Page 29 of Heat of the Everflame

“Do it.”

Herkin jumped a mile. He practically quivered as he shuffled toward me and unwound my chains with wobbling hands. I seriously considered shoutingboo!at him and shaving a few years off of his life from sheer panic.

Brecke’s stare locked with mine, and my brows creased in a questioning frown. He quickly looked away.

Once Herkin had the chains unlatched, he looked at me and gulped, then tried tugging me to my feet with laughably light pressure. I felt bad enough for him that I complied without argument.

“Brecke,” I started again.

“No talking, Descended.” He looked at Herkin and pointed to the forest. “You lead her, I’ll keep watch from behind.”

Herkin gave the faintest rattle of my chains, then whooshed out a giant sigh of relief when I obediently fell into step beside him.

We left the warm glow of the firelit camp and marched into the surrounding forest. With the leafy canopy blocking all moonlight, the area was nearly pitch black, lit only by the soft glow of my Crown.

“Did Mother Dell really tell you we should do this?” Herkin called out meekly over his shoulder. “I thought she said to keep the prisoner in the camp at all times.”

“Are you accusing me of lying?” Brecke rumbled, low and lethal.

“No, I just—”

“You’re calling me a traitor who would betray the Guardians to help a Descended Queen?Because if so, I will defend my honor.To the death, if necessary.”

“No!” Herkin squeaked. “No, no—no death necessary. Forget I said anything.”

“Good. Keep walking.”

As we continued on, the light of camp became a dot in the distance, though the burbling sounds of the nearby stream were getting further away, rather than closer. Hair rose on the back of my neck.

Something about this wasn’t right.

Something was—

I froze at a sudden flash of movement, followed by the sickening sound of metal crushing into flesh and bone. Herkin’s limp body collapsed to the ground.

Brecke towered above him, the blood-flecked hilt of a rapier in his hands. “Sorry, kiddo.” He reached down and laid a finger against Herkin’s throat. “Ah, he’s fine. He’ll have a hell of a headache tomorrow, though.”

“Brecke,” I hissed, “what in the Undying Fire is going on?”

“Keep your voice down, Bellator.” He sheathed his blade, then pulled a key from his pocket. He unlocked the shackles from my wrists and let them fall to the soil with a soft thump. As I gaped at him, his expression brightened into a wry grin. “I’ll explain later. Come on, help me drag him over there.”

We pulled Herkin’s unconscious body to a nearby tree, where a pile of supplies had been stashed in a knot of gnarled roots. Brecke got to work tying Herkin up and gagging him with a long strip of fabric. He unlatched the dagger at Herkin’s hip and started to hand it to me, then seemed to think better of it. He shot me an apologetic look as he nestled it in his own belt.

“Follow me,” he whispered.

I trailed him as we doubled back to the rebel camp, though we kept a safe distance while creeping around the perimeter to the other side. I caught fleeting glances at parts of the camp I hadn’t seen before—a makeshift infirmary where several bodies were laid out on cots, a corral with a handful of horses and small livestock, and several wooden carts laden with the rebels’ trademark bombs.

Voices broke the silence. Brecke grabbed my arm and yanked me down beneath a patch of brush. He scowled at my Crown, his face illuminated in a wash of pale blue light. “Can’t you turn that thing off?”

“Oh,nowyou want me to use my magic,” I muttered.

“Just put it away before it gets us killed.”

I frowned. Lily had told me once that late King Ulther rarely wore his, so I knew it was possible to conceal it, though all my attempts to will it away thus far had failed. But that had been before I learned to control my godhood.

I reached down inside myself, searching for some magical lightswitch I’d never been able to find before, but I found only the vacant gulf left behind by the flameroot.

Then again, maybe the Crown wasn’t like my godhood. After all, it was a creation of the Kindred’s Forging spell, not my own magic. Maybe it didn’t liveinsideme at all.

---