Page 226 of Glow of the Everflame

If I had any hope of leading this realm to peace, I would have to show them there was a better way. I would have to create the better world I wanted to live in, one act of compassion at a time.

I rolled my wrist and let my magic fall away.

“Yield,” I commanded. “Kneel to me and submit.”

“I yield!” he blurted out. He scrambled forward to kneel at my feet. “I am your loyal servant.”

“Swear to me that if I let you walk away from this arena, you will never take an innocent life ever again.”

He took my hands and kissed them. “Never, Your Majesty, I swear it.”

I wrinkled my nose and tugged my hands away. Rhon collapsed to the ground with a moan of relief. I stepped back and raised my voice so the audience could hear my words.

“The true measure of strength is not in the lives we take, but in the lives we save. Rhon Ghislaine, I spare your life today. Take your second chance and use it wisely—do not make me regret my mercy.”

Boos and unhappy mutters rose from the crowd as I denied them the murder they had come here to see. I turned my back to Rhon, then set off toward the stairs, where Luther was waiting for me at the base.

When my eyes met his, I expected to see relief, or amusement, or perhaps a smugI-told-you-so.

What I saw was so much more.

Luther gazed at me like I was the embodiment of hope fulfilled. Like I was the answer to every question he had ever asked, the harmony to every song he’d ever sung. He looked at me like I was the sun and the moon and the stars, all the light in the world, shining a path for him out of the lonely dark.

He had believed in me from the very start. Not only because of my magic, but because of my heart—who I was, my courage and my compassion, and my willingness to fight.

If Luther was right about what I was meant to do, then today was only the beginning of the challenges we would face. But today we had won. And if we ever hoped to survive this with our souls intact, we would have to celebrate every victory we could get.

I beamed back at him and let my shoulders relax as weeks of tension washed away. Pride, so much pride, emanated from his features. Just as he had in the vision, he pressed his palm to his chest.

I raised my hand to do the same, but Luther’s expression shifted as his eyes darted over my shoulder. His nostrils flared, his muscles pulling tight.

“One last thing, Your Majesty,” Rhon’s voice called out from behind me.

I spun on my heel to see him barely three feet away, hands clasped behind his back in submission. He nodded his head low and looked up at me through his long, golden lashes.

“Yes?” I asked.

He cocked his head. “The Challenging isn’t over until one of us dies.”

Rhon pushed off his heel and launched into the air, one arm coming around his back clutching a slim, glittering black knife and thrusting straight for the center of my chest.

I had no time to react. Before I even realized what was happening, the point of his blade had already pierced the fabric of my suit and scraped my skin.

But I didn’t need time.

I needed only the whisper of a thought—and then, with a flash of silver light, he was gone. Where a man once stood, there was now a cloud of ash and the faint smell of burnt flesh.

The crowd sat in shocked silence as they—and I—made sense of what had just occurred. Then, slowly, the applause began, then whoops and hollers of approval, growing to a deafening, jubilant roar.

Finally, they had their pound of flesh, and they celebrated it with delight.

The sound of it ignited my fury.

I had tried to show mercy. I had offered thempeace, something beautiful and human, a chance at a better world, and they had turned up their noses.

Fine.

If I could not persuade them with peace, then I would do it with fear.

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