Page 218 of Heat of the Everflame

Aemonn frowned. He pulled his hands from his pockets and straightened his back. “You and I have some things to discuss.”

I crossed my arms. “Are you going to threaten me like you did the last time we spoke? If I remember correctly, that didn’t end too well for you.”

His fingers flexed at the reminder of how I’d nearly taken his arm off when he demanded to speak with me and refused to takenofor an answer. “I was only trying to help you. If you had talkedto me then instead of attacking me, I could have warned you—”

“If you truly wanted to help me, you never would have taken Luther’s titles and threatened to send all my allies to the other side of the realm.”

“I admit, sending Alixe away would have been a mistake. The guards respect her, as do I. But my brother... you’d be better off without him here. He will only let you down.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “Ican be your ally, Diem. Tell me your plans. Let me show you I can help.”

“My plans?” I huffed out a harsh laugh, my temper still roaring. “Myplanis to save Luther, break my mother out of prison, take on the Crowns and probably the entire Emarion Army while I’m at it, and fight a war all by myself. Still want to be my ally?”

He balked. “Your mother—the rebel leader? You’re going to free her after all the violence the Guardians are responsible for?”

“And how much violence isyourfather responsible for?” I snapped.

Aemonn’s confidence wavered, a flicker of the scared little boy he once must have been, the defenseless victim of his father’s vicious rage. My anger slipped at the sight, losing its jagged edge.

“You of all people should understand, Aemonn.” I turned to walk away, muttering under my breath. “The great man you could be, if only your loyalty wasn’t so one-sided.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he called out.

I almost kept going. Almost abandoned Aemonn there, standing alone in the corridor. I was on the sheerest of emotional cliffs, my most malicious vices jeering in my ear. Mytemper had always been my downfall, and at the moment, I was more than ready to give myself over and embrace its destruction.

But I thought of my brother and how deeply I’d hurt him. I thought of what might become of us, if we left that wound untended. How it might fester with bitterness, infect with resentment, how it might spread and deepen and scar. How it might eat away at us, bit by tiny bit, and leave us permanently ravaged, unable to heal.

Perhaps I might never save Luther from the godstone. But this was a poison I could fight.

“It could have been Taran in there dying, you know.” I managed to reel my temper back, and my magic with it, then turned around to face him. “When the Guardians attacked us, Taran was stabbed with godstone, too—twice. He shouldhave died. I still don’t know how he didn’t.” I cocked my head. “What if your brother had never come home—is that really what you want, for him to be out of your way forever?”

Aemonn’s throat bobbed, his expression indecipherable.

“All this hate the two of you are holding—you’re directing it at the wrong person. I’m sure Taran has made his share of mistakes, but I don’t think he’s the one you’re really angry with, is he?” I glanced at my chambers, my heart and mind still trapped in that room at Luther’s side. “Life is too short to hold these grudges, Aemonn. Even for the Descended.”

He stared at the stone wall, saying nothing, his features uncharacteristically dull. All his suave charm had fallen away, leaving a bitter, rotting core.

Again I walked away, ignoring the sound of footsteps following close behind. When I reached Luther’s chambers, I paused in front of it and frowned. Since I’d been gone, he’d added a bloodlock. I could take a few drops from his wound, but bloodlocks required willingly given blood.

Aemonn leaned a shoulder against the wall at my side. “I haven’t been enforcing the progeny laws, you know. It hasn’t been popular, but I insisted on delaying executions until you returned.”

“Really?” I threw him a brief, surprised glance before returning my focus to the door.

“I’m not a man who murders innocent children, Diem. Despite what youralliestell you, I’m not a monster.”

“Tell that to the mortal boy you killed in Lumnos City,” I said bitterly. I ran a finger over the bloodlock as a question sprouted in my mind.

A crease formed on his brow. “What mortal boy?”

“The one you trampled with your horse and left to die on the street.” I turned to face him. “Do you have any blades on you?”

Aemonn pushed off the wall, his face going pale. “That was an accident. How did you—”

“Henri saw it happen. He was going to kill you for it before I stopped him.”

My eyes grazed over him and paused on a hilt at his hip. I grabbed the handle and plucked it free over his scoff of protest, then nearly groaned. The entire weapon was cast from pure gold—too soft a metal to cut through Descended skin.

A shiny, useless distraction. Just like Aemonn’s reign as High General.

“That boy—h-he was running in the street. I didn’t see him. I... I didn’t mean for him to get hurt.”

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