Page 77 of Glow of the Everflame

“Stay out of it,” I clipped, and he frowned.

“He’s right,” Eleanor said. “I let you down. I’m not worthy to—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I said. “There is only one person in this realm who has proven themselves worthy to be my advisor, Eleanor, and that’s you.”

Luther bristled.

“What about me?” Taran said, pouting. “I could advise on... I don’t know,something.”

“Drinking,” Aemonn drawled. “Sleeping around. Being useless.”

Taran grinned. “Exactly.”

I ignored the brotherly bickering. “Did you do it on purpose?” I asked Eleanor.

“Of course not,” she breathed.

“And you would handle it differently now?”

“Oh yes, I swear it.”

“So one might say it has made you an even better advisor, because now you’ll be more likely to consider what might have gone overlooked?”

Eleanor’s expression shifted as she realized what I was implying. She nodded, a faint smile breaking through her shame.

“Then it’s over and forgotten. I don’t want to hear another word about it.” I turned to Luther with a pointed glare. “I don’t know how you all do things, but where I come from, we don’t give up on someone after an honest mistake.”

“No, you don’t know how we do things, and that’s the problem,” Luther growled. “You’re an Unchallenged Queen. ‘Honest mistakes’can get you killed.”

“Then at least I’ll go out looking fucking fabulous in this dress.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder and hauled up the hem of my gown to flash my legs as I crossed them in a huff.

A vein popped under the scar that ran along his throat. He stood and gave a sharp tug on the edge of his jacket. “It’s time to give my eulogy,” he said icily, then stalked to the podium.

I scowled, folding my arms irritably over my chest.

Taran chuckled. “Long live the Queen.”

ChapterSeventeen

Iwas starting to wonder if Descended time operated like dog years, because the funeral that Luther had assured me would last “an hour, at most” had been going on for what felt like three decades.

An endless flow of speakers shared words of reverence about the late King, and not a single one had seemed genuine. Even Luther’s eulogy had been stiff and impersonal, lacking the nuanced emotion I’d seen in him when he had described their complicated relationship to me in private.

Remis and Garath spoke of the King’s commitment to his family, leaders from the Twenty Houses spoke of key trade deals he brokered, and visiting Descended from the other nine realms offered the condolences of their Crowns and urged the importance of our longstanding alliances.

The latter group had struck my interest the most. I longed to rush into the cordoned-off area where the foreign representatives were segregated behind a heavy contingent of guards led by Alixe and bombard them with questions about their realms. From the way they watched me with intense focus, they were itching to do the same.

The rotation of speakers was punctuated by musicians from around the realm offering songs in the late King’s honor. At the moment, a small orchestra was playing a truly gods-awful piece that the conductor swore was one of Ulther’s favorites.

It wasn’t immediately evident whether the musicians were all playing the same song, so it wasn’t off to a great start.

“If I die in the Challenging, will my funeral get all of this pageantry, or will you just toss me in an unmarked grave and move on to the next?” I asked.

Taran gave a thoughtful hum. “Well, you’ll already be down there, and all of us will already be up here... we could throw some logs on you and make it a two-for-one event.”

Several nearby Corbois gasped and shot us horrified stares. Taran and I shared a mischievous grin.

Over the course of the funeral, he and I had become fast friends. There was something I instantly liked about him. Like all Descended, he was drop-dead gorgeous and fearsome to behold, but unlike his kinsmen, Taran was quick to hand out a smile or a laugh. He returned my sass with quickfire barbs of his own, and he’d treated me not like a mortal or a Queen, but an equal.

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