Page 167 of Glow of the Everflame

“Please, Henri,” I begged, “you must know I did it because I care about you. I didn’t know what else to do. You would have been killed, and I—”

“Henri was prepared to die,” Vance said matter-of-factly. “We all were.”

“Then you’re all fools,” I shot back.

Vance’s glare sharpened. “That was our best chance to take the palace. You betrayed us to protectthem.”

“I was protectingyou. All of you. You would never have succeeded, and I could not let so many mortals walk into their own slaughter.”

“You could have called the Descended off,” Henri finally spoke up. “I saw the guards obey your commands.”

“It’s not so simple,” I said, my voice softening as my focus shifted back to him. “Until I’m coronated, the Regent’s orders overrule mine. He would have told the guards to kill all of you.”

He watched me quietly, uncertainty slithering into his features. I rushed forward and took his hands.

“You know me, Henri. You really think I would ever turn my back on the mortals?”

Vance scoffed loudly. Henri shot him a scowl that was surprisingly severe and turned to pull me aside.

Vance reached out to grab his arm. “Brother Henri,” he said, his low tone loaded with warning.

“Are you going to accuse me of being a traitor now, too?” Henri snapped.

I watched mutely as the air thickened with tension, my grief momentarily overshadowed by my shock. Vance stared him down, but Henri didn’t budge. Finally, he let go, and his expression smoothed. “Of course not, Brother Henri. I know you’re with us.”

Henri’s expression darkened. He tugged me away until we were out of earshot.

“Do you really mean what you said back there?” he asked. “You did it to save us—not to protect them?”

“I... yes, of course.”

The truth—that I’d done it for both reasons, as unwilling to allow the murder of my Corbois friends as I was to permit Henri’s execution—was a nuance I wasn’t sure he would ever accept.

I slid my hands to his chest, clutching at his tunic. “You have no idea the risk I took to send the Guardians away without bloodshed. It could still cost me everything. But I was willing to do it—for you. For the mortals.”

His hands slowly lifted to my hips, his eyes jumping across my face. “What about the flameroot? You promised to get us some.”

I swore internally. I’d completely forgotten about that offer, blurted out in a last-resort bid to keep his trust. “Right now, I’m just trying to stay alive. After the Challenging, we can come up with a plan—”

“Vance thinks we need to act before the Challenging. Just in case...” He trailed off, struggling to look at me.

Hurt clouded my thoughts, and I pulled away. “Is that all I am now—a resource to exploit as much as you can before I die?”

“No,” he said quickly. “But what if we could stop the Challenging from happening at all? If we take the palace before then, they’ll have to cancel it, and you’d be safe.”

“They would send in the entire army to take it back. Do you really believe the Guardians can survive that?”

His defeated expression said he didn’t, though traces of doubt lingered. I reached for him and he stiffened, and just like the day he’d found me in the palace, a desperate kind of frenzy began to overtake my better sense. I’d already lost my father, and now I was holding on to Henri by the barest thread. If I lost him, I feared I’d lose myself forever, too.

“Let me prove to you I still want to help. Remember that mission I failed? The Guardians wanted the details of the Crown’s boat—I can get them access to it.”

His face lit up. “You would do that?”

“Only if it’s done my way.” He looked as if he might argue, and I raised a hand to cut him off. This was a line I would not cross, not even for him. “If the Guardians want my help, our targets have to be in the right place—ending the unfair laws, ensuring all mortals are cared for and protected. Justice, not murder.”

He nodded, slowly at first, then more emphatically. “Yes—yes. We all want those things. Surely the others will see that. Although...” Henri frowned and raked a hand through his hair. “Vance thinks you only supportthemnow.” His eyes shot across the clearing, his tone turning chilly. “You two have made friends quickly.”

My gaze followed his to the Corbois. One of the cousins had their arm around Teller, Lily clutching his hand as they quietly talked. Eleanor and Taran were pretending that they hadn’t just been staring at us, while Luther glared at Henri like a nocked arrow, ready to fly. Alixe had wandered to the scorched soil of my old home, where she knelt and held up a glittering onyx rock, turning it over in her hands.

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