Page 255 of Heat of the Everflame

We gazed at each other, his face dazzling with wonder, mine fraught with shock.

“She’s too dangerous,” the commander said. “Capture her and bring her in. Use your magic—whatever it takes.”

I moved to raise my shield, but Luther beat me to it. With a twitch of his wrist, he surrounded us in a shimmering blue dome.

The foyer erupted. Outside our bubble, lethal magic clouded the air. Attacks teemed in a dizzying melee of chaos and violence. The soldiers screamed until their faces were red and beat their fists against the shield’s glowing wall.

Inside, our world was calm. Nothing could reach us. It was all so far, far away.

All the while, my Prince’s eyes stayed on me. Deflecting the full force of an entire army battalion didn’t even warrant aglance. He rose to his feet and curled a hand beneath my jaw, gazing at me like I was the brightest star in the sky.

“Some days, I pray for these surprises to end. I beg for time to stop and the world to still so I know that, at least for a moment, you are safe. Then you do something like this...” He laughed softly. “And I thank the Blessed Kindred I’m lucky enough to see it.”

I could have stayed there for an eternity, basking in the warmth of his love. He had a way of making mefeelit—see it and touch it, nest it in my hands like a tangible thing.

Most days, my self-doubt felt as powerful a beast as my magic, but in the light of his gaze, all my uncertainty fell away.

But, desperately as I wanted to, I could not linger.

“Sorae’s under attack. We have to help her.”

His expression darkened. “I know. I was loading her with our bags when they lured her away. My father knows our plan to get your mother. He thinks he can stop us by capturing Sorae.”

“Oh gods, Alixe must have—”

“She didn’t tell him. It was Aemonn.”

I swore under my breath.

“You told him?” Luther asked, noticeably struggling to keep the disappointment from his tone.

“You were dying. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” I sighed. “I wanted to give him a second chance.”

“Like I said last night, your compassion knows no bounds,” he muttered flatly.

I scowled and took his hand. “Let’s go.”

Luther’s shield burst outward in an explosive arc, sending soldiers skidding across the marble floor.

Outside, a pack of Royal Guards crowded Sorae’s panting body. Her snout was locked in an iron muzzle while a contraption pinned her wings at her back. Heavy chainsencircled her throat and trailed from shackles clamped around her limbs.

Eleanor and Lily clutched each other nearby, watching with sorrow. Taran was screaming at Aemonn and Garath, both of whom were eying Zalaric as he tried in vain to hold Taran back. At Sorae’s side, Alixe and Remis were huddled in discussion.

My gryvern’s eyes slid to me, and a mournful wail trilled from her throat. She dug her talons into the ground in a frenzied attempt to crawl to me. The guard holding her chains scrambled to pull her back, the metal links rubbing her scales raw where they squeezed her neck.

“Let her go,” I shouted at Remis. “You have no right.”

“I have every right.” He stormed toward me, his careful composure long since shattered. “The Lumnos gryvern serves the Crown, and right now, that Crown is me.”

“She’ll never serve you. She doesn’t evenlikeyou.”

Sorae swung her head with a wild snarl of agreement. She shoved to her feet and strained at her chains. A few of the spear-carrying soldiers closed in and jabbed their blades into her soft underbelly.

I let out a cry and hunched forward, feeling the blades as viscerally as if they were in my own side. Luther’s arms wrapped around me to hold me steady against his chest.

“That’s enough,” Alixe barked at the soldiers. “Your orders were to hold her down, not hurt her.”

My eyes locked with Alixe. Her expression was brutally severe, so unlike the warm friend that I knew. The message was clear: she would obey her orders, even if she hated it. I’d made her my High General for that very reason.

---