Page 10 of Glow of the Everflame

How could I have ever believed, even for a moment, that this man was not my enemy? I’d seen his ruthlessness with his own guards, the ease with which he’d shed their blood for disobeying his orders, and he’d admitted his fondness for the late King, a man responsible for countless atrocities against mortals.

I’d been so stupid, so naive, to allow a handsome face to woo me right into his lethal hands.

He needed to pay.

Theyallneeded to pay.

Perhaps I’d been too hasty in rejecting the Crown. What if I could balance the scales between the oppressor and the oppressed? I could bring them to justice—Luther and all the rest. I could make them suffer like my people had suffered and finally,finally, give the mortals a fighting shot at taking back what had been stolen from us so long ago.

Cold determination settled deep in my soul. I’d always dreamed of something bigger for my life, and this was my chance. My destiny beckoned, clear and unmistakable.

Survive the Challenging.

Complete the Rite of Coronation.

And destroy the Descended.

ChapterThree

Luther’s horse had barely set foot on the mosaic stone walkway leading to the palace doors when I swung my leg over the saddle and leapt to the ground.

I couldn’t stand one second longer with thatmurderer’sbody pressed against mine. I had plotted his downfall with every hoofbeat.

He shouted something, but his words went unheard as I strode toward the entrance, eyes fixed on the high landing of the gryvern’s perch. Though it was empty with the beast nowhere in sight, somehow I could sense her. Her heartbeat was a voice that hummed my name even from miles away.

The Crown’s power calls to her, Luther had said.

Perhaps the gryvern’s power called to me in return.

“Come, Sorae,” I whispered. The words seemed to emerge not from my throat but some new well of authority deep within that I had yet to explore.

A distant howl cut through the brisk night air.

“I’m here,” I murmured, my eyes searching the obsidian sky.

Seconds later, Sorae swooped into sight, circling the palace in wide, sweeping arcs. Her shrill cry rang out across the grounds like trumpeting fanfare announcing the arrival of her Queen. The thump of her powerful wings felt synchronized to my pounding heart.

Any chance at arriving unnoticed vanished as a crowd of dark figures formed in the palace windows, silhouetted by golden light spilling out from within. The royal family had gathered to watch.

Good.

“Come, Sorae,” I shouted. Commanding her felt surprisingly natural, as if it had always been the two of us together, bound in this soul-deep, ancient bond.

Her trajectory shifted. She shot toward me with lightning speed, then slammed into the ground in a cloud of dust, the stone tiles cracking beneath her at the impact. Her wings flared wide, dark feathers quivering, before snapping back against the sleek lines of her leonine body.

She arched her neck and let out a deafening bellow. The small group of guards that had gathered took a few steps back in alarm.

To my ears, it might as well have been a purr. The sound of it soothed some innate wildness in my soul, the answer to a question I hadn’t even known I’d asked.

I strode forward, hand extended.

Luther called out to me again—a warning, perhaps. I was certain the gryvern wouldn’t hurt me. Sorae would rip out her own throat before she would harm a hair on my head. I had no idea how I could possibly know such a thing, but I was as certain of it as my own name.

Sorae’s narrow snout lowered to meet my hand. I smiled as she let out a soft trill of recognition.

“You knew, didn’t you?” I stroked my fingertips along the rough, jagged skin beneath her jowl. “Even before the King died, somehow you knew what I would become.”

Sorae huffed once and gave a slow blink of her golden, reptilian eyes.

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