Page 12 of Heat of the Everflame

He raised an eyebrow. “How did you know I quit?”

“Oh, the King of Fortos might have mentioned to me that you disappeared with a large shipment of weapons—right after I told him you were a ‘good family friend.’”

Brecke sucked in air between his teeth. “Oh. That’s bad.”

I gave him a wry smile. “I’m sure he and my mother are having a nice long chat about it in her prison cell as we speak.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

A long silence passed in the darkness as my heart strained against its own set of shackles. It was hard to reconcile my simmering anger at my mother with my desperate fear that I might not be able to free her before the Descended took their revenge.

“I have to save her, Brecke,” I whispered. I looked at him, my expression pleading. “I have to get her out of Fortos, and I have to get back to Lumnos before the Descended there go after the mortals. Help me.Please.”

“I wish I could, Diem, but it’s not my call. Now that I’m a wanted man in Fortos, the Arboros cell has been kind enough to take me in, but I have no authority here. You’ll have to trust in—”

“Cordellia and Vance,” I finished glumly. “Vance made it very clear he’s willing to sacrifice anyone to hurt the Descended. If my mother’s life depends on him, she’s as good as dead.”

“I’ll admit, Vance’s methods are... controversial. But Dell is a thoughtful leader, and a damn smart one. If she thinks this is the way to save Auralie, give her a chance.”

I hung my head, staring at the mass of thick chains leashing me in place while the people I loved were miles away, danger closing in on them from every side.

“Can you at least tell me what happened on the island?” I asked.

“When your mother went to Coeurîle, she was only able to smuggle in a few bombs. The plan was for her to place one on the north shore of the island as a diversion to attract the army boats so we could load in from Arboros in the south, then set off the rest at the Kindred’s Temple. We were able to get a small group of Guardians in just before the attack to help light the fuses, but—”

“How did you manage that?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? I’m a Guardian, aren’t I?” I raised my shackled wrists. “I’m cooperating.”

Brecke threw me a sympathetic wince, but he didn’t offer more.

I thought back to the morning of the attack, when Luther and I had departed from the canal beneath the palace. I hadn’t mustered the courage to admit to him that I had given the Guardians access to the boat, but I had made him swear that he thoroughly checked it before we left.

But Luther had helped my mother spy on the late King—a mission for the Guardians, I now realized—and he’d helped her get to Coeurîle. He’d admitted to me before that he knew about the Guardians. Perhaps he’d even known my mother’s role among them.

Was it possible he was helping the Guardians, too? Gods... had he known about the attack, too?

A part of me wanted it to be true, if only because it might mean that he had avoided the violence, leaving him alive and safe.

But I knew Luther too well now. In my heart, I knew he wouldn’t condone such an attack—and he wouldneverput me in harm’s way.

My chest squeezed painfully.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Continue.”

“We’d hoped the bombs might bring down the Temple, but we underestimated the strength of the godstone. The explosions didn’t even make a crack. Plan B was to take the stone at the center, but the Descended must have secured it in some way. It wouldn’t move, and it burned us when we tried to touch it. So we went with Plan C—commandeer the entire Temple. I wasn’t sure we’d really be able to do it, but the Descended can’t use their magic on the island, and they’re not used to relying on weapons alone. With our explosives and our godstone weapons, we had the upper hand.”

I shot him a hard look. “That won’t last forever. The Crowns will stop at nothing to take it back.”

His answering stare was grim. “I know. But if we can hold it long enough for their Forging spell to break down, they may get desperate enough to make a deal. And if we can figure out how to get that rock out of the Temple, we’ll have leverage even if they take back the island. They seem to care a great deal about protecting that stone, whatever it is.” He studied me carefully. “Do you know anything about it?”

I swallowed.The heartstone—the source of the Forging magic.

This is our most precious secret,the Sophos Crown had said,the truth that each of us guards with our lives. For if the heartstone is destroyed, so too shall our realms crumble and fall.

Controlling the heartstone could indeed be the key to changing the tides in the coming war—but I had learned my lesson about entrusting the Guardians with dangerous information.

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