Page 259 of Heat of the Everflame

“You think I don’t already know this?”

I spun around in surprise. “You do?”

“Diem, you’re the most independent person I’ve ever met. You treat your life like it’s disposable. You insist on doing everyhard thing alone. When I told that guard in Ignios you were my mate, I genuinely thought you were going to be sick.” I winced, and he squeezed my hip with a smile. “I know what I’m getting with you. And it is more than enough for me.”

My heart stumbled. “But... at the ball, you said you wantedallof me. What if I can’t give you that?”

“You already have.”

I gave him a confused frown, and his arms tightened, tugging me closer.

“‘All of you’ means I want Diem the QueenandDiem the woman. The Diem that’s courageous and bold and inspiring. The Diem that taunts Crowns and armies into battle, then leaves them wondering what the hell they just faced.” We both laughed, and his fingers brushed across my cheek. “But I also want the Diem that worries and cries. The Diem that’s scared. The Diem with a temper hot enough to melt Fortosian steel.” He shot me a pointed look. “The Diem who doubts herself too damn much.”

I blushed, dipping my chin. He crooked a finger under my jaw and nudged it up.

“I want there to be no part of you that you hide from me because you fear it’s a part I will not love. I treasure your darkness as much as your light.” He dropped his mouth a breath away from mine, his words a whisper on my lips. “Show me your worst, my darling, and I’ll show you how far my love can go.”

The caress of his lips was a song on my heart. I arched my neck up to meet him, and my worries carried away in the fluttering wind.

Each kiss from Luther carried its own promise. Some were offers of love, others oaths of devotion. Some were vows of the flesh, a hint of steamy nights to come.

But this was a promise that I wasenough, and that was the promise I’d needed most of all.

“I didn’t dream of those things either, you know,” he said. “I thought I would spend my life in a loveless arranged marriage to Iléana.”

I scowled, scrunching my nose.

He rewarded me with a rare unrestrained grin. “Being with someone I chose for myself already exceeds any hope I ever dared have. Of course I would be honored to share those things with you someday—but only if you decide you want them. And if you never do, I’ll be grateful still.” He teased me with an almost-kiss that hovered just beyond my reach. “Will you put this doubt out of your head now?”

“I will,” I said, and for once, it was true. “There are plenty others to take its place.”

He groaned. I stole a kiss while he was distracted, but not to be beat, he cradled my head and held my mouth to his, turning my sweet peck into a fiery embrace. I happily surrendered and lost myself in the bliss of his hungry, roaming hands.

As usual, the gods were cruel, and our joy was short-lived.

A snap of burning pain shot through me. Luther and I both jolted, his hands gripping hard on my shoulders.

“It’s the border,” he said. “We must have crossed into Fortos.”

Sorae dipped below the cloudline, and the ground came into view. Sure enough, the shift from forest to rock that marked the Lumnos-Fortos border was fading fast in our wake.

When I’d crossed this border months ago on a trip with Henri, the change had been stark—not a tree out of line, not a stone out of place. Now, bushes and young saplings had sprouted in the rocky Fortos flatlands, and the usually lush soil of the Lumnos forest was littered with scattered grey stone.

“The borders are getting less defined,” I said. “Alixe thinks they’re breaking down because my coronation ritual isn’t complete.”

“That would explain why I still have my magic,” he said, pulling a spark to his palm in proof.

“Thank the gods,” I breathed.

“Thank theKindred,” he gently corrected. “It’s their magic.”

“The Kindred wanted these borders. I’ll thank whatever god of chaos is helping me work against them instead.”

He sighed and raised his eyes to the sky. He murmured a quiet prayer, then sent an offering of his shadows into the ether.

I watched his reverence with conflicting emotions. I’d never believed in anything the way he believed in Lumnos. He never wavered in his confidence that she was watching him, his guide and his guardian, sending him blessings in good times and comfort in bad. Much as I enjoyed taunting him with my heresy, in truth, some part of me longed for the solace his faith seemed to bring.

“What would you say to her if you met her?” I asked.

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