Page 215 of Heat of the Everflame

Luther’s condition remained unchanged.

After I promised to send for them if there was any news, Alixe, Taran, and Zalaric left to have a bath and a hot meal. When I refused to do the same, Eleanor scurried off to have food sent up, while Perthe resumed his post at my door. Remis insisted on staying, though he kept his distance, only occasionally walking to Luther’s side and watching him in silence.

To keep myself busy, I alternated between tending Luther’s wound, which was now bleeding through his gauze at an hourly rate, and curling up on the bed beside him to scour my mother’s notes. It took only ten minutes to read all she’d written on godstone, and even less to realize it was nothing I didn’t already know.

Still I persisted, flipping page after page, in obstinate search of some key to his salvation.

There was one note that nibbled at my heel and refused to let go. An offhand comment scrawled and circled in the margins:

Diem—Coeurîle

godstone=death

life=?

It was strange enough seeing my name in the notes I’d been forbidden from reading, but the placement was especially intriguing—just beside her section on possible remedies.

My leg jiggled restlessly as I chewed on my lip. Could I break her out of prison in Fortos? Could I do it before Luther’s time ran out?

“I’d know that look anywhere,” Teller said, sitting beside me. “You’re planning something. Something bad.”

I didn’t bother to deny it.

“Look.” I handed him the journal and pointed to the curious note. “Any idea what it means?”

He frowned and looked closer. I tried to stop myself from hoping, but when he finally shook his head, my stomach sank even lower.

“Maybe she thinks there’s a cure on the island,” he suggested. “If she knew you were Descended, she could have been worried you would need it one day.”

“The flameroot?” I asked. “It only grows on Coeurîle.”

He shrugged. “Do you think it might help?”

I sighed and rubbed my face. I was willing to try anything, but some gut instinct told me this was a dead end. It was the same reason I hadn’t yet sent Taran to Ignios, the same reason I was here rather than on gryvernback heading to Fortos.

Luther had urged me to trust my hunches. So far, that advice had served me well. But sitting here doing nothing as he lay dying was tearing me apart.

I glanced down at his wound, fresh blood already staining the new gauze. I couldfeelthere was something I was missing, some clue glaring at me right in plain sight.

I closed the notebook and set it aside. “I guess you’ve heard the news about Mother.”

“I have.” He leaned his forearms on his knees and stared down at his hands. “They said she was arrested on Coeurîle. Did you see her there?”

“Only for a second, before the attack.” I nudged him with my arm. “She looked healthy. Unhurt.”

His head hung lower. “They’re going to execute her, D. I didn’t think anything could be worse than not knowing what happened to her, but now...” He rubbed his eyes. “Is it horrible that I wish she’d just stayed gone?”

“I’m not going to let them kill her,” I vowed. “I’m going to get her out of that prison.”

He looked up. “You’re going to prove to the Crowns she’s innocent?” He jumped to his feet, suddenly excited, and grabbed my hands, pulling me up to join him. “I don’t believe what they’re saying—that she was the leader of the Guardians. The kids at school say she was using me to get information on the Descended for the rebels. But she would never do that, right?” His eyes filled with hope. “We can do this, we can prove the accusations are wron—”

He froze at the look on my face.

“What?” he asked quietly.

“The accusations aren’t wrong, Tel. She was—is—their leader.”

His expression fell. “You knew?”

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