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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Penn Cole
Read between
October 13 - October 15, 2025
My eyes went wide. The wound was gone. Not closed—not healing. Gone. As if it had never happened.
“Diem, you were sitting right beside him. He was the one holding his sister, Princess Lilian. They’re the King’s niece and nephew.” Oh, gods. Oh, gods.
“If she doesn’t fulfill the bargain, then her life would be forfeit. She would be executed by the Crown.”
“Prince Luther knows. He’s the one who negotiated it with your mother on behalf of the Crown.”
My eyes caught on a patch of black ink on his shoulder. A gnarled tree, with leaves of flame, inset in a circlet of vines—the sacred Everflame, the Tree of Life and Death.
According to the old mortal religion, all life began as sparks from the Everflame that fell to the earth as glowing seeds.
The female Descended always get healing magic, while the male Descended get the power to kill—they can make your body decay right in front of their eyes.
She has done both
I’d passed over the Lumnos-Fortos border countless times in my life, but never had I felt anything like that.
No meds
If Luther was using my mother for something other than her healing services, it might have a connection to her time in the army.
Was her mom a spy?
A weapon more suited to an assassin than a healer.
Not a reality that was, but a fate that could be.
godstone, a rare material that could only be made by the Kindred.
Like a living, breathing gargoyle, the beast reclined on a landing high atop the palace walls,
“I think,” he said, tugging it from my grasp, “it’s safe to say, Miss Bellator, you’ve already won me over.”
Maura’s jaw hung ajar, her brows raised sky-high, while the two Descended women glowered at me with poison in their eyes.
Lol
Though I couldn’t fathom ever falling for a Descended—I would die before I’d ever allow myself to get caught up with one of them—I
Like I said, Paradise Row women were nothing if not loyal.
“You told me the Guardians were run by a woman.” “She’s in another realm on a mission. Vance is leading us now.”
Her mom?
but for once, Luther looked as flustered as I felt.
Lol
“Don’t end up like your mother. She betrayed me and lost my trust. You should learn from her mistakes.”
My fingers brushed along my neck in futile search for the scab.
:)
“Be my wife. Let’s fight this war side by side.”
Gross
but the truth was that looking at Lana felt like looking at a reflection of myself I was too ashamed to accept.
“Pants. She—she normally wears pants.”
“Lumnos herself couldn’t pull me from her side.” More silence. “Cousin... who is this woman to you?” A pause, and a long, heavy sigh. “Eleanor, I... I think she...” Darkness.
I imagine she’s wary at being forced into service to a stranger whose goals she might not share.” My jaw tightened. “It seems Sorae and I have that in common, as well.”
“If the death of innocents is a cost we’re willing to pay, then we don’t deserve to be powerful.”
“They told me your blood would shatter our stone and lay waste to our borders.”
The King gasped, his grip on me tightening. “I am not afraid, Devourer of Crowns. Ravager of Realms. Herald of Vengeance.”
“Touch her, and I’ll rip off your fucking arms.”
Yup :)
If you’re the way my fate finally catches up to me, I can’t fathom a more beautiful end.”
jaw. His eyes rose to mine. “Let me die with the taste of you on my lips.” Our lips collided, and I was lost.
“Diem—you’re wearing the Crown. You’ve been selected. You are the new Queen of Lumnos.”
In the sky beyond, a column of light rose from within the forest and disappeared into the clouds. As if in answer, a twin beam shot down from the sky directly above her head. It landed on the glassy rock at her side, filling it with a sapphire glow.
Diem
