Page 7 of Burn of the Everflame

The mortals glanced at me, confused, then at each other. I’d never dared to issue them orders before.

“Don’t just stand there,” Teller said, layering his voice with a commanding bite that could just as easily have come from his father. “He said grab your weapons!”

With a mortal endorsement, the Guardians jumped into action. They swarmed the campsite, scurrying up trees and nocking arrows, while others corralled the children out of sight. A dark-skinned, darker-eyed woman marched out from a row of tents. “Who called a warning?”

“I did,” I answered. “There’s a Crown nearby.”

Her gaze narrowed. Cordellia was the leader of the Arboros rebel cell. Even with Auralie speaking in my favor, she’d never warmed to me.

“How do you know?” she asked.

I bristled. I didn’t even tell Descended when I could sense another’s power, let alone mortals who fantasized about slitting my throat.

“It doesn’t matter,” Auralie cut in as she joined us. “If Luther says to prepare, we prepare.”

I stiffened in surprise at her support. So did most of the Guardians, including Cordellia. As head of the Guardians, Auralie was the one person here who outranked her.

Cordellia gave an awkward nod and turned to the others. “Get to your stations. I want bombs ready to light, and the ballista loaded with⁠—”

“That won’t be necessary.”

The voice floated from the forest like wind whistling through the leaves. It sounded delicate—harmless. But much like the petite blond it belonged to, first impressions could be deceiving.

And deadly.

The woman sauntered into view, her Crown of ever-blooming flowers marking her as the Arboros Queen, accompanied by two burly guards and a woman laden with blades.

I raised my sword. Her soldiers edged closer, hands twitching as a shimmering shield formed around their Queen. I answered with my own curtain of glittering blue at my back to keep the mortals beyond their magic’s reach.

Myself, I left exposed. For a Descended, it was as good as a middle finger. A taunt: I’m stronger than you, and I’m not afraid to prove it.

The Arboros Queen lifted her chin. “You must be the famous Prince of Lumnos.” Her emerald eyes skated over me. “A great many people are looking for you.”

“Woe to those who find me,” I rumbled back. “Especially those bearing Crowns.”

Her lips thinned. “I have no fight with you, Prince, nor with anyone here. I come to deliver a message.”

My godhood scratched at my chest, sharing my urge to inflict some bloody vengeance. I stepped forward. “I have a message for you, too.”

Auralie grabbed my arm to stop me. “What do you want, Mireille?”

My head snapped toward her. Mireille? Auralie and the Arboros Queen were on a first-name basis?

Mireille pulled a small slip of paper from the neckline of her dress, a shift crafted of woven banana leaves and trimmed with sprigs of fragrant honeysuckle that I could smell across the clearing. She gave it to the woman at her side, who prowled toward me with hand extended. She, too, left her shield down—a challenge matched by the scowl on her face.

Diem would love her.

The thought speared my heart clean through.

Auralie shot me a stern look, a silent command to stand down, and I grudgingly obeyed. She walked forward and plucked the paper from the woman’s hand, then spun on her heel, giving the women her back—her own show of no fear.

Auralie silently read the note, then looked up. “In all our time working together, Mireille, I didn’t realize you thought so little of my intelligence.” She crumpled the paper and tossed it to the ground. “If the Crowns wish to meet, it’s certainly not to discuss peace. This is an invitation to an ambush.”

“The meeting was my idea, Auralie,” Mireille said. “We are desperate. Hundreds are dying.”

“Hundreds of Descended are dying. The mortals have been dying for centuries. The Crowns had no interest then.”

“Not all of us,” Mireille said archly. “You know I’ve been working toward peace for years. I’m as dismayed as you that it took this long for the others to hear me, but they are indeed now listening. Are you really going to throw that away?”