Page 140 of Glow of the Everflame

Thevoicewas silent.

“Having problems, Diem?” Jean asked. The crowd snickered, their grins bordering on bloodthirsty.

I remembered Luther’s advice about needing strong emotion to call it forward. Internally, I grasped at the hollow cavern of my heart, looking for a loose thread of feeling to unravel, but every attempt slipped right through my fingers.

Help me, I begged.

Still, thevoicewas silent.

Perhaps there was no emotion left to draw from. I had spent the night being grabbed and teased, insulted and challenged, threatened and cornered, and the onslaught had finally left me numb.

Even the thought of failing now inspired no meaningful fear, because I knew this game of theirs had nothing to do with my magic. The only point of this charade was to humiliate me. And for better or worse, for all my faults and weaknesses, one thing was true:

Diem Bellator was not a womananyonecould humiliate.

“No,” I said simply. “I won’t.”

“Won’t?” Jean asked. “Or can’t?”

“Won’t,” I lied.

He let out a breathy chuckle, then let his gaze drop brazenly to my chest, sneering at the sight of the scar on my collarbone. His tongue clicked disapprovingly as he reached out to touch it. “Oh dear, Diem. What will we do with you?”

“Kneel.”

A broad, masculine hand closed around Jean’s wrist and squeezed, trembling with the force of its angry grip.

“Kneel to her, Jean. That’swhat you’ll do.”

Jean’s face turned a ghostly pale. I didn’t have to follow his panicked stare. I would know that voice—and that hand—anywhere.

Just like I knew the silky aura of power caressing my skin.

“Keep your hands off my Queen,” Luther snarled. “And you will address her by her title, or I will rip out your tongue with my hands and nail it to the door of House Hanoverre.”

Jean grimaced, struggling to tug free. “We were only having a friendly chat. Diem here—” He moaned in pain as Luther’s grip tightened. “Her Majestyis refusing to show us her magic.”

Luther released him with a violent shove, sending Jean stumbling backward into the arms of his jackals.

“Consider yourself lucky,” Luther growled. “When Her Majesty revealed her power to me, she nearly flayed my skin from my bones and brought down half the palace.” The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, and my stomach went weightless.

“Then surely she’ll have no issue giving us a taste.”

“It’s not safe.”

Jean scoffed. “So it’s too much power for her to handle?”

“It’s too much power foryouto handle. A single shot of her magic burned through my strongest shield. A weaker Descended like you would be left in a pile of ash.”

I propped a hand on my hip. “When you put it that way, maybe I should show him.”

Luther’s eyes slid to me. A crackle of energy passed between us that said more than any words ever could.

“In this crowded chamber, I would not recommend it, Your Majesty,” he said with a deferential nod. “The risk of an innocent person being harmed is too high.”

Though we were both playacting our roles, shielding our truths from the world, there was a sliver of truth to his words. Ihadripped through Luther’s shields without even trying. And if I really did unleash my magic in this packed ballroom...

I scolded myself for even attempting it, and I half wondered if that was exactly why the godhood hadn’t answered my call to arms.

---