Page 117 of Heat of the Everflame

I dove into my memories and pulled out the cryptic lines the Umbros Queen had spoken that day in Paradise Row. “When forgotten blood on heartstone falls, then shall the chains be broke.Life for life, old debt requires, or eternal be his yoke.”

“Creepy,” Taran said, helpfully.

Luther’s eyes wandered as he mouthed the words over and over.

“Why do you think it’s true?” Alixe asked.

“At my coronation, there was a stone at the center of the Kindred’s Temple. The other Crowns called it the heartstone. They use it for the rituals. It seemed... important.”

As in, the source-of-all-Descended-magic, the-world-will-crumble-if-it’s-destroyed kind of important,I thought to myself.

“As part of the ritual, we each spilled drops of our blood on the heartstone, but when my turn came and my blood touched it, it cracked down the middle.”

“If you’re the ‘forgotten blood,’ what are the chains?” Taran asked.

“I’m not sure.” I glanced at Luther. “I washopingto ask the Umbros Queen if she knows...”

“You can write her a letter from Lumnos,” he clipped. “What about Ulther—you said he told you something?”

“That part was even less clear. He called me all of these titles... ‘Devourer of Crowns. Ravager of Realms. Herald of Vengeance.’ Then he said ‘They told me your blood would shatter our—’” I paused, sucking in a sharp breath in realization. “‘—shatter our stone and lay waste to our borders.’ I guess that part is coming true, too.”

“The borders must be breaking down,” Alixe said. “That explains why our magic keeps returning.”

“Is that all the King said?” Luther asked.

“Not exactly. After that, his voice changed. It sounded... old. Not elderly, more like—”

“Ancient,” Luther answered for me, and I nodded. His expression lay somewhere between awe and concern. “What did they say?”

“‘Give him our gift, Daughter of the Forgotten. When the end has come, and the blood has spilled, give our gift to my faithful heir, and tell him this is my command.’”

His eyes went wide.

“The voice you heard,” he said, sounding suddenly urgent, “did it sound like a woman?”

I balked. “Yes—how did you know?”

“Has anyone given you anything?” he pushed. “Has anything appeared to you?” I shook my head, and his expression darkened. “Think hard, Diem. There must be something.”

“There’s nothing. I never even met Ulther before that day.”

“Not Ulther—Lumnos.”

My brows flew up. Was he right? The goddess was certainly ancient, and if she were going to speak through an earthly body, it would make sense she would choose the bearer of her Crown.

But that would mean she could now speak throughme. The thought made me feel like there was poison slithering under my skin.

“If it was Blessed Lumnos, maybe her Crown is the gift,” Taran said.

“More like a curse,” I muttered. “And if she wants me to give it away, I apparently have to die first. Whoever herfaithful heiris, he can wait his turn. I didn’t survive the Challenging just to give my life up for some prophecy.”

Luther’s hands fell away from my arms. His face looked pale. “No. You won’t.”

I took a deep breath. “I know you don’t like this, but I really think we should speak to the Umbros Queen while we’re here.”

That seemed to shake him out of his trance and shove him right back intoirritableterritory.

“She could have you executed, Diem.”

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