Page 230 of Glow of the Everflame

“They began to argue. She threatened to tell everyone the truth if he didn’t let her take me away. So...” He swallowed thickly, face twisting as if the words were an agony to speak aloud. “So he killed her. Or he tried to—until I stepped in front of his attack.”

“Your scar,” I breathed. My hand flew to his chest, and he nodded, covering it with his own.

“His magic ripped my body apart. He thought I’d been killed instantly, but my mother realized I was alive. She threw herself over my body to protect me. He hit her with another bolt of his magic and left us both there to die.”

“Oh, Luther,” I whispered. I snaked my other arm around his waist and pulled him close, laying my head against his chest. His heart was pounding, a tremble in his hands as he clutched me tight.

“That’s when the Blessed Mother appeared. She healed me and told me it was not yet my time. She said her people needed help, and I could bring it to them, if I was brave enough. Then she showed me a vision of myself as a man, kneeling to a powerful grey-eyed Queen.”

I took a sharp breath and pulled back to look at him. “She showed you... me?”

He stared into my eyes like he was looking beyond them and into the past, seeing the vision all over again. “She never showed me a face, only the eyes. I knew the Kindred had grey eyes, so I believed Lumnos herself was planning to return to Emarion to reclaim her Crown. But when I saw you with Lily that day in the palace, I couldn’t help but wonder...”

“That’s why you helped me, isn’t it? That’s why you protected me all those times at the palace and covered for me when you knew I was lying.”

He nodded. “I could feel your power, I could sense how strong it was. But you swore you were a mortal, and Maura said she saw your brown eyes as a child. And you said your father was from Fortos, not Lumnos. None of it made sense, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I felt in my soul that I was meant to help you.

“When we shared that vision the night of the rebel attack, I saw a crown over your head, but it wasn’t the Crown of Lumnos. It was something else, something I’ve never seen before or since. I thought perhaps it was the Blessed Mother’s way of telling me you were one of her disciples, like me. Then the King died, and Lily told me the magic had chosen you...” His eyes lingered on my glowing Crown. “I finally understood.Youare the Queen I was always meant to serve.”

“But you came to the lodge that night to kill me,” I protested.

“No—I came to swear fealty to you. I had my sword out to offer it in your service. Then I saw you standing there half-naked and spitting fire, the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I became...” He smiled guiltily. “...distracted.”

My cheeks warmed. “Why didn’t you say something? If I had known—”

“Would you have believed me? You hated the Descended, you had no faith in the Kindred, you thought I murdered your mother. To you, I was the enemy.”

He was right, I realized. I wouldn’t have believed him. I would have accused him of concocting a ridiculous story to win over a new Queen, and it would have pushed me even further away.

He nodded, seeming to read my thoughts. “I decided to prove myself through my actions instead. I wanted to show you that I would serve you, whatever you demanded of me. Even though I failed you at times, I hope you see now there is nothing I would not do for you.”

“I do.” I cupped his cheek, and he leaned into my touch. “And you never failed me, Luther. Far from it.”

I knew nothing would ever erase his guilt over my father’s death. I recognized it, because it was the same burden I carried, too. I suspected that even finding and killing the murderer would never truly free either of us from our self-appointed blame.

But we could try. We could learn to forgive ourselves, and begin to heal—together.

“I saw the vision of us again during the Challenging,” he said.

“I saw it, too.” I frowned, remembering the strange, glowing figure. “The man that spoke to me—did you recognize him?”

Luther shook his head. “He called you ‘Daughter of the Forgotten.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

“No, but I’ve heard it before. My godhood said it just before I got the Crown. So did this woman with black eyes who stopped me in Mortal City the day my mother disappeared. I think it might have been the Umbros Queen, actually. And King Ul—”

“The Umbros Queen was in Lumnos?” he said sharply. “In Mortal City?”

“I think so. She took over my mind, and she knew things about meIdidn’t even know. And she told me to stop taking the flameroot my mother had been giving me.”

“Flameroot?” Luther’s eyes flew open, his voice heating with anger. “Your mother was giving you flameroot?”

“She gave me a dose of it every day. I think that’s how she was able to hide me from the Descended and convince me I was a mortal. I stopped taking it after she went missing.”

He recoiled harshly out of reach. His focus darted around while he muttered clipped words under his breath. “That’s why you never... and why she wanted to go to...fuck.” He growled so fiercely the air seemed to vibrate with his wrath. “Blessed Kindred, this explains everything.”

“Explains what?”

“Your mother has been manipulating us all with her secrets for too long. She hasmuchto answer for, and I’m done protecting her.” He snarled and turned to the front of the boat, staring forward with narrowed eyes. “The moment you’re coronated, we’re going to get her.”

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