Page 16 of Heat of the Everflame

After all, a few drops had cracked the supposedly indestructible heartstone—who knew what else it was capable of destroying?

Vance smacked the back of the boy’s head. “It’s blood, you fool, not poison. It’s not going to hurt you. In fact...” He turned his eerie smile back on me. “...it seems her blood is quite the useful substance.”

I tried in vain to jerk my wrists away. “Why do you want my blood?”

The boy whimpered, his face flushing pink. He picked up the fallen jars and hesitantly moved them back in place, though with the tremble in his hands and my own struggling against the Guardians’ grip, very little blood was making it inside.

Another of the men grunted in irritation and snatched the jars from the boy’s hands. “I’ll do it,” he sneered. “I’ve got no problem painting myself red with Descended blood.”

Instead of holding the jars low to catch the falling droplets, he shoved them up against my wounds, pushing the gashes open further. I cried out at the sharp spear of pain that bolted up my arms as several men chuckled smugly.

Fight, thevoicebegged, its hushed tone growing louder.

No, I warned it.Not yet.

“Why do you want my blood, Vance?” I said again through gritted teeth.

He shrugged. “You said it so well yourself. The Descended of Lumnos are already plotting to kill the mortals, and we don’t have the luxury of waiting months for you to stop them. I’m simply collecting what I need to take matters into my own hands.”

“How is my blood going to help you with that?”

“When we tried to sneak into the palace the night of the Ascension Ball, we discovered thatsomeone—” His eyes sharpened on me. “—had tipped off the guards to close up the hidden entrance in the gardens.”

I breathed out a thankful exhale. I had learned about the secret entrance on my first visit to the palace as a healer, and revealing it to the Guardians had meant breaking my sacred vows of secrecy. My regret over that bad decision had weighed heavily on me these past months. Discovering that no harm would ever come of it was a much-needed solace.

“Thankfully,” Vance continued, “the priceless information you provided gave us a second path into the palace. There’s just one small obstacle.”

Every shred of relief I’d just felt rushed out of me as I realized what was coming next—and why he wanted my blood.

“No,” I breathed.

“The bloodlocks in the hidden canal,” Vance finished. “You were so kind to tell me that they only open for your blood. Now that won’t be a problem.”

“Vance, please,” I begged. “There are children in that palace. Innocent people. Good people who want to help the mortals. My brother—”

“Then let’s hope for their sakes that the other Crowns respond to our letter soon.”

“No—don’t do this. I’ll help you. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t—”

“Cut her again,” the man with the vials interrupted. “The wounds are already closing up.”

Vance flipped his switchblade back open.

Fight, thevoicehissed.

I looked around frantically, taking in the men, their weapons, the archers in the trees, the distance to the forest.

If I unleashed my magic, could I run away faster than their godstone weapons could find me? Vance already had my blood—could I beat him back to Lumnos before he attacked the palace?

The painful prick of Vance’s blade sent panic searing through me. All my conflicted thoughts burned away, and I reacted on pure instinct.

But I was not some full-blooded Descended elite, trained from infancy to wield lethal magic at a moment’s notice. I was raised as a mortal, trained by the great war hero Andrei Bellator.

When pushed to my limit, it wasn’t Lumnos’s burns and barbs I turned to—it was blades and brawls.

With a burst of adrenaline-fueled strength, I yanked my hands free and threw my elbows into the faces of the men clutching my arms. I let my body go slack, becoming dead weight in the hold of the man whose arms crisscrossed my ribcage. He grunted and stumbled forward at the sudden shift, and I used hismomentum against him, twisting my body until he was tumbling toward the ground.

I heard the twang of a crossbow, and a flash of black whizzed past my face. I froze for a split second, panting at the near-miss, then a lunge from another man had me moving again to avoid his godstone dagger’s direct course for my chest.

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