Page 283 of Heat of the Everflame

Claim me, Daughter of the Forgotten.

It was a calling my soul would not,could not, ignore.

I closed my eyes, and I surrendered.

The light in the corridor shifted—the blinding, ethereal silver warming to a sunny gold. The force on my head began to ease, though a heavy presence lingered as if something sat upon my brow.

“By the Flames,” my mother gasped.

“My Queen,” Luther breathed.

My eyes opened to see him fallen on his knees, palm pressed against his heart. He looked as if he were gazing at something profoundly sacred, something as worthy of his reverence as the Blessed Mother herself.

I dropped my shield and staggered toward him, then nearly tripped over a ring of fallen soil and stone. My face turned up with a sudden gasp. Rising in a line from where I stood, a tunnel had formed through the prison’s ceiling. A perfect circle of sunlit sky beamed its spotlight into the bleak, dim center of the prison hall.

Luther pushed to his feet, and we strode toward each other, pulled together by a soul-born, irresistible draw.

“My love,” he whispered, “you are so much more than we ever dreamed.”

“Show me?”

Somehow, he knew what I meant. He took my trembling hand and pressed it firmly to his cheek.

An image arose in my mind—me, through Luther’s eyes, courtesy of my Umbros magic. A fiery red corona ringed my body, the shimmering glow slowly receding from my skin.

Above my head, my Crown had changed. A new peak had formed, and woven among the thorny, star-dotted vines and glittering crystal was a ring of throbbing, tangled veins.

I pulled my magic back, and our gazes met.

“My Crown,” I rasped.

Luther tenderly cupped my face.

“Your Majesty... you just became the Queen of Fortos.”

Chapter

Fifty-Four

“But... there’s never been a Queen of Fortos.”

Luther’s face glowed with affection. “You never were very good at following the rules.”

My confidence shuddered beneath this new burden. “I don’t want this,” I whispered. “I can’t even be a good Queen to Lumnos, and that’s my home.”

“Don’t mistake the pain of change for failure.” His large, protective hands curled beneath my jaw, tipping my face to his. “You may not be the Queen anyone expected, but youarethe Queen they need.”

I clung to his faith like a lifeboat against the rising tide of my usual urge to deny. “Maybe this isn’t what it seems. Maybe I’m not...” I trailed off, glancing back at the King. His chest did not rise, his limbs did not stir.

My attention slid to my mother, who seemed less interested in my Crown and more interested in Luther’s thumbs as they grazed reassuring strokes across my skin.

Suddenly I felt like a naughty child caught doing something wrong. I forced myself to pull away.

I stared up at the new skylight I’d blasted into the prison roof. “It’s too small for Sorae, but maybe I can grow roots so we can climb to the surface.”

“Not without the mortals,” my mother insisted. She had that jaw-set, brow-creased, feet-planted look that said she wouldn’t be swayed. If I was stubborn as a mule, my mother was a mountain.

Luther looked only to me, eyebrows raised.

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