Page 17 of Heat of the Everflame

“Don’t kill her,” Vance snapped, shoving the man away. “We need her alive for the blood to work.”

Any relief his words gave me faded fast as four of his men sheathed their blades and launched at me. As I turned to run, a man with a crossbow stepped into my path. Two heavy bodies crashed into my back and pinned me down with their weight. Then the rest of the group was on me, crushing my spine with their knees and shoving my face into the cold soil until I could barely breathe, let alone move.

“Flip her over,” Vance ordered.

The men roughly hauled me onto my back and sat on my limbs to hold me in place. My vision went wobbly and unfocused as the days without food and water finally caught up with me.

Vance squatted at my side. “I tried to do this the nice way, but you just can’t seem to do what you’re told.” He leaned forward until his knee dug low into my ribs. “You have only yourself to blame.”

I whimpered in between gasps for air. “Please—Vance, no—don’t—”

He picked up an empty vial that had fallen during the scuffle and pulled out the cork stopper with his teeth. “Auralie told me once that head wounds bleed fastest. I hope those Descended healing abilities of yours work quickly.”

I screamed as his blade sank into the flesh of my cheek. Rivulets of warm liquid gushed across my face and down my neck. As Vance pressed the vials into the wounds and filled themone by one, a trickle of blood spilled into my eyes and tinged the world in a crimson haze.

For a moment, my mind flashed back to Forging Day, the ominous blood sun blanketing the dark alleys of Paradise Row in its scarlet glow while Luther and my mother argued over a choice that would change my life in unimaginable ways.

“What’s going on here?” a voice called out.

Vance jerked upright. “Cordellia—I... uh...”

“Vance, is that the Bellator girl?”

“Help!” I screamed. “Cordellia, help m—”

Vance clamped a hand over my mouth. “Everything’s fine,” he rushed out. “I had some business to address with her. Lumnos business—nothing for you to worry about.”

Cordellia came into view as she approached. “We’ve discussed this, Vance. You’re not in Lumnos, you’re in Arboros. I gave orders not to remove her from that tree for any reason.” She peered down at me with a deep frown. “Why is she covered in blood?”

I caught Cordellia’s eyes and let out a muffled shriek against the suffocating clinch of Vance’s hand, hoping she could see the desperation in my face, praying she would intervene.

Vance shifted his weight so his knee dropped sharply into my chest, punching the air from my lungs and silencing my protests. “I need her blood for a mission in Lumnos. When I’m done collecting it, you can do whatever you like with her.”

“She’smyprisoner,” Cordellia said archly. “I’ll do whatever I like with her rightnow.”

Their bickering faded to the recesses of my mind as a differentvoicestole my focus.

Fight.

The urge to use my magic was steadily growing to a pull that I now had to struggle to hold back. After days without release, my godhood was restless and angry, made worse by the fearthrobbing through my pounding heart and the pain splintering across my wounded body.

Still, I resisted. If I used my magic now, there would be no turning back. I had to wait until just the right moment, until I was absolutely certain that I—

The blare of distant horns rolled through the clearing. The mortals froze in unison, their eyes turning skyward.

Another horn blast rang out, this one nearer.

“Incoming,” an archer shouted from high in a nearby tree. “Man your posts!”

Cordellia pointed at Vance. “Get her back to the tree and chain her up.” She shot him an uncompromising glare, then walked away as she began barking a stream of orders at the growing crowd of Guardians.

One of the men began to rise from where he kneeled on my arm. Vance raised a hand to stop him. “Stay there.”

“But, sir... Mother Dell said to take her—”

“I’m almost done here. I’ll chain her up when I’m finished.”

The men shared unsure looks, but Vance gave them no time for debate. He slashed two more gashes on my wrists, then nudged the vials toward the men. “Fill those up.”

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