Page 64 of Glow of the Everflame

The warmth drifted...lower.

My thighs squeezed together, and I’d never been more thankful for the shield of loose, flowy skirts. “Eleanor brought me some simpler clothing,” I said, shrugging with a feigned calm I did not at all feel, “but she suggested I give this a try, so I’m taking her counsel.”

“You really made her your advisor?” he asked.

“First you object to my dress, now my choice of advisor?”

He glared affectionately. “I approve of your dress and your advisor. Eleanor is extremely clever, far more than our family gives her credit for. I only meant...” He paused. “If you are open to advisors that are lesstraditional, may I make a suggestion?”

“I already considered asking Sorae, but I’m afraid a gryvern won’t fit in the meeting room. And I suspect she’ll eat Garath on sight.”

Luther did his best to look exasperated. “I meant Alixe. She’s brilliant at military strategy, and she’s as well respected with the army in Fortos as she is among the Royal Guard here in Lumnos. Should any kind of armed conflict arise, she would be a valuable asset.”

All the easy smiles we’d been trading vanished from my face. With the Guardians plotting for war, the idea of Alixe meeting Henri in battle made my blood run cold.

“I’ll consider it,” I said stiffly.

He frowned at my abrupt change in demeanor. “I know you don’t yet know her, but I can vouch for her trustworthiness. Once given, Alixe’s loyalty is unwavering.”

“I already have a military advisor—my father. And I don’t need anyone to vouch forhistrustworthiness.”

“The same father who didn’t tell you that you were Descended?”

I froze in place. “Careful, Luther. You may not be loyal to every member of your family, but I am to mine.”

He worked his jaw. The tension between us thickened, borne now of something darker than lust.

I started to pull away. “I should go. I’m meeting with your father.”

“May I escort you?”

He held his arm out, that veneer of indifference once again in place, shielding the truehimfrom my sight. “So you can get through the palace uninterrupted,” he explained.

“Or so you can spy on me.”

He stiffened. “If you prefer privacy—”

“Relax. I make jokes sometimes, too.” I slipped my arm through his and set my hand on the corded muscles of his forearm, his shoulders easing at my touch. “Let’s just hope we don’t run into any more of my angry lovers on the way there.”

* * *

As it turned out,it was notmylovers I needed to be concerned with.

Luther proved to be an effective escort. His menacing glare scared off any would-be interruptions, allowing us to pass freely. He even whispered helpful notes about the new faces we passed, distinguishing the Corbois relatives from the important outsiders whose titles or court influence had earned them a place as palace guests. I was begrudgingly coming around to accept that Luther was not only my advisor—in practice, if not yet in title—but a very good one.

Though I had no intention of admitting that tohim, of course.

We’d nearly made it to the meeting room undisturbed when a sultry female voice called Luther’s name.

The tendons of his arm clenched beneath my fingers. I shot him a questioning glance, but his cold stare was locked on the two women sauntering our way.

I recognized one as Alixe, but the other I knew was no Corbois, at least not one I’d met before. Hers was a face I was unlikely to forget, as she was one of the most stunning women I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Luther, darling,” she purred in a silky tone. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Like Alixe, she was slender but toned, her fair skin smooth over her lightly muscled arms. Both women wore skintight black fighting leathers fitted with armored plates. Their tops were cut low enough to reveal ample cleavage, a distraction that I suspected could be just as deadly as the many weapons strapped to their bodies.

Everything about her radiated confidence, from the sway of her hips to the smile that played on her pert, rosy lips. She looked like the kind of woman that was as deadly in a bedroom as a battlefield.

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