Page 276 of Heat of the Everflame

“I’ll make a deal,” he said. “Tell me everything you know about the attack on Coeurîle, and I’ll leave him alone.”

“I already told you, I didn’t know anything.”

“How unfortunate for your Prince.”

Fight.

My irritation enflamed to wrath, my worry spiraled to terror. My godhood was feeding off the turmoil, and with nowhere to go, it built inside me to an unbearable pitch. I clawed at the door, my nails screeching against the impenetrable rock.

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” I pleaded.

“You claim you were kidnapped and held for weeks. You have to know something. Give me names. Locations.”

I grimaced, torn by conflict. Even after all the Guardians had done, I didn’t want to be the reason more mortals died in cages. “I didn’t know where I was. They drugged me with flameroot.”

“They haveflameroot?” the King roared.

“Diem, no,” my mother hissed, yanking me away from the door.

“I have to give him something. Luther—”

“Forget about the Prince. He’s just a Descended.” She saw my incredulous stare and seemed to realize what she’d said a moment too late. “I didn’t mean—”

“That’s a lot of blood,” the King crooned. “I better get more details quickly.”

Fight.

My skin glimmered and glowed, my magic whipping into a frenzy beyond my control. “Get out of my way,” I warned my mother.

She spread her hands across the door. “No, Diem. I won’t let you betray the Guardians for him.”

Fight.

“Move,” I growled. Pebbles rattled against the floor, the air crackling with the buzz of a brewing storm. I ground my teeth near to dust in a fight to keep it contained.

She held fast to her place. “I’m so sorry, my little warrior. This is one battle you won’t win.”

“Luther, are you alright?” I called out.

An awful silence answered back.

“Luther?” I pleaded.

“I think he might be sleeping,” the King crooned. “Permanently.”

Fight.

I stormed into my mother’s face, her frightened features awash with the light from my blazing eyes. She shrank back, and something inside me broke at the knowledge I’d become a monster my own mother feared.

“Get out of my way,” I snarled.

She steeled her shoulders. “I will not.”

Fight.

“Mother,move!”

Her brown eyes turned glassy, her expression going blank. With limp arms and a sagging head, she stiffly shuffled into the far corner of the cell.

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