Page 4 of Glow of the Everflame

“He cannot know about this,” I said. “No one can. Not yet, at least. Please Lily, I’m begging you.”

“But you’re our Queen,” she whispered, looking pained.

I gripped her tighter. “If I’m your Queen, then you have to obey me, correct? You must do as I command?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Then I command you as your Queen—tell no one about this.EspeciallyPrince Luther.”

She let out a whimper as she realized she was caught.

“Everyone’s going to know the moment they take one look at you,” Teller said, pointing to the Crown.

“There must be a way to conceal it or take it off.” I looked at Lily hopefully. “Right?”

“King Ulther only wore it for special occasions,” she said, then hesitated. “But perhaps it can’t be removed until you complete the Rite.”

“She means the Rite of Coronation. It’s a ritual held on Coeurîle,” he explained, pointing across the Sacred Sea toward the forbidden island at its center. I’d never been more grateful that my brother was the one mortal invited to attend Lumnos’s prestigious Descended school, making him well versed in their arcane traditions.

“When is that?” I asked.

“After the Period of Challenging. In thirty days, any Descended in the realm can Challenge the new Crown, if they believe that person to be...” He shot me a sympathetic look. “...unworthy to wear it.”

“Good.” I gave a short laugh as tightly wound tension eased from my bones. “Perfect, actually. Luther can Challenge me. Gods, I’ll justgiveit to him. Let them all find me unworthy, for all I care.”

Teller and Lily shared a somber glance.

“It’s not that simple,” he said slowly. “If someone invokes the Challenging, they must duel until either the Crown or the Challenger is killed.” Teller looked ill. “It’s a fight to the death, D.”

“Surely there’s some other way...” My voice fell silent at the dread on my brother’s face.

My world began to splinter around me. If all this was true, life as I knew it was over. The mortals, with their well-earned distrust of the Descended and their outright hatred of the royals, would run me out of the village. Would I even survive long enough to make peace with my father? To find my missing mother?

And Henri. Oh gods,Henri.

My childhood sweetheart, the man whose marriage proposal still hung unanswered over my head—and the man who had brought me into the bloody fold of the Guardians of the Everflame, the mortal resistance. The Guardians had proven there was no line they wouldn’t cross to destroy the Descended. If they believed I was one of them—and worse, the Crown...

I started to sink under the heaviness of it all. One day ago, I was an inconsequential mortal girl living an unimportant life, and now I was... what evenwasI?

“Tell me this is a hallucination,” I whispered. “Tell me I’ve lost my mind and this is some awful dream.”

Teller’s arms slid around my shoulders. “Whatever happens, you won’t be alone. We’ll figure this out together.”

The rough tremble in his voice nearly broke me apart. With his elite education, he knew far more than I did about the consequences the Crown would bring. If he was this scared...

Shame swept through me and cooled the molten burn of my panic. I was the elder sibling—I was supposed to be strong for him. Promise him that everything would be fine. With his quiet, steady manner, he had already been a rock for our family since our mother’s disappearance. I couldn’t let him carry this burden, too.

I took a deep breath, crushing the fear down, down, down into a leaden ball that I could roll away into the shadows of my heart. I pulled away from Teller and placed a palm on his cheek. The light from the Crown filled his eyes with a brilliant glow, revealing the anxiety he was trying so valiantly to hide.

“Tomorrow, go to Father and Henri. Tell them I’ve left town to visit a friend, and you’re not certain when I’ll return.”

He shot a look toward our family’s cottage. “Are you sure we shouldn’t tell Father now? What if Mother told him something before she...” He trailed off.

“Not yet. I need to sort this out for myself first.”

Teller frowned, but nodded. I gave a silent prayer of thanks for the gift of a loyal brother—though whether my prayers were meant for the Descended’s Kindred or the Old Gods of the mortals, I was no longer sure.

“Where will we go tonight?” he asked.

---