Page 100 of Heat of the Everflame

I kept my head down as we passed through the sparkling drapes. The quiet dining room contained a handful of lone travelers hunched under heavy cloaks. A gaggle of children in white aprons scurried from table to table, refilling drinks and delivering plates of steaming food.

“Welcome to The Second Chance,” a woman chirped brightly from behind the counter. “Are you in need of a room or just a meal?”

“Neither.” Luther edged closer to her and lowered his voice. “I’m here to see the Jaguar.”

She blinked, her smile unmoving. “There’s no one here by that name.”

“I know he’s here.” He pulled a handful of gold coins from his pouch, then set them on the wood beneath his cupped hand and slid them toward her. “Perhaps this will help lure him out?”

She slid them back. “Sorry. You have the wrong inn.”

I risked a quick glance up. The woman was striking, with full, plum-colored lips and dark curls, but it was her brilliant cobalt blue eyes that sent my heart staggering.

A Lumnos Descended.

I had no right to claim her. She was clearly of age, old enough to decide for herself where she wished to make her life. The shadows twisting like jewelry around her arm suggested she’d paid her tithes and was a citizen in good standing with the Umbros Queen.

But she was one ofmine. My godhood strained against the walls of my chest, begging to push out and enfold her within its protection.

She shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms. Her eyes moved to me. I swiftly lowered my chin until my hood dropped forward to conceal me.

Luther tapped a gold coin against the counter. “If there is anyone here by that name, he should know the Phoenix has come to see him.”

She blinked again. “As I said, there’s no one here by that—”

A door opened behind her, and a man emerged.

If this was the Jaguar, his name was well-earned. He moved with a catlike grace, fluid and effortless, seeming to glide rather than walk. Though he was slender, cords of muscles swelled along his elegant frame, which was draped in swaths of black silk. A gilded metal collar rose high on his neck, while bands ofgold wire encircled his thighs and biceps. His dark skin looked freshly oiled, shimmering under the dim light and setting off eyes of the palest ice blue—another Lumnos Descended.

But it wasn’t just his beauty that overwhelmed me. The second he stepped forward, a wave of power brushed against my skin, similar to how I felt around Luther. Whoever this man was, his magic was strong—immensely so.

The man glanced my way, catching me mid-stare. A bolt of panic sliced through me as our eyes locked, but he gave me only a bored skim before settling his attention on my Prince.

With Luther, the man’s gaze dragged slowly, deliberately, appraisingly. Luther’s chin lifted, though he made no move in response.

It was a bizarre thing to watch Luther get sized up as a threat. In Lumnos, the strength of his magic made him infamous. Even those willing to provoke him, like Aemonn and his father, knew when to back down to avoid a battle they were certain to lose.

He was practically untouchable, and after he’d trounced the Ignios King, I’d begun to wonder if it was not just the Descended of Lumnos who should fear him.

But Luther’s magic had disappeared again after crossing the Umbros border, leaving him vulnerable for now. If thisJaguarwas weighing his strength against another Descended aura, it wasn’t Luther’s he felt—it was mine.

I let my godhood slip its leash for just a moment, sending a pulse of my magic rippling across the room. The man’s eyes went round.

“You’ve been misinformed,” he said, swallowing. “There’s no Jaguar here.”

Liar, I thought irritably.

Both Luther and the man shot me looks.

The man shifted his weight. “Perhaps you’d like to stay the night in our inn instead?”

“I don’t need a room,” Luther said. “Just a conversation.”

“Our rooms are quite private. Ideal for conversations of all kinds.” The man’s slow cadence sounded curiously deliberate. “One might even say they’re fit for aprince.”

I tensed. So he did know who we were—or at least who Luther was.

Luther nodded once. The man looked at the woman at the counter. “Would you please show our guests to Suite 10?”

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