Page 324 of Heat of the Everflame

“He wants me dead, Mother,” I pushed. “He wants Luther dead. Those half-mortal children you got out of Lumnos? He wants them all dead, too.”

Her caramel eyes narrowed as she watched Vance whip the mortals into a cheering frenzy with his calls for vengeance and bloodshed. “He and I have not always seen eye to eye. I try toavoid violence when I can. Vance prefers a more... aggressive approach.”

“And yet you left him in charge when you went to the island.”

“He’s been a Guardian as long as I have, and his loyalty to the mortals is absolute. I needed someone I could trust.”

“You gave me your word there would be no attacks,” Luther said. “The man youtrusteddid not keep that bargain. Innocent people paid the price.”

Her frown cut deeper. “I’m sorry. That should not have happened.”

“Don’t apologize to me. Your daughter is the one who put herself at risk to stop him—even before she became Queen.”

Her heavy stare turned to me, painted with admiration mixed with hues of regret. I looked away.

“You said you recognize those mortals?” I asked.

She nodded. “They’re Guardians, but they’re from different realms. The only common factor I can think of is that many have been critical of me over the years for being too weak.”

“So it’s a mutiny,” Luther said.

“Henri mentioned the cells have fractured since you’ve been gone,” I said. “You need to unite them again and put a stop to all this.”

She lit up. “You discussed this with Henri?”

Luther pretended not to notice, though he went marble still.

A raucous cheer split through the air, drawing our focus and sparing me from the wide, hopeful look in her eyes—and the curiosity in his.

I nearly gasped aloud at the brightly glowing figure emerging in the clearing. If his ethereal appearance hadn’t given him away, the sudden spike in his aura would have. Merely breathing was a struggle with his magic saturating the air.

My hand shot out and clamped on Luther’s arm. “It’s really him.”

He nodded grimly. “He’s not shielding. My magic can’t reach that far, but yours can. You have a clean shot from here, if you want to take it.”

A strange kind of coldness took me over as I crafted a bow and arrow of shadow magic. It wasn’t the callous numb I’d felt in Fortos, but something perhaps even more bizarre. If I wasn’t certain this path was the right one, I might have thought it was anticipatory regret—like some part of me was already grieving this choice and its consequences.

But Iwascertain. This man had killed hundreds with no regard for guilt or innocence. Gods only knew what he’d done with those missing children. He was a risk not only to my realms, but to the peace I was fighting so hard to achieve.

I nocked my arrow, raising the bow to my eyeline and aligning its lethal path. The man’s back was to me as he spoke to the mortals in a voice too quiet for me to hear.

My hands trembled.

One good shot, I thought.One shot, and I save countless lives.

“Aim for the heart or the spine at his nape,” Luther urged. “It’s the only way to ensure he dies instantly.” I swallowed, and he set a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll have a shield ready. Just in case.”

I nodded stiffly. My fingers tightened on the arrow as I drew it back.

My godhood stirred unexpectedly, and I nearly let the arrow slip. It thumped alongside my heart and swirled in my arms, keenly interested in what I was about to do. Not supportive, nor judgmental—more like a held breath, waiting to see if I would prove my mettle once and for all.

The man turned his head, the line of his profile just barely visible.

“Now,” Luther said. “Before he sees us.”

My hands were frozen, too terrified to fire, too defiant to give up.

My mother’s face had gone moon-white, her lips popped ajar. She was staring at the camp, murmuring something I couldn’t make out.

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