I grabbed Luther’s arm and threw my body on top of him, ignoring his grunts of protest as I built the thickest blanket of ice I could craft and stretched it to cover both us and Alixe.

A sapphire inferno erupted from Sorae’s fanged jaws, a cataclysmic deluge of flame that charred every surface within reach. The world disappeared within its violent, blinding glow, though I felt only a calming warmth—as her Crown, her dragonfyre could do me no harm.

Everyone else was not so lucky.

My ears rang with horrified screams, bubbling ice evaporating to steam, and, to my relief, the hiss of melting iron. When the flames receded, I didn’t dare look at the damage Sorae had wrought—only a brief glance at Alixe to confirm that her clothes were singed, but her skin was unburnt.

Luther wasted no time. He hauled me to my feet and dragged me at his side in a sprint for Sorae, snatching our bags along the way. We carefully avoided the molten red ooze puddled beneath her as we vaulted on her back.

“Go, Sorae!” Luther shouted.

She held still, awaiting my command.

I spied Taran huddling by the palace walls. Zalaric crouched behind him, peering out from Taran’s protective grip.

“Jean will come for him,” I called out to Taran.

He growled, fists clenching. “If he does, Hanoverre blood will run in the streets.”

I smiled. “Take care of him for me?”

Zalaric rolled his eyes. “I’m more powerful than him, you know. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of mys—”

“I will, Your Majesty,” Taran shouted back. “I’ll protect him with my life.”

We exchanged salutes, and I sent a silent command to Sorae. Her wings shuddered as they flared out, the lingering pain from her capture echoing in my body through the bond. But my fearless gryvern pushed through her pain and leaned back on her haunches.

“I pray you remember my warning, Remis,” I yelled to him as we leapt for the sky.

His response barely reached me over the whistle of the wind.

“I pray you remember mine, as well.”