Page 118 of Spark of the Everflame

Luther gave them both a furious glare that had even me shrinking back—though, to their credit, neither one so much as flinched. “You’re asking me to leave people inside to burn alive?” he snarled.

“We’re not sure anyone’s still alive in there,” the man argued. “Even if we can get someone inside, we could be asking them to risk their life for a corpse.”

“I’ll do it.”

Luther’s eyes shot to mine.

I rose to my feet and looked at the building, now almost completely engulfed. The large iron door of the entry had been ripped from its hinges by an explosion, and fallen debris had reduced the portal to little more than a crawlspace of flaming, blackened wood. It was narrow, but...

“I can do it,” I repeated. “I’m smaller than all of you. I can fit.”

The man and woman beside Luther glanced at each other, then at me. “You’re willing to go in?” she asked.

“No,” Luther snapped. “It’s too dangerous.”

“You’ve been sending your guards in for the past hour,” I shot back. “That wasn’t too dangerous?”

“You’re not one of my guards.”

“So?”

“Soit’s too dangerous. You’re mortal, remember?” His tone was dry, almost sarcastic. “Your body is too fragile.”

I glared. “First of all, if you ever call mefragileagain, I’ll slice your precious royal balls off and shove them down your throat.”

The group went dead silent. The corner of Luther’s lips twitched—just slightly.

“Second, why should it matter to you if I get hurt?” I smiled bitterly. “I’m just a mortal, after all. Our lives are so disposable compared to yours.”

The muscles along his throat strained with the effort of not responding. The blond man looked at Luther, then tilted his head at me curiously, a smile slowly growing across his face.

“It could work,” the woman mused. “If you can get in and get any survivors to the opening, we could push the beams up long enough to get them outside. But we’ll only have one chance—the whole thing will collapse as soon as we move it.”

I shrugged. “I can do it. I’m not afraid.”

“Clearly,” the blond man said, grinning at me.

“No.” Luther crossed his arms, shoulders high and tense. “She’s not going in. It’s not up for discussion.”

I shot him a look. “Oh come on, Luther—”

“PrinceLuther.”

I couldn’t roll my eyes hard enough. “People are dying and you’re concerned about your fancy fucking title?”

He started to snarl a response, but I interrupted him with a palm shoved into the immovable wall of his chest. “You’re really going to tell their families you had a chance to save them and you didn’t take it?That’sthe kind of leader you’re going to be?”

It was a calculated blow to his pride—but an effective one. A spark of fury blazed behind his glare, but more important were the probing stares of the crowd around him.

Luther was stuck. I knew it, and he knew it. To forbid me would be to prioritize a mortal over his own kind, a display of weakness the future King of Lumnos couldn’t risk.

“Fine,” he gritted out. “Get yourself killed. But don’t expect me to send in my guards to rescue you.”

“Fine,” I bit back. I turned to the woman at his side. “Can you tell me where to go once I’m inside?”

She nodded and walked alongside me as we moved closer to the building. I kept my gaze focused on the burning structure while she described the room where survivors had last been seen. They were further in than I’d realized—muchfurther. It was only my own puffed-up pride that kept me from turning tail and backing out.

I glanced over my shoulder at where the injured guards were resting, my eyes falling on the motionless woman. I wondered if they would even be able to determine who she was under all of her injuries. Gods only knew how many others like her were inside, dead or dying a slow, horrific death.

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