Page 235 of Glow of the Everflame

If the Kindred’sTemple had looked imposing from afar, at its base it was outright ominous. The towering obelisks stretched into the sky like the bars of a cage, each topped with a flame-lit cauldron. The distant sound of waves crashing on the shore mixed with the crackling of the nine fires.

No, not nine—one cauldron remained unlit.

I followed the others up the staircase that curved around the platform. The enormous scale of the Temple had me feeling at once insignificant and powerful beyond measure. There was a grim, lethal energy that buzzed beneath my feet, as if the stone itself were charged with dark magic. The air around me felt somehow ancient, a vacuum where time and space sat in wait and the impossible became reality.

“That’s the Lumnos portal,” the Arboros Queen said, nudging me toward the stone arch beneath the unlit cauldron.

“How do I know what to do?” I asked.

“Sophos leads the rituals. They’ll guide you through the process. Just stand outside of your portal until the other Crowns arrive.” She patted my arm, her kind eyes giving off a warmth of spirit that eased my nerves.

Several of the other Crowns had already arrived. My neighbors to the south, of course—Fortos, Faunos, and Arboros—stood at my right, and across the dais, Sophos and Meros had their heads bent in conversation.

The Meros King looked every bit the charming rogue his representatives had been. He wore casual attire, as if he’d decided to swing by on a whim in the midst of a long sail. Bright aquamarine eyes sparkled as they raked over me and winked. His dazzling smile shone bright against his warm, dark skin, and a coronet of cresting, foam-capped waves topped his beaded dreadlocks.

The Crown of Sophos was unique in every way. Neither overtly masculine nor feminine, but some rare beauty all their own, they were dressed in a fine pantsuit of silk brocade, the long tail of their jacket stretching into a floor-length train that splayed like a gown at their feet. Their androgynous features were delicate but reserved, divulging nothing of the thoughts hiding behind their shrewd, blush-colored eyes. Floating above their clean-shaven head sat a ring of crackling sparks that splintered out like lightning.

“Congratulations on your ascension, Lumnos,” they announced. “We’re pleased to welcome you to the Temple.”

On the surface, they were offering me nothing untoward—their voice was smooth and amiable, their expression soft, their words diplomatic—but my instincts hissed in my ear, warning me to beware.

And if there was one lesson of my father’s I would never fail to heed, it was to always trust my instincts.

I gave a simple nod in acknowledgement and offered nothing further.

Their eyes thinned at my lack of response. “I’ve learned so much about you already,” they continued. “The story of your upbringing is simplyfascinating.”

I gritted my teeth, and their smile grew at the reaction.

“I do hope to meet that mortal brother of yours soon. I hear he’s very clever.”

“He’s not interested,” I snapped. More than one eyebrow arched around the assembled group.

“How do you have a mortal brother?” The King of Ignios, wearing a crisp robe of cream-colored linen edged with sand-colored embroidery, sauntered into place beneath his archway.

His voice was as rough as the man it belonged to. His reddish skin was leathered and lined with age beneath a black, wild-growing beard, and his orange irises glowed almost as brightly as his halo of dancing flames.

“Half-brother,” the Sophos Crown answered on my behalf. “Her mother was a mortal.”

The Ignios King looked me over in disgust. “I thought your realm killed off all the half-breeds.”

“It seems our new Lumnos is an exception to the rules,” the Sophos Crown mused.

“Oh, you havenoidea.”

I knew her voice instantly—the Queen of Umbros.

It had been eight months since I’d first heard it in my head that afternoon in the alley, but it had haunted my dreams ever since. Some nights I still woke up in a cold sweat with the lingering terror of being a prisoner in my own mind, unable to control my body or even my own thoughts.

Although her voice was familiar, her appearance was not. The hunched octogenarian I remembered was now a woman so beautiful, my breath stuck in my throat at the sight.

She was still on the mature end for a Descended, but age had done nothing to temper the striking mix of her full lips, long ebony hair, and hourglass silhouette. A strip of shimmering wine-colored gossamer clung to her curves, covering up only enough dark olive skin to leave her decent. Above her head, a circle of dark wisps writhed like smoke from a blown-out match, matching her mysterious allure.

“Umbros,” the Sophos Crown said coolly. “How nice of you to grace us with your presence this time. We missed you at the Forging Day ceremony.”

The black pools of her eyes rolled skyward. “I sent a vial of blood, did I not? Clearly you were able to complete the ritual without me.”

“That’s not how this works. Just because we made an exception to accommodate the old Lumnos’s illness does not mean you can pick and choose which rituals you wish to attend.”

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