Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
H e disobeyed me.
Luther Corbois.
Disobeyed me .
His Queen.
It wasn’t even that I minded the disobedience. Though my stubborn temper didn’t always show it, Luther’s willingness to tell me no was something I both needed and cherished.
But this felt different. This wasn’t a simple disagreement, a debate that could be won or lost, shouted over or talked through.
This felt like a decision made. Like Luther was closing a door. On us. On me .
The thought sat heavy on my heart as I towel-dried my hair and slipped into the clean clothes he’d set out. The lingering burn of his rejection was tempered by the powerful confessions he’d just made.
There is no place in all of existence I would rather be than between your legs, and there’s no part of you I do not long to consume. With my eyes. With my hands. With my mouth.
I pressed a finger to my lips, still swollen from his kiss. How could he feel so strongly and still turn me away? Did he somehow believe he wasn’t worthy? Because if so, I would happily persuade him otherwise. Preferably with my own eyes, hands, and mouth.
But what if I was the one unworthy of him? What if my mistakes as Queen had left him regretting his decision to support me, but he cared for me too much to admit it to my face?
Stop , I scolded myself. You doubted him before, and you swore never to do it again.
Every time Luther had done something I didn’t understand, it had always come down to him protecting me in some way. If he was holding back, there had to be some threat he didn’t want to reveal, and though it pricked my temper to know he was keeping secrets to protect me again, I had no right to be upset when I still harbored secrets of my own.
If I wanted to be a good Queen, I needed to lead by example. I would have to come clean to him, to all of them, and pray I could earn back their trust.
I took a deep breath and stalked out of the bedchamber, into the center of the main parlor, facing the three Corbois cousins with arms crossed.
“We need to talk.”
Alixe and Taran looked up at me in surprise. They were both lounging on a couch, Alixe nibbling on a bowl of dried fruits while Taran twirled a thin, dark blade between his fingers.
Luther stood by the fireplace, a tumbler of amber liquid in his hand, staring into the flames with that same hollow, uncaring expression.
“Look, Queenie,” Taran said, grinning. “My magic’s back again.”
I looked closer at the weapon in his hand. The edges swirled with the telltale sign of a shadow-crafted blade. He twitched a finger and it grew in size to a small axe, which he precariously balanced upright in the palm of his hand.
“Luther’s is, too,” I said.
Taran and I both looked his way. Luther swirled his glass silently. Taran glanced back at me, raising an eyebrow.
“Mine returned for a moment while we were in the markets,” Alixe added.
“It seems to be happening more frequently,” I said.
She nodded. “And it’s not just happening to us. We overheard a couple from Meros say it’s going on there, too, and a Descended from Sophos bragged that he was using magic without paying his tithe to the Umbros Queen.”
“Have you ever heard of this happening before?”
“Never,” Luther mumbled.
“Care to elaborate?” I asked, a bit testily.
The silence stretched on. He took a long sip from his glass, and Alixe and Taran shared a look.
I glowered and poured myself a glass of whiskey, then slammed it back in a single gulp. Taran whistled low.
“Did something happen while we were gone?” Alixe asked carefully.
“Yes,” I said, just as Luther answered, “No.”
Taran leaned over to Alixe. “Mom and Dad are fighting,” he whispered loudly.
“This—” I gestured to the four of us. “—isn’t working. We’re all arguing, keeping secrets, not trusting each other. We can’t keep going like this.”
“Don’t look at me,” Taran said. “I’m not keeping any secrets. I trusted all of you, and look where it got me.”
A stab of guilt needled at me. “You’re right.”
He blinked. “Wait—I am?”
“Yes.” I sighed and sat down beside him. “If I had been more honest with all of you from the beginning, maybe I could have stopped what happened on Coeur?le. You all wouldn’t have had to rescue me, and you would never have been hit by that godstone blade.” I took his hand. “I am so sorry, Taran. I will never forgive myself for that.”
Luther whipped around so quickly his drink sloshed over the side of his glass. “That was not your fault.”
My back straightened in surprise. Now he had something to say?
“Looking back,” I went on, “I saw enough that I should have been able to put together what they were up to. If I had, we would never have had that fight with Vance, and—”
“ You will not blame yourself for that ,” Luther thundered, his mask slipping to reveal a flash of bitter anger before he managed to lock it down again.
It was such a volatile, disproportionate response that I was left momentarily speechless.
Taran squeezed my hand, his voice softening. “I was just teasing. I don’t blame you for that, and Luther’s right—you shouldn’t, either.”
“Regardless, I owe you an apology. There’s so much I’ve been keeping from all of you—so much that I don’t even know where to start filling you in, to be honest—but I want to. You all have become my family. You stood by me through the worst weeks of my life, and you trusted me when you had no reason to. You deserve better than what I’ve given you, and I’m truly sorry.”
I looked between the three of them, trying to convey my sincerity with my expression. Luther took another drink and turned away.
“What exactly have you been keeping from us?” Taran asked. Though Alixe said nothing, I saw the same question in her eyes.
I winced, wishing I’d poured myself a second glass. I rose to my feet and drew in a long breath.
“My mother is the leader of the Guardians of the Everflame,” I began. “I think she met my birth father while on a mission for the Emarion Army, but I won’t know for sure until I get her out of prison—which I plan to do once we get back to Lumnos. I don’t know who he was, but I know he’s alive, and he knows I exist. The Umbros Queen told me so last Forging Day, when she showed up in Lumnos and told me to stop taking the flameroot that was suppressing my magic. Also, when her Centenaries came to the Ascension Ball, I released their magic to get their help stopping a Guardian attack, so the Centenaries have probably read all my thoughts and memories—and all of yours, too.”
I paused, bracing for what I knew would be the hardest pill.
“I’m still working with the Guardians. I want to help them wage war against the Crowns to restore what was taken from the mortals. But only some of the Guardians—the ones that aren’t trying to kill us. But I also want to help the good Descended in the war, too. And bring all the half-mortals home. So I guess I’m not really picking a side...” I frowned and shook my head. “I haven’t really figured out the war part yet, this is all kind of a work in progress.”
All three of them blinked at me.
“Oh, and Luther and I have been having visions. About each other. And the war. And some glowing man who called me Daughter of the Forgotten. Also, there’s a prophecy, I think. The Umbros Queen told me some of it, and then King Ulther said more, and—I’m not sure, I’m still figuring this part out, too—then everything went sideways at my coronation, and Sophos called me an imposter. Which, actually, they might not be wrong about, because there’s something bizarre about my magic, and—”
“Blessed Kindred...”
“Your birth father is alive?”
“What kind of visions?”
“You never mentioned a prophecy.”
“What do you mean, ‘ imposter’ ?”
“And what do you mean, ‘ bizarre ’?”
“We’re going to need a bigger Royal Guard.”
I cringed. “I know it’s a lot. And there’s probably more.” I shot Luther a pointed look. He would have to have his own come clean moment soon enough. “I don’t want to keep any of it from you all. Not anymore.”
“What prophecy?” Luther demanded. “What did it say?”
“It was all gibberish. It can’t possibly be true. Something about chains, and a debt, and blood falling on a heartst—oh.” My lips parted. “ Oh. ”
“What?”
“It might be true after all.”
Luther slammed down his glass and came to stand in front of me. “Tell me. Every word.”
I dove into my memories and pulled out the cryptic lines the Umbros Queen had spoken that day in Paradise Row. “ When forgotten blood on heartstone falls, then shall the chains be broke . Life for life, old debt requires, or eternal be his yoke .”
“Creepy,” Taran said, helpfully.
Luther’s eyes wandered as he mouthed the words over and over.
“Why do you think it’s true?” Alixe asked.
“At my coronation, there was a stone at the center of the Kindred’s Temple. The other Crowns called it the heartstone. They use it for the rituals. It seemed... important.”
As in, the source-of-all-Descended-magic, the-world-will-crumble-if-it’s-destroyed kind of important, I thought to myself.
“As part of the ritual, we each spilled drops of our blood on the heartstone, but when my turn came and my blood touched it, it cracked down the middle.”
“If you’re the ‘forgotten blood,’ what are the chains?” Taran asked.
“I’m not sure.” I glanced at Luther. “I was hoping to ask the Umbros Queen if she knows...”
“You can write her a letter from Lumnos,” he clipped. “What about Ulther—you said he told you something?”
“That part was even less clear. He called me all of these titles... ‘ Devourer of Crowns. Ravager of Realms. Herald of Vengeance. ’ Then he said ‘ They told me your blood would shatter our —’” I paused, sucking in a sharp breath in realization. “‘— shatter our stone and lay waste to our borders .’ I guess that part is coming true, too.”
“The borders must be breaking down,” Alixe said. “That explains why our magic keeps returning.”
“Is that all the King said?” Luther asked.
“Not exactly. After that, his voice changed. It sounded... old. Not elderly, more like—”
“Ancient,” Luther answered for me, and I nodded. His expression lay somewhere between awe and concern. “What did they say?”
“‘ Give him our gift, Daughter of the Forgotten. When the end has come, and the blood has spilled, give our gift to my faithful heir, and tell him this is my command .’”
His eyes went wide.
“The voice you heard,” he said, sounding suddenly urgent, “did it sound like a woman?”
I balked. “Yes—how did you know?”
“Has anyone given you anything?” he pushed. “Has anything appeared to you?” I shook my head, and his expression darkened. “Think hard, Diem. There must be something.”
“There’s nothing. I never even met Ulther before that day.”
“Not Ulther— Lumnos .”
My brows flew up. Was he right? The goddess was certainly ancient, and if she were going to speak through an earthly body, it would make sense she would choose the bearer of her Crown.
But that would mean she could now speak through me . The thought made me feel like there was poison slithering under my skin.
“If it was Blessed Lumnos, maybe her Crown is the gift,” Taran said.
“More like a curse,” I muttered. “And if she wants me to give it away, I apparently have to die first. Whoever her faithful heir is, he can wait his turn. I didn’t survive the Challenging just to give my life up for some prophecy.”
Luther’s hands fell away from my arms. His face looked pale. “No. You won’t.”
I took a deep breath. “I know you don’t like this, but I really think we should speak to the Umbros Queen while we’re here.”
That seemed to shake him out of his trance and shove him right back into irritable territory.
“She could have you executed, Diem.”
“If she wanted me dead, she could have killed me in Mortal City. I think she wants me to seek her out.”
“And if you’re wrong, you die. It’s not worth the risk. We’re going to Lumnos, end of discussion.”
I ground my teeth, my temper beginning to boil. “It’s not up to you.”
His eyes narrowed. “I will carry you out of this realm myself, if I must.”
“ Luther ,” Alixe warned. “She is the Queen.”
His cutting glare shot to her. “You dare tell me that, after you left her behind in Ignios? I brought you along to protect her, not abandon her.”
“She was following my orders,” I cut in.
“ Fuck your orders.”
Taran leapt up and crossed in front of Luther, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “Cousin, let’s step out and take a walk.”
I let out a wry laugh. “No, if Luther suddenly has so much to say, let’s hear it. It’s about time some brutal honesty comes out, isn’t it?”
Our eyes locked in a battle of scowls.
Luther lowered his chin. “You want brutal honesty? What happened in Ignios was a disaster. We barely survived.”
I shrugged. “It turned out fine in the end.”
“Fine? Fine? ” His voice grew louder, angrier. “Do you not remember how close you came to dying in my arms on that beach? If my magic hadn’t come back—” He stopped himself, closing his eyes as a tremor rocked through him. “I’m the one who takes a blade to the heart for you, Diem. Not the other way around.”
“No one is taking any blades to the heart,” I muttered. “The wound wasn’t as bad as it looked.”
A lie. A shameful, extravagant lie. Had his magic not made a miraculous appearance at the last possible second, we’d both be corpses.
But if Taran and Alixe had stayed behind, so would they. Sending them away had saved their lives—that I was sure of, and that certainty was fuel on the fire of my indignant pride.
“Why do you refuse to accept that our job is to protect you?” he demanded.
“Because your job isn’t to protect me, it’s to serve me. Are you still willing to do that, or have I lost your faith already?”
His jaw tightened. “You know I have faith in you. You, above all else. You are everything .”
My heart stumbled, but my anger marched on. “Ignios was messy, but it was the right call. It was the only way for all four of us to make it out alive. The real disaster is that I couldn’t trust you to retreat when I ordered it. Either of you,” I added with a sharp glance at Taran. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking abashed.
Luther was unmoved. “The High General of the Royal Guard is entitled to overrule the Crown if necessary to save their life.”
“Then you can’t be my High General.”
The room went deathly silent.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and...” I looked down, unable to bear his reaction. “I’m making Alixe my High General.”
No one spoke. No one moved. Even the air seemed to still.
When Luther finally broke the silence, his voice was quiet. “Is this about what happened in the bedchamber?”
My cheeks warmed. “No. This is about what happened in Ignios, and in Arboros, and at the Challenging. I need a High General who can accept my choices to put myself at risk. I trust you with my life, Luther, but I can’t trust you with my orders.”
He opened his mouth to argue—then stopped, shook his head, and turned away. “Fine. Good. It was inevitable.”
“I still want you by my side,” I said, my tone softening. “Just... in a different way.”
Taran let out a nervous chuckle. “You hated all that administrative work anyway, cousin. Now you can focus on trying to keep Diem alive, despite all her best efforts.” He winked at me. “That’s an all day, every day job.”
Alixe, wisely, said nothing, though when I glanced her direction, she placed a fist over her chest with a slight nod, and I knew it was her way of showing her grateful acceptance.
I placed a hand on Luther’s back. “This changes nothing between us. Whatever battles I face, I want you there to fight them with me. I can’t do this without you.”
“You can. And you will.” He pulled out of my reach and grabbed his glass, draining it dry. “We’re still going back to Lumnos. High General or not, I’m getting you home safely. I’ll take on all three of you, if that’s what it takes.”
Tired of arguing and feeling guilty over my decision, I let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Alright. We’ll go home.”
“No tricks, Diem. Promise me.”
I shouldn’t have been hurt by his distrust—I’d earned it.
But I was.
“I promise,” I said quietly.