Page 217 of Heat of the Everflame

She shrugged. “Luther does that to me all the time. He thinks I don’t know, but I pay attention. I know what he’s up to.”

My eyebrows slowly rose. “You do?”

“I’m his little sister, it’s my job to spy on him and find all the things he doesn’t want me to know. At first it hurt my feelings because I thought he didn’t trust me. Then I realized it makes him think he’s protecting me, so now I play dumb to make him feel better.” She gave me a coy smile and lowered her voice. “He told you, though, didn’t he? About his real mother? The mortal one? I bet he told you about the half-mortals he saves, too.”

My mouth dropped open.

“Don’t worry about Teller. I’ll talk to him for you. It’s the least I can do.” She looked over at Luther, her smile holding strong, though it was painted with hues of grief. “Luther’s always doing things for me and for all the cousins. For Father and Uncle Garath, too. Even for strangers. Oh, and Blessed Mother Lumnos, of course. But I’ve never seen him want anything for himself. Not until you. AndBlessed Kindred,did he want you.” She laughed between sniffles. “Ever since I was little, he has snuck into my room to hide from all the people who want something from him. Usually he just sits on my bed and listens while I ramble, but after he met you,hewas the one rambling. My brother! Luther! Can you imagine?”

I shook my head, unable to speak. Words seemed like a complex, foreign concept that only Lily had mastered.

“I used to play a game where I would change the subject and see how long it took him to bring you up. It never took more than three sentences. He had itbad.” She sighed. “And then you got mad at him, and he was so sad. The kind of sad you can only get from being in love, you know? The kind where you think you’ll never feel happy again? But then you kissed him at the Challenging, and that whole night, he couldn’t stop smiling. For the first time in my entire life, I saw my brother really, truly happy. Not just for you, but for himself, too.”

She threw her arms around me again and crushed me against her. “I will love you forever for that. And even if—” Her voicewobbled. “—even if he doesn’t make it, he’ll die knowing what it means to be happy. That’s what he deserves.”

The earth began to give way beneath me.

“I... I’m going to... get some things from his room,” I stammered, gently prying Lily off. “Will you stay with him... until I come back?”

She swiped at her tears and nodded. “Of course.”

“I just need to get some, um...” I wandered away midsentence. Perthe moved to follow me, and I waved him off with an order to stay with Luther.

I barely made it to the parlor before my knees gave in. My hands clamped across my mouth to muffle the sound as sorrow tore out of me in great, heaving sobs. Not for me, but for the man in my bed, from whom so much had been taken and so little given in return. A man for whom something as simple ashappinesshad been a rare, fleeting gift.

A gift the gods hadn’t even let him keep for more than a day.

I screamed internally at the Kindred and their fickle favor. My godhood thrashed, my vision went red, and my self-control frayed to a tenuous string. I started to feel the way I had after my father’s death—unhinged and unsteady, an emotional bomb rolling toward an open flame.

Sorae felt it, too. She paced outside on the balcony, whipping her tail and arching her neck to the sky in piercing wails that rattled the furniture.

My skin began to illuminate with a silvery light. I needed to get out of here before I self-destructed and took half the palace with me.

I clambered to my feet and lurched across the parlor. When I placed my hand on the door, the wood charred black beneath my fingers. I swore and jerked away, the smell of burning wood filling the room.

Sorae howled again, and the door to my chambers creaked open. “Your Majesty?” Perthe called out. “Is everything—”

“Fine,” I yelled. I called on the Montios magic and summoned a layer of frost to cool my skin. It bubbled and dissipated almost instantly into steam.

I threw the door open and flew out, rushing past the guards in the hallway before they could get too close a look. “Stay there,” I barked as two of them moved to follow me. “That’s an order.”

Their footsteps stalled, and I broke into a run, my eyes locked on Luther’s door at the end of the hall. I forced air into my lungs, forced my heart to steady, forced the magic churning in me to—

“Diem?”

Fuck.

“Aemonn,” I gritted out, turning slowly.

He strolled down the corridor, hands in his pockets. He looked prim and polished as usual, his blonde hair swept perfectly over his brow and his handsome face set in a charming smirk. He wore a colorful, gold-trimmed abomination that, as he came closer, I recognized as an extravagantly customized version of the Royal Guard armor.

“I just heard that you returned,” he said. “I’m glad to see that you’re unharmed.”

“Are you?” I clipped.

He studied me warily, his eyes lingering on my faintly glowing skin. “I heard what happened to Luther. I’m sorry. I know you two were close.”

“Are close.Are, not were. Save your celebrations, he isn’t dead yet.”

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