Page 178 of Heat of the Everflame

Taran crossed his arms and smirked.

Symond’s stare hardened. So much for flirting to get information—by the look on his face, I’d just made my first enemy in Umbros.

Well... second, if you counted Hagface.

Right on cue, she scoffed. “We’re not fighting in any war. We let the mortals do as they please. The Guardians aren’t coming forus, and our Queen doesn’t bow to other Crowns’ demands.”

My stomach dropped. I’d hoped to rely on Yrselle’s help, maybe even recruit her to my cause, but if she believed doing so would make her look weak...

I turned to her. She was already watching me, her expression murky and deep in thought.

“You reigned through the last Blood War,” I said. “Do you really think it’s possible to escape this one?”

She leaned her arms on the table, trapping me in the mesmerizing lure of her midnight gaze. “I think...” Her sharp nails drummed against the table. “I think we haven’t finished the game.”

“The game isn’t important.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Yrselle, you and I have already been caught in the midst of one battle, we can’t—”

“What was the question?” she cut in. “Oh yes—who would you save? Well, I doubt we need to bother asking who the Prince would save.”

“No,” Luther said darkly. “You don’t.”

Yrselle hummed, then rolled her head back to me. “That just leaves you.”

Taran snorted a laugh. “You don’t have to ask her, either.”

Yrselle was undeterred. She held my stare with a piercing look. “Tell me, Diem, who would you choose? Who will live, and who willburn?”

My pulse picked up speed. The time might come, sooner than I was ready for, where I would be forced to make this very choice. And not just these four, but others. Teller, Maura, Henri, Lily. How could I choose which of the people I loved to save and which to sacrifice?

“I can’t answer.”

“You have to, that’s the game,” Hagface said.

“I can’t.”

“You can choose him, Your Majesty,” Alixe urged. “Taran and I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

“Nor would I,” Zalaric agreed.

I frowned. “But that would be a lie.”

Yrselle smiled and nodded slowly. “Go on.”

“I wouldn’t let any of them die.”

“But that’s notthe game,” Hagface whined. “We know you don’t want any of them to die. That’s what makes the question hard to answer.Obviously.”

Gods, I was going to enjoy dreaming tonight about wiping that sniveling look off her face.

“It has nothing to do with what I want. The game requires an honest answer, and if I gave you a name, it would be a lie.”

“You’re just like Zalaric,” she said, looking smug. “You’d only save yourself.”

“No, Hagface. That’s not it.”