Page 192 of Glow of the Everflame

There was a tickling against my skin as the rough etchings on the ball’s surface began to move. The intricate patterns shifted and wove into symbols I didn’t recognize, then words in languages I didn’t know, until finally one clear word appeared on the orb’s smooth golden face.

Yes.

A joyful sob broke from my lips, followed by uncontrollable laughter that sang of relief and hope.

Alive—my mother wasalive!

I clasped the orb to my chest, grinning and laughing, happy tears pooling at the corners of my eyes. After all this time, all this uncertainty—Auralie Bellator wasalive.

And I would see her again.

All I had to do was survive the Challenging. Then, in a few weeks’ time, Luther would go to her. I would make him take me along—maybe Teller, too. We would find her and bring her home, and we would grieve my father’s loss all over again, but at least we would do it together.

I threw my arms around Sorae’s scale-covered neck and hugged her tightly, drawing another of her pleased trills. I wanted to run inside and do the same to Teller, but he was fast asleep, and that would provoke a much deeper conversation about Luther and our mother that now was not the time to begin.

Soon, though. I’d been a hypocrite in keeping secrets to protect him after I had been so angry when the same was done to me. Teller deserved the truth, and he would get it... after the Challenging. From me—or, worst case, from Luther.

I gave another happy sigh and laid a kiss on Sorae’s snout, then turned back to my bedchamber. Just as I passed through the archway leading to my rooms, an idea pierced my thoughts.

I paused, holding the golden sphere up to my face, the moon’s reflection gleaming bright along its surface.

“Orb of Answering,” I said slowly, “here is my second question. The man who sired me... my birth father... is he still alive?”

Again, the etchings set into motion, scribbling and scrawling all manner of ancient symbols. It seemed to take longer this time, the answer more buried in its infinite and impossible knowledge.

And then, as before, a single word took shape.

And my heart stopped in my chest.

Yes.

ChapterThirty-Eight

“Don’t you think this is a little bit... much?”

I eyed my reflection in the mirror, desperately clamping my lips together to keep from laughing.

“You’re a Queen,” Eleanor said, draping another heavy collar of jewels around my neck. “There’s no such thing as too much.”

Lily nodded in aggressive agreement and fussed with the diamond-encrusted sash at my waist. “You need to embrace the Crown, and if you want to feel the part, you have to look the part.”

“But I don’t even have anywhere special to go,” I protested.

“You’re aQueen,” Eleanor said again. “Everywhere you go is special.”

“Found it,” Taran shouted, striding in with a colossal heap of fabric in his hands.

Lily squealed and ran over to help him unfurl his discovery: deep marine blue velvet, covered with silver embroidery from end to end, its edges trimmed in snow-white fur with flecks of black.

I groaned. “Is that...?”

“A cape!” Lily and Taran said together. They walked toward me holding the monstrosity. It was outrageously long, stretching halfway across the room, with two oversized bejeweled clasps at the lapels.

“A cape?Really?”

They ignored my protests and settled the thick fabric over my shoulders. I shot a pleading look at my brother and Alixe, who sat together on my bed, arms crossed and grinning as they watched the spectacle play out.

I sighed and ran my palm over the soft fur. A rainbow of gemstones glittered on the rings that adorned every finger and the stack of gaudy necklaces that lay at my throat.

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