Page 3 of Heat of the Everflame

Cordellia’s brows furrowed deeper. “If only she had been as forthcoming about her Descended offspring.”

Ah—the disapproval was for us both.

My smile was wry and edged with bitterness. “If it’s any consolation, she did not deem either of us worthy of that secret.”

Surprised murmurs scuttled through the crowd.

Cordellia frowned. “You did not know you were Descended?”

“Not until I inherited the Crown.” I hoped the honesty of my frustration slipped through in my sigh. “There is much I’m still learning myself—including how I came to be here with you now.”

She looked me over for a moment, then signaled to two large men, who walked toward me carrying a pair of iron shackles connected by a thick, heavy chain. They puffed out their chests as they approached, though the intimidation tactic did little to hide the nerves in their big eyes and quivering hands.

“Up,” Cordellia commanded. “Hands out, wrists together.”

It cut against everything in my nature to give in, but I was out of alternatives. I stood and clasped my hands in front of me like a prayer. As one of the men secured the shackles to my wrists, I flashed a sweet smile at the other.

“Blessed is the Everflame, Brother,” I said, batting my lashes with mock piety.

Both men froze, staring at me, then turned to Cordellia. She gestured for them to continue, but their reactions told me everything I needed to know.

These were not just any mortals.

“Is this how the Guardians of the Everflame treat a fellow Sister?” I asked, jingling the chunky metal chains.

“You’re no Guardian,” one of the men growled.

I clicked my tongue. “Wrong answer, Brother. I believe the proper response to the code words is ‘Emarion soil, we shall reclaim.’Though I confess, it has been a few weeks since my last meeting.”

The man clacked the lock into place on my wrists and gave me a hard shove backward, sending me flailing ungracefully to the leaf-blanketed ground.

Cordellia barked an order that had the two men walking away with a snicker, then extended a hand to me. I shot her a distrustful look of my own, but I took her hand and let her help me back to my feet. At this close range, I towered over her by several inches. In fact, I stood taller than almost every mortal gathered in the clearing, man or woman.

I had become used to that growing up, believing myself unusually long-limbed for a mortal. Then my surprise fate as Queen had dragged me into the world of the naturally tall, muscled Descended, and I’d gone from being one of the biggest people in every room to one of the most petite—all while going from near-anonymity to the most powerful person in my realm.

It was a visible symbol of what my life had become. I lived with a foot in two worlds, each a mirror image of the other, never fitting quite right into either one. In a world of black and white, I was trying to find my place in shades of grey.

“I see you’re familiar with our group,” Cordellia said blandly.

Her restraint was impressive. Discovering that a Descended Queen had intimate knowledge of the forbidden rebel network should have been cause for alarm. Her expression showed only a placid apathy.

“Before I became Queen, I was a member of the Lumnos cell,” I explained.

Cordellia’s eyes shifted over my shoulder and narrowed. “Then it seems your mother was not the only one withholding information.”

I started to follow her line of sight, but flickers of movement from the archers froze me in place.

“And after you became Queen?” she pushed. “Did your involvement continue?”

My shoulders tensed. Cordellia’s shrewd eyes noted the movement.

“The relationship became... strained,” I hedged. “But I spoke the truth when I said I have no desire to hurt you. I am no enemy to the Guardians.”

“You’re no friend of ours, either,” a male voice rang out from behind me.

A man with pale skin and a thick, overgrown beard circled around and stepped into view. I recognized him immediately as the leader of the Lumnos cell and the man who had initiated me as a Guardian.

And the man who had branded me a traitor after I’d refused to obey his orders.

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