Page 202 of Heat of the Everflame

“Impossible,” Symond breathed.

“You can’t begin to fathom what is possible,” the Queen crooned, her eyes on me. “End this, Diem. Let me show who you are and what you’re meant to do. It’s time to claim your inheritance in full.”

Something deep in me purred at her words, almost as if my godhood was...agreeingwith her.

“We can’t get through, Your Majesty,” Symond admitted. “We need your help.”

“Careful, dear,” I said, taunting her with her own words. “This could be very revealing.”

She hesitated. Lines creased at the corners of her eyes and mouth as she weighed my challenge. If she backed down now, she’d look like a coward. But if she took me on and lost, she’d be blood in the water—surrounded by one hundred hungry sharks.

Apparently, the sharks won.

Her thought magic sliced into my head like a flaming arrow. My mental shield was weakened by the Centenaries’ barrage, and I felt her honeyed voice pierce through.

Give in now,she warned.I know your weaknesses. Do not force me to use them.

I shouted in protest as one leg involuntarily buckled. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Yrselle. Let us be allies, not enemies.”

Give in, she snarled in my head.You will dearly regret it if you don’t.

Her hold on me sank its claws deeper and forced me down to my knees.

“You see?” she said haughtily, flashing a triumphant smile to her Centenaries. “Even the mightiest of Crowns must kneel to me.”

I fell still.

Above my head, a circle of shadow took form. The dark matter swirled, thickening into ropey vines tangled in sharp thorns. Pinpricks of light winked into existence, along with hunks of jagged crystals.

“I am Diem Bellator.” I stared up through my lashes, the glow of the Crown casting ominous shadows down my face. “And I kneel for no one.”

Fight.

My godhood roared, its wrath mirroring my own. I gave myself over to its smoldering rage.

My mental shield dropped, and her thought magic crashed in from every angle. But instead of controlling me—itignitedme.

A silvery moon-bright glow shone from my skin, a wave of fire and frost coating me like armor. My blood boiled away to a rush of newfound energy searing through my veins.

I was invigorated. Indestructible. Invincible.

Immortal.

“You and I stood right here on this balcony at lunch,” I said, my voice sounding unearthly and foreign to my own ears. “Do you remember what you asked me?”

I pushed back up to my feet, heels at the edge of the cliff. My shoulders rolled back.

“You asked how much of my soul I was willing to set ablaze to see my plans through.” My chin rose. “And do you remember my answer?”

Yrselle’s eyes grew. “Diem—”

I spread my arms wide.

“All of it.”

I tilted my head back, and I fell.

Chapter

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