Page 268 of Heat of the Everflame

The King’s ominous chuckle echoed down the hall.

After a shorter set of stairs, the corridor opened up to a wide central room partitioned by walls of iron bars enclosing several large, hay-covered pens. Like the other cells, they were brutally sparse. The air reeked of a putrid scent, the scattered buckets overflowing with waste.

The room was freezing, raising bumps along my arms, yet no prisoner had more than a thin, threadbare tunic and no blankets were anywhere in sight. Thick metal chains draped from thewalls and tangled on the ground where shivering bodies huddled in groups, emaciated arms draped over bony shoulders.

“You’re a monster,” I breathed. “These are human beings, Fortos.”

He grunted. “I thought you’d be happy. At least we let the families stay together.”

“Families?” I choked.

As I dared to peer closer, I spotted smaller, younger bodies hidden amid the horde. Their brown eyes peered at my Crown with a deeply understandable fusion of terror and hate.

My temper exploded. I whirled on the King and stormed toward him as magic sprang to life at my palms. “You put fuckingchildrenin here?”

He threw up his shield, momentarily bouncing me backward. I slashed a hand across the filmy grey dome and it shattered to dust.

The King stumbled back a step. “They were captured in a rebel camp. The laws apply to everyone equally. Even children.”

“Equally?” My enraged shout reverberated off the stone walls. “Equally?”

Fight, thevoicepurred.

My godhood blazed alongside my fury, swirling in tandem to a blistering heat.

“My Queen,” Luther said. “There’s something you should see.”

I barely heard him over the roar of my temper. My self-control was unraveling and taking my magic with it, sparks flurrying in the air and shadows dripping from my palms.

Fight.

The mortals began to rise and press curious faces to the bars of their cells.

The King edged further back. “Put your magic away, Lumnos. I can have a hundred guards here in a second.”

“Howdareyou claim the laws apply equally?” I snarled. “This continent hasn’t seen equality since the day your cursed, gods-damned Kindr—”

“Your Majesty,” Luther cut in sharply. “Look.”

His hand pressed between my shoulders. The tender touch blunted the edge of my ire, but I was too far gone in my rage to tear my glare from the King.

Fight.

Destroy.

My skin ignited with glittering light. “One day soon, you will answer for your crimes, Fortos. And when you do—”

“Diem?”

My voice hitched.

My heart paused.

My magic stuttered and died.

Time slowed to a crawl as my head turned toward the weak, familiar voice that had called out my name.

From deep within the shadows of the cage, the brown eyes of Auralie Bellator stared back.

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