Page 207 of Heat of the Everflame

She sighed. “Very well. If it’s Luther you insist on returning for, it’s Luther I’ll get out of the way.”

Her fingers twitched, and my stomach filled with dread.

“Taran,no!” Alixe screamed.

I followed her horrified stare down to Sorae’s talons. Both men had gone slack-jawed and stiff, arms limp at their sides—except for Taran, whose right arm had crooked around Luther’s throat. Though their expressions were vacant, both sets of eyes blazed with terror as Taran’s hold involuntarily tightened.

Alixe threw a tendril of light around Taran’s arm and yanked. It sizzled and blistered welts against his skin, but his chokehold was unrelenting.

Luther gasped for air. His face turned pink, then red.

“Let them go or I swear on all the gods, Yrselle, your reign will endtonight.” I raised a palm in her direction, and she wagged a single finger.

“Might want to rethink that, dear. You’ve got your hands full.” She winked and jerked her chin to the space behind me.

I looked back to find Alixe and Zalaric wearing the same glassy-eyed expression. They began to lean, then slide, thenfall.

I grabbed Alixe’s arm with one hand and called a gust of wind to push Zalaric upright with the other, but one look down had my heart in my throat. Luther’s eyes were rolling back, his lips turning blue.

A chill of terror paralyzed me. Sorae felt it, letting out an anguished trill. Her talons tightened around Taran, one claw dimpling into his chest, just above his heart. An offer from my devoted gryvern—Taran’s death for Luther’s life.

“No,” I yelled, but her grip did not loosen.

Taran’s eyes locked with mine. In them, I saw his plea to let her do it. He would rather die than live with the knowledge he had murdered his best friend.

Fight, my godhood demanded again.

“I’m not a murderer,” I cried. “Don’t make me do this.”

Zalaric jerked sharply and tilted backward. I lunged and managed to snag the edge of his robe, but just as I did, Alixe nearly took me with her as she pitched herself over the edge.

Help, I begged to anyone and no one as I fought to hold them both, though I knew my prayers was futile. There was no way out without destroying some vital part of me in the process.

How much of your soul are you willing to set ablaze?

I gave one final look at Luther as the last embers of my ruined heart curled to ash.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light filled the sky, followed by a wave of sweltering heat. The smell of burnt skin singed my nose.

I blinked. Unlike before, I hadn’tfeltthe magic work. Had I used it without realizing what I’d done?

But Yrselle and her gryvern were still there. They dropped into freefall and hurtled toward the sea. They were screaming, wailing, tumbling...burning.Bright, roaring flames coated them both.

Lavenderflames.

Alixe and Zalaric blinked rapidly and shook their heads, now free of the Queen’s control. Zalaric helped me pull her up, then I slumped forward in relief as Luther gulped in air and Sorae’s claw eased from Taran’s chest. With a bit of wrangling, we cut them free and managed to haul them up to safety.

Once everyone was secure, the five of us collapsed in an exhausted, breathless heap.

Alixe pulled an illusion around Sorae to conceal us, and I called forth a swift westbound wind. Luther’s arms slid around my waist as my head thumped back against his chest.

“Home,” I sighed heavily. “Let’s go home.”

Chapter

Forty-Two

Hours later, after the sun had crested in the sky, the coastline of Lumnos emerged on the horizon. Winter had turned its emerald forests into a gloomy cluster of lifeless branches that reminded me far too much of the poison spreading beneath Luther’s skin.

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