Page 251 of Heat of the Everflame

“This isFortos, Diem. You’ll be surrounded by soldiers. If they catch you, they’ll kill you, and even if you don’t, you’ll be an enemy of the Crowns. Then they’ll arrest you and execute you both, and then I’ll be...” His shoulders crumpled. He sank onto the edge of his bed, dropping his head in his hands. “After your coronation, we didn’t know if you or Mother made it out alive. For days, I thought...” His hands clenched in his hair. “I thought I was the only Bellator left.”

My heart broke at the thick despair roughening his voice. He’d had so little choice in all that had happened. Even before I became Queen, he’d been a pawn in my mother’s plan. He’d put on a strong face through it all, but everyone had their breaking point, and I feared I had finally pushed him to his.

I sat beside him, my arm brushing his. “They won’t catch me. And if they do, they can’t kill me.”

“Come on, D. I know you’re strong, but—”

“Luther and I discovered something about my magic. I haven’t told everyone yet.”

His eyes darkened. “More secrets?”

“Yes,” I said, sighing. “But when you see, you’ll understand why.”

I took his hand and flattened it out, my brow furrowing as I focused on his palm. At the center, a single flame began to grow.

Teller jerked upright. “Is that...?”

“Watch,” I urged.

The flame twirled, then extinguished into smoke with the force of a tiny windstorm. A droplet of water wobbled in midair, then crystallized into an icy, frost-coated orb.

“That’s Ignios magic,” he breathed. “And... and Meros. And Montios.”

And Umbros, I spoke into his mind.

He jerked away and leapt to his feet.

“And Arboros and Fortos and all the others,” I went on. “The only one I can’t use is Sophos. Luther thinks it’s because I’ve never been there.”

His forehead wrinkled in that earnest way it did when his clever brain was puzzling out a problem. “Descended magic is tied to the soil of their terremère. They can’t use it if they’ve never set foot in the realm.” He looked me over slowly, like he was studying some new, fascinating creature. “But no Descended has even hadtwo, let alone all of them.”

“It gets stranger. When Descended attack me with their magic, it doesn’t hurt me. Ithelpsme. It’s like I’m stealing their magic right out of them. It even helps me heal faster, if I’m wounded.”

His eyes grew wide. “Mother said your birth father had a rare condition. Maybe that wasn’t a lie. If he could do this, too, that would explain why she tried so hard to hide you.”

“I’m going to get her and ask her that myself today.”

His look of wonder fell away, hardening back into his scolding frown. “This doesn’t mean you can’t be killed. Fortos has weapons. Andgodstone.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“You’re never careful,” he shot back. “We always joked you were lucky to be alive after all the things that should have killed you. It was never luck. It was all ofthis.” He gestured angrily at my body. “You’re not fighting weak mortal men anymore. These are real threats.”

“I will be careful this time,” I said again. “I’m coming back, and I’m bringing Mother with me.”

He stilled. “You’re going to bring her back here—to the palace?”

I nodded emphatically. My better judgment shouted at me with reservations, but I shoved them away, frantic to win back my brother’s trust. “We’ll have to hide her somehow. I’ll find a way. We’ll be together as a family again by day’s end. I promise.”

He eyed me with blatant doubt. “Are there any other big revelations I should know?”

“No. I’ve learned my lesson—no more lying to protect you.”

“Swear it, D,” he insisted. “Promise me there are no more secrets.”

I pressed my hand to my heart. “I swear on my life.”

He blew out a long breath through his nose, his face still etched with lingering hurt. We’d never had a rift like this,nothing more serious than fleeting sibling spats, and I was desperate to mend it. Teller was my one constant, the one person who had been there through it all and had never let me down. Losing his trust would destroy me.

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