Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1)

by Penn Cole

Henri was as handsome to me as any man in this city, not in spite of those traits but because of them. Those small idiosyncrasies littering his body were signs of his life and character, a map of his soul that only those who truly knew him could read.

the light wants to please its wielder, but the shadows only want to fight.”

“You’re the Bellator girl,” he said. I didn’t respond. “You’re not supposed to be here.” I ached to ask why, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. “How’s the ribcage feeling?” I asked instead. He gave a low, dangerous laugh. “So what’s this offering you brought that’s so special?” “Why don’t you come try to touch me again, and I’ll show you.”

She's such a baddie

I had the strangest sensation that she wasn’t just watching me, but sensing me, reading me. Her golden eyes seemed to peer beyond my face and pierce something far deeper—something I wasn’t prepared to share. “Does she normally do this?” I asked, squinting up at the creature. “No—never.”

I think she knows D is a descended

I hated how one look from him could unnerve me with that unrelenting focus and that piercing I-see-you stare.

“No commentary?” he asked, sinking to his knees. “I’m disappointed.” “I’m too busy enjoying the view.” I risked a glance down, expecting to see the same obnoxious smirk his guard had worn, but for once, Luther looked as flustered as I felt.

Ajsgshshjshshsi

“Too bad I didn’t wear a dress,” I murmured. His hands slid higher, and my breath hitched. Our eyes caught for a split second. He said nothing, but I swore I felt his fingers tighten around my inner thigh.

SCREAMING!!!!!!!

Could he sense my presence, the way I could sense his?

“Don’t end up like your mother. She betrayed me and lost my trust. You should learn from her mistakes.” My blood stilled in my veins. Don’t end up like your mother.

WHAAAAAT

From the corner of my vision, I watched his focus drop to my neck. He shook away the magic twining around one arm, then reached for me.

His touch was strikingly gentle as he examined the wound. I didn’t even feel pain, only the slow, careful stroke of his thumb beneath my jaw and down the curve of my neck,

AHHHHH

“It’s time for you to leave, Miss Bellator.” He leaned in until the smooth skin of his jaw warmed my cheek as his whispered words caressed my ear. “Be grateful it’s with your life.”

WHY IS HE SO HOT!!!!!

“It’s strange how quickly it worked. All of my injuries were healed before you even left the palace.” “Is that unusual?” “Very unusual. Small cuts heal quickly, but it usually takes at least a day for bigger injuries. Sometimes even a week.”

“How did you know she wouldn’t reject you?” “I didn’t. But I eventually decided the chance of her saying yes was worth the possibility of her saying no. To be able to call her my girl—that was worth any risk.”

Stop it right now!!!!!!! CRYING

We never needed to see all of each other to love all of each other.”

😭😭😭

“My darling Diem, you asked how I knew your mother was the one? The truth is that I just knew. There was never a decision to make. Whatever path she was on, that was where I belonged. By her side, and by yours. Any other option was unthinkable.”

somehow, even among the pandemonium, I knew him. More than that—I felt him, his strange aura sweeping across my skin. Luther.

As if he’d heard my thoughts, his head snapped in my direction. Even tucked as I was among a sea of onlookers, his glowing blue eyes found mine in an instant.

He stopped. His eyes darkened as they unapologetically roamed my body. “Did they hurt you?” he growled.

Jdgvshshbsbsx HOT

His tone was dry, almost sarcastic. “Your body is too fragile.” I glared. “First of all, if you ever call me fragile again, I’ll slice your precious royal balls off and shove them down your throat.” The group went dead silent. The corner of Luther’s lips twitched—just slightly.

I love them

I grabbed one of the luminous tendrils and peeled it off my body. As my hand brushed against Luther’s magic, the sensation that thrummed along my skin was unlike anything I’d ever felt—like starlight made solid, like holding a shaving of the moon in my hands.

We both froze in place as something ancient, something profound passed between us. It was a primal force that transcended word and thought, as powerful as a crack of lightning, a child’s first breath, the endless depth of the sea.

It was not of this world but entirely woven within it. It warmed my blood with a calming peace I’d never known, yet filled me with the terrible dread of a fate I could not avoid.

The hands clutched me tighter, their grip as desperate as it was tender. I felt safe. So very safe. I wanted to fall asleep in those arms and never, ever leave.

“Stay with me, Diem. Please... stay here with me. No, wait, don’t—”

CRYING

“Alright. I’ll just, um, go get a dress for her.” “Pants. She—she normally wears pants.”

HE KNOWS HER SO WELL!!!!!!

“Lumnos herself couldn’t pull me from her side.”

HE IS SO UGHHHHHHH BARKING!!!!!!

His palm was open and upturned, as if awaiting my hand, just as it had been in those final moments in the armory.

CRYING

“Were you sitting there all night?” I asked. “Yes.” “Why?” He gave me a solemn look, but he didn’t respond.

“If she attacks, only the King can call her off.”

“If the death of innocents is a cost we’re willing to pay, then we don’t deserve to be powerful.”

She was my constant lantern when, like now, the world was dark and I didn’t know which way to go.

CRYING

“I am not afraid, Devourer of Crowns. Ravager of Realms. Herald of Vengeance.” Oh, he was definitely delusional.

Girl...I'm scared

“Give him our gift, Daughter of the Forgotten. When the end has come, and the blood has spilled, give our gift to my faithful heir, and tell him this is my command.”

As I approached the main entry, I caught the eye of the guard I’d brought to his knees on my first formal visit. He took one look at the knife still clutched in my hand and stepped toward me with a vengeful sneer. “Touch her, and I’ll rip off your fucking arms.” His face paled at the boom of Luther’s voice across the marble foyer.

HOT!!!!!!

“It would be an insult to dismiss you so easily, and I wouldn’t dare do you that disrespect. I recognize a threat when I see one.” His gaze roamed a languid path down my body, his assessing stare making me feel as thoroughly touched and as intimately exposed as the day he’d searched me for weapons.

SCREAMING

The way he studied me with such fixation, riveted by my every movement, my every breath. The way his hold on me greedily tightened, even though the muscled barrier of his body left nowhere else for me to go.

“If you think I’m such a threat,” I said, the huskiness of my voice revealing more than I’d intended, “perhaps I should take you out now while I have the chance. Kill you before you kill me.” “Do it,” he said, no trace of hesitation.

“You think I fear my own death?” he whispered in my ear. “Every day I draw breath is as much a curse as a gift. I’ve been living on borrowed time for longer than you can imagine. If you’re the way my fate finally catches up to me, I can’t fathom a more beautiful end.”

OH MY... *screams into pillow*

“Let me die with the taste of you on my lips.”

AHHHHHHH

Luther wasn’t cold at all. Luther was an inferno.

“Go ahead,” he breathed. “Lie to me. I already know the answer. I know you feel my power.” His chin rose, our lips so very, very close. “Because I can feel yours, too.” No. No. He smirked. “You’re no more mortal than I am.”

OH SHIT

“You saw it too, didn’t you?” I stopped, but I didn’t look back. “Last night,” he said, “right before the roof collapsed. The vision. The battlefield.”

Like in the vision, an exquisite ache swelled in the left side of my chest. Without thinking, my hand rose and pressed against it.

Luther’s own palm lay flat below his left shoulder, a plea in his eyes.

“Diem—you’re wearing the Crown. You’ve been selected. You are the new Queen of Lumnos.”

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!