Page 30 of Spark of the Everflame

I chewed on my lip, feeling the heavy drag of guilt for all the secrets I was hiding from him, the one person I’d never kept anything from. “I think I’m going to take over my mother’s duties at the palace. And please spare me the lecture, I’ve heard it all from Maura already.”

A long silence passed, his attention shifting to the road ahead of us as he fell deep in thought.

“Good,” he finally responded.

I frowned. “You don’t think it’s a bad idea?”

“Were you hoping I would talk you out of it?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. I wasn’t sure if I even knew the answer.

“I understand why your mother kept you away from them for so long,” he said. “The Descended are dangerous. They only care about themselves, and they will eliminate anything they think is a threat. Look at what they do to the half-mortal babies—even children aren’t sacred to them.”

I shuddered at the reminder of the senseless slaughter under the King’s progeny laws.

“But,” he went on, “sheltering you doesn’t keep you safe forever. To beat your enemy, you have to know your enemy—intimately. And there’s no better place to do that than in their own home.”

The calculating tone in his voice sent ice creeping up my spine. He sounded more like a soldier preparing for war than the goofy, carefree friend I’d grown up with.

“You’ve been spending too much time around the Commander,” I teased, a little nervously.

“Your father didn’t teach me that. Your mother did.”

I opened my mouth to ask more, but Henri glanced at the sun nearing the horizon and abruptly swung off his horse, his footsteps landing on the path with a heavy crunch. He grabbed his reins as well as my own and led us off the road and into the forest to camp for the night.

* * *

I wasn’tsure how long I’d been standing here, staring at the flames as they leapt around the glowing campfire. Henri had gone to gather fresh firewood, leaving me in silence to simmer.

I was soangry.

Angry at my father for acting as though my mother’s disappearance was a momentary hiccup. Angry at my mother for making a fool’s bargain. Angry at myself for letting my life get away from me, for not standing up and demanding the truth when I’d had the chance.

But more than anything, I was angry at that abominable Descended Prince.

The deal he’d brokered between my mother and King Ulther was almost too one-sided to be believed—a lifetime of service in exchange for four years of schooling. That was exactly how the Descended operated. They took and took, claiming everything of value for themselves, then demanded unquestioned gratitude from the very people they had stolen from.

After all, that’s what they had done to Emarion. The Descended had infected our once-thriving kingdom like a virus, infiltrating our homes and our religions, our cities and our universities, only to rise from the ashes of the Blood War and ban mortalkind from the very same realms that mortal hands had built.

And now, they’d done it to my family, too.

The longer I stewed, the more I hated Luther.Loathedhim. Wanted him to suffer in some slow, painful way.

I wasn’t proud of it. Any good healer should be focused on ending suffering, not causing it.

Then again, I hadn’t exactly chosen to be a healer. That path had been set for me—by my mother, by my circumstances, by my lack of viable alternatives.

Sometimes I fantasized about going to Meros and finding work on a boat at one of its busy ports, sailing off on the Sacred Sea to see the world beyond.

Other times I imagined braving the shadowy alleys of Umbros, tasting all of life’s vices and learning how to bring a man to his knees in every possible way.

I’d even considered enlisting in the Emarion Army just to have a chance to leave a mark on the world outside of my tiny, irrelevant village.

I should be grateful. I had a skill, which meant I’d never go hungry. I had a family, which meant I’d never be alone. And I had safety—no enemies, no threats. Provided I could learn to follow the rules, I would live a nice, long life. Asafelife.

So why did the very thought of it make me want to tear my hair out?

I was so engrossed in my frustration that I heard Henri approach only a heartbeat before his arms slipped around my waist. The warm, solid planes of his body pressed against my back.

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