Page 102 of Spark of the Everflame

“I failed the mission. I’m not sure how I’m still breathing, to be honest.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Maura’s furious with me. I think I might have gotten the healers banned from the palace. I might have cost Teller his place at his school. YourBrothersin there think I’m not ready for any future missions. I’m...”

My voice went rough as the weight of all my disappointments crushed the last fragile pillar of my composure, and I fell silent.

“Well... I’m still proud of you.”

I looked up at him, and once again, that wondrous sense of admiration shone in his gaze, that deep, hard-won respect he’d only recently developed.

“If they think you’re not ready, they’re wrong. You’re incredible, D. They’ll figure that out eventually. And if Maura knew what you were really doing, she would understand.”

“I don’t think she would. I broke my healer’s vow, Henri. If she knew... gods, ifmy motherknew...”

“If they knew the whole story, they would support you. The point of that vow is to help people, right? To save as many lives as possible?”

“Well, yes, but...”

“That’s what we’re doing. We’re not just saving a life here and a life there. Think about how many mortals are killed by the Descended every year. We’re trying to put an end to that. We’re trying to save our entirerace. Don’t you think that’s worth making a few compromises along the way?”

“But what if...” I couldn’t find the words to explain to him the conflict brewing in my heart—the sense that I wasn’t just compromising, but sacrificing a fundamental piece of myself I could never get back. I shook my head and sighed. “Yes, of course. You’re right.”

We walked for awhile, not saying a word, listening to the sounds of the village and the quiet crunch of our footsteps on the pebbled road.

“I have to confess,” he began, “I’m upset with you as well.”

My heart sank. “You are?”

“You stabbed a Descended. And you kept it from me.”

I whirled on him, ready to plead my case, but his expression stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t judgment on his face, but heat.Lust.

“Spying on the royal family, stealing from an arms dealer, stabbing a Descended...” He gave me a carnal grin and ran a knuckle along the inner curve of my arm. “I should have told you about the Guardians sooner.”

I frowned. “Why didn’t you? We used to tell each other everything.”

“Your mother.” He tugged on a loose curl of my hair, twirling it in his fingers. “Auralie is the closest thing I’ve had to a mother. She wanted to keep you away from the Descended, and I had to respect her wishes.”

The words he didn’t say hovered in the air:But with her now gone...

“And,” he continued, “you seemed happy enough to stay away from them. You had your own bubble in the mortal world.” He tapped the tip of my nose. “I didn’t want to be the one to burst it.”

I stiffened. “I wasn’t completely sheltered. I know how the world works.”

“I know you do, but you see how it goes. Once your eyes are opened to all the terrible things the Descended do, it can be overwhelming. It gets hard to focus on anything else but stopping them.”

I had seen it happen in him. Over the past year, I’d watched Henri harden and, bit by bit, lose that boyhood joy and light-heartedness that had always defined him.

I had assumed it was the natural progression of adulthood, but looking back, there had been signs I’d ignored. The way his face darkened when the Descended would come up in conversations. Distance between him and his father—and him andmyfather. His push to take on work at the palace or in Lumnos City, something he’d avoided when we were younger.

He pulled my hips against his, his hands rising to cup my face. “None of that matters now. We’re in this together, from this point on.” He laughed, his breath warming my skin. “My pretty little spy.”

As his lips claimed mine, I felt his adoration, the praise in each caress of his tongue. After such a miserable day of failures, it felt nice to be seen as someone valuable again, someone worthy.

He tugged me closer, and my body melted into his arms with a heavy sigh.

“Marry me, Diem Bellator.”

My heart stuttered to a stop.

“Be my wife. Let’s fight this war side by side.”

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