Page 31 of Glow of the Everflame

“I was going to bring him to your room, but there aresomany people in the royal wing, I think because they’re clearing the Crown suite for you, and then I was going to bring him to the library, but Elric is in there studying, and if there’s anyone in this family who can’t keep a secret, it’s Elric. Honestly, he tells everyone everything. So then I was going to take him to my room, but that seemed like a really,reallybad idea—”

“Lily, tell me where he is.Please,” I added through gritted teeth.

“Oh, yes, right.” She grinned. “Follow me.”

I trailed her to a set of hefty iron doors with a complex web of latches and thick bars securing the outside, as if the locks were meant to keep someone in, rather than keeping intruders out. The doors gave way to a twisting staircase that got progressively darker as we descended. Lily waved a hand, and a set of glowing orbs appeared at our feet to illuminate the ground.

Wherever we were going, it was a miserable place. The walls were carved of jagged rock and brutally bare, empty of the tapestries or artwork that were so ubiquitous in the rest of the palace, and the humid air smelled vaguely of decay.

“What is this place?” I whispered, the silence almost too ominous to disturb.

“The dungeon. It hasn’t been used in years. We used to play games down here when I was little.”

“Lily, is that you?” My brother’s voice ricocheted off the expanse of damp stone.

“Teller!” I called out.

“D, I’m down here! Hurry up, this place isterrifying.”

I launched myself at him the moment I found him in the darkness, flinging my arms around his neck. It had only been a day since we last spoke, but it felt as if my entire world had inverted since then. So many plans had been born and died since that unexpected revelation outside our little home on the marsh.

Teller crushed me in his arms, then pulled back and gawked. “Are you wearing adress?”

I smirked and flipped my hair theatrically over my shoulder. “Madness, isn’t it? This was all they had.”

“I think she looks beautiful,” Lily offered, watching us with soft eyes and a sweet smile. “She looks like a Queen.”

“You do,” he agreed. He looked me over with wonder. “You look like... like...”

“Say something nice, or I’ll sic my gryvern on you.”

His eyes flew open. “Gods, that’s right—you control the Lumnos gryvern now.”

“Sorae’s incredible, you’re going to love her.” I gasped. “And wait until you see the library, it’s enormous. You’re never going to want to leave.”

He blinked at me and raked a hand across his mouth, then took a step back and looked me over again. “You’re smiling.”

The last time I’d seen him, I was sobbing in his arms, begging for his help to find a way out. I reached inward and fumbled around for the shattered part of my soul that had wanted to give this all up and run back to my quiet, forgettable life, but the pieces were no longer where I’d left them.

“Did you find anything useful in your books?” I asked cautiously.

“Not yet. They all say the same thing—the Crown only passes through death. I’ll keep looking, though.”

“Yes—keep looking.” I wasn’t sure what to do with my expression, feeling a little ashamed that his answer hadn’t bothered me in the slightest.

“How did you end up in the palace?” he asked. “I thought you were going to some lodge to hide.”

Lily flinched. Her brows crowded together as she studied the floor. I could almost hear her guilty heart thumping away in her ribcage as she waited for me to reveal her betrayal.

“I decided to come to the palace and tell them,” I said instead. “The gryvern would have found me anyway, so there was no use in hiding.”

Lily’s look of surprise, then gratitude, was bright enough to light the realm.

I quickly recounted my introduction to House Corbois, setting out the proposal Luther and Remis had made. I could see the cogs of Teller’s clever mind churning as he evaluated my possible moves.

“It’s a smart offer,” he said, “for you and for them. Especially now, before the Challenging.”

“How does the Challenging work? Do I have to fight every person in Lumnos who thinks I’m not good enough?”

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